Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The War over Iraq by William Kristol, Robert Whitfield, Lawrence F. Kaplan ISBN: 0-7861-9225-9 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: June, 2003 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.13 (31 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Read this book at least twice!!
Comment: This is an absolute must read, regardless of your postion on the war. Kristol and Kaplan clearly layout the case against Sadaam. They then point out the foreign policy flaws of not just Bush 41 and Clinton but also of pre-9/11 Bush 43. You will more fully understand the philosophy that layed the framework of foreign policy for each president. You will also clearly grasph how President Bush's view of the world has changed since 9/11.
Finally, you will be presented with the arguments and facts that form the backbone of our current stance towards Iraq. Even if you do not come to the same conclusion as that of the authors, you will better understand why our country is embarking on a path to the liberation of Iraq.
My only complaint is that there are only 125 pages of riveting reading!
Rating: 3
Summary: A Somewhat Revisionist History
Comment: On a positive note, Authors Kristol and Kaplan do an admirable job of addressing the Iraq problem in the larger context of retracing the evolution of American foreign policy since the end of World War II. The authors discuss, albeit cursorily, the tension that existed throughout ten presidential administrations between the appropriate projection of American military power and the appropriate definition of an American "interest." The Realpolitik School, represented by the Carter, Nixon and first Bush Administrations' foreign policy conceptions, advocated that American power should only be used only when American interests are directly compromised; the Internationalist School, represented by the Kennedy, Truman and Reagan Administrations' foreign policies, defined "American interests" more broadly which resulted in American military intervention in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama to name a few.
The 'Iraq Problem' since Saddam Hussein's ascent to power, as the book explains, has been treated differently by each administration depending upon its respective World view. Interestingly, the book delicately side-steps the Reagan Administration's complicity in Iraq's development of WMD during its 1980-88 war with Iran, although the authors do recognize the Reagan Administration attitude toward Iraq/Hussein as an enabling element in the 'Iraq Problem' that began with the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
The authors do a nice job of chronicalling Saddam's crimes beginning in 1979. The authors remind us of Saddam's brutality, his genocide of the Kurds, and the panoply of reasons why Saddam is a horrible human being. The authors also remind us of the role played by several American administrations to enable Saddam, including that certain elements of the Bush I administration had advocated constructive engagement up the eve of the first Gulf War.
This work's biggest failing is in its attempt to convince us that the present Bush Administration's policy towards Iraq culminating in the war that is currently winding to its conclusion as I write this was anything other than sheer opportunism produced by 9/11. The authors would have us believe that the Bush administration's post-9/11 foreign policy - a hybrid of classic Wilsonian internationalism with a moral focus, to paraphrase the authors - is the process of learned evolution rather than simply that certain neoconservative elements of the administration - Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfeld - seized upon an impotent opposition to advance their foreign policy agenda.
While the authors recognize that the present administration's pre-9/11 foreign policy - to the extent one existed - was based upon the realpolitik view of American foreign policy (rather than neo-isolationism if anyone recalls Bush's criticisms of the Clinton foreign policy during the presidential debates), the authors' argument about its post-9/11 evolution is less-than convincing.
The authors do nothing to prove that Iraq actually had WMD or that it actively abetted Al Qaeda which were the principle justifications for the war in the first place. Rather, the authors simply accept these as "facts" and proceed to justify the war based upon these accepted facts.
With the military phase of the Iraq War drawing to a successful conclusion and the post-War administrative phase just beginning, we will witness the practical effect of the present Bush Administration's "noble" application of American military power. We forget that then-candidate Bush criticized the Clinton Administration for "national building" in former Yugoslavia and in Somalia. Now we face the task of effective administration of and 'national building' in post-Saddam Iraq. History will be the judge.
Rating: 1
Summary: The Conservative Coward's Call for War
Comment: If anyone is interested in a primer on how wrong conservative thought can get, this would be the perfect textbook. I see Amazon has placed it in the bargain bin--but I suspect where it really belongs is in the dustbin of history. Over 500 Americans have been killed, and over 10,000 seriously injured, due to this overblown, bloodthirsty scream for war. This book contributed to the duping so many Americans feel now.
Mr. Kristol, you have blood on your hands. You are dripping with the sticky, wasted blood of Americans who believed your uninformed claims, and who will never return from Iraq. You are drenched in their death--a man who sneakily avoided military service when it called to you in the 60's. You are beneath contempt, for you are both a mental and moral coward.
 |
Title: Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy by Robert Kagan, William Kristol ISBN: 1893554163 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq by Kenneth M. Pollack ISBN: 0375509283 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 18 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
 |
Title: Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan ISBN: 1400040930 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror by DAVID FRUM, RICHARD PERLE ISBN: 1400061946 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 30 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
 |
Title: Neo-Conservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol, Arving Kristol ISBN: 1566632285 Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $22.90 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
