Another Century of War? (Paperback)

In Kolko's view, the worst event in American foreign policy history was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the elimination of communism. No matter how badly the United States dealt with the misconceived idea that Moscow dominated the politics of discontent, it was at least a point of focus. With the Cold War over, America is floundering about seeking ways to assert its unilateral power over the same group of nations. After spending enormous sums to shore up Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union, America launched a war to demolish its government. Right next door, Pakistan's resentment of American restoration of the Afghan Alliance and warlord governments is palpable, leaving the current government teetering.

Nor is Pakistan the only internally threatened state in the "arc." Thousands of American troops reside in Saudi Arabia. That nation's internal "containment" policy led it to send hordes of disaffected young men to Afghanistan and funded the Al Queda movement. Now, many of those young men, militarily experienced, have returned or are secluded and training others. Kolko argues this situation has rendered Saudi Arabia vulnerable to an Islamic uprising. Such an event would spread to many places, leaving American military forces isolated and surrounded.

America's interventions in foreign countries, ranging from supplying and training police forces to outright occupations, have been based on the belief that military solutions are quick and final. Kolko demonstrates that fifty years of adventurism have shown they are neither. The wars, such as Viet Nam and Kosovo, have shown them to be neither. The human costs are simply ignored or dismissed by American policy makers. The result is that now the United States has been directly assaulted and will remain a combat zone for years. Clearly, his purpose in writing this book is to alert Americans to their danger. Even if the American voting public forces administrations to abstain from ad hoc interventions in other nations, the time it will take for foreign resentments to subside will be a duration of generations.
However, the start must be made, and made now. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Another Century of War is brisk and to the point, written in response to 9/11. For the prequel, get the far more thorough Century of War (1994). There you will find an analysis of the troubles with America's intelligence establishment, for example, that seems to have been cribbed by the experts working for the Congressional committees looking into the intelligence failures around 9/11.

One of Kolko's thesis, frequently "discovered" by the punditry, is that the US is militarily strong overseas, but politically weak. This insight is fundamental, and its consequence, without correction, cannot but be dire. Following 9/11, he writes in Another Century of War, the U.S. "has not embarked on a new policy. Instead, it is trying to put other labels on its actions while relying on the remnants of its traditional approaches and ideas, of which the massive reliance on technology and firepower is the single most important. The Bush Administration does not have a coherent foreign policy strategy."

You will find in Kolko a mastery of military and political issues rare among historians, combined with a humane and elemental acknowledgement of the devastation of war and the hubris of national leaders who believe they can control it for their purposes.

Fortunately, his opinions are kept to an absolute minimum. This book is full of historical information that backs up his point of view. He covers the US response to 9/11 in Afghanistan, the history of the conflict there with the Soviet Union, and its connections to oil reserves and political influence. Then he describes the connections between the KLA in Kosovo, Osama bin Laden, and Pakistan. It's amazing how he can condense so many facts into so few pages. He makes it easy to understand and impossible to forget.

He goes on to describe the failures of US foreign policy. This part of the book will get under the skin of some Americans, as Kolko shows that US plans for stability in the Middle East have failed miserably. He finishes up with a quick look at economic ties to foreign policy, pointing out that the military-industrial complex is unable to promote peace.

There is a lot of essential information in this book. Kolko knows what he's talking about. His conclusions are unsettling (to the say the least). He concludes that the world cannot survive another century of war, so the imperial ambitions of the US must change. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand what's happening in the world at the beginning of the 21st century.