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Title: How Did This Happen? Terrorism and the New War by Gideon Rose, James F. Hoge Jr. ISBN: 1-58648-130-4 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: It answers the question it asks.
Comment: Hoge and Rose are the editor and managing editor, respectively, of Foreign Affairs. The title asks the question, referring to 9/11, and the various essays in the book collectively answer it. There are 23 essays in the book that approach 9/11 from a wide variety of angles. The authors, each a recognized expert in his/her field, are a bunch of very smart, experienced people giving their take on what happened, why it happened, and what it means. No matter what your particular area of interest is - geopolitics, military, sociology, etc. - there's something in this book for you.
Take, for example, the essay "Was It Inevitable ~ Islam Through History," by Karen Armstrong. She admires the virtues of Islam and views the current (last few decades) spate of terrorism in an Islamic fundamentalist historical context. It is an attempt at reform (islah) and renewal (tajdid). "This type of reform, which tried to go back to the fundamentals, became known as the Salafiyya because it looked back to al-Salaf al-Salih, 'the venerable forefathers'" (pg. 65). One of the most famous of these reform movements was Wahhabi, which is the brand of Islam practiced today in Saudi Arabia and in which Osama bin Laden was born.
Contrast this with Walter Laquer (in his essay "Left, Right, and Beyond ~ The Changing Face of Terror"). He puts it in the context of a more general history of terrorism and explains (pg. 76) the rise of Islamist radicalism (terrorism) as the result of a decline of political doctrines and the emergence of a spiritual and intellectual vacuum, albeit the connection is not always straightforward (pg. 77).
Other examples of the plentitude of ideas abound. Milton Beardon ("Graveyard of Empires ~ Afghanistan's Treacherous Peaks") provides a brief, but excellent background on the rise of the Taliban and its Arab influence (the so called Afghan Arabs). Richard K. Betts ("Intelligence Test ~ The Limits of Prevention") provides an outstanding thumbnail analysis of the problems facing the intelligence community in the post-Cold War world. "The All-to-Friendly Skies ~ Security as an Afterthought", by Gregg Easterbrook is alarming, even in retrospect. It provides valuable insight into commercial operations, such as (pg. 179) the point at which commercial airplane pilots actually take command of a given flight and why some pilots want an earlier assumption of that command. "The Unguarded Homeland ~ A Study in Malign Neglect" by Stephen E. Flynn describes how the nature of our economic infrastructure, with its interconnectedness, lack of redundancy, and heavy reliance on private security, increases our vulnerability to attack (i.e., to critical interdiction). He also describes the strain on the US Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and other government agencies.
The list goes on. The essays provide not only a description of the social and political environment in which 9/11 occurred, but also offer policy options (such as in "The New Security Mantra - Prevention, Deterrence, and Defense" by William J. Perry). The book includes a sobering piece by Anatol Lieven ("The Cold War Is Over ~ The True Significance of the Attacks").
A clear message emerges. What made us vulnerable was a combination of a certain amount of complacency born of arrogance due to no recent US airliner hijackings (no successful attempts for the past 14 years - pg. 166), a low appreciation of the threat based on patterns of terrorist activity as well as an improperly focused intelligence apparatus, and a demand for faster, cheaper air travel. Our focus has improved and our willingness to pay what it costs has already brought improvement with much more on the way if we can sustain our alarm (which is to say, our determination). The question is not "Are we safer since 9/11?" That answer is an unequivocal "Yes." The appropriate question is "Are we safe enough?" Hindsight is once again shown to be 20/20. In retrospect there were some valid reasons for not piecing together the likelihood of 9/11 and there were some that were not so valid. There were plenty of panels and papers providing warnings, but the broader national attitude didn't lend itself to paying heed. The sad truth is that terrorism approaches its targets like water seeking holes in a vessel. Time and our own attitudes are terrorists' allies. Determination, perseverance, and, above all, imagination are the bulwarks of our defense.
Another message emerges as well: the Cold War really is over, and a new world order really is emerging. It may or may not be the one envisaged by President Bush the elder, but 9/11 is the opening campaign of the first war as captured by President Bush the younger. The nation must adapt to new and still-forming geopolitical and cultural realities if we are to prosper in the future. This is an excellent primer to prepare for that journey.
Rating: 3
Summary: Well might they ask
Comment: Let's see. Contributors to this collection include: Bill Clinton's secretary of defense; Bill Clinton's national security advisor; a raft of folks from Bill Clinton's National Security Council; Bill Clinton's hand-picked chairman of the Joint Chiefs and his Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; and the chairman of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. If one thing is clear, even from reading just the table of contents, it's that the answer to the title question won't involve pointing many fingers at America's forty-second president.
And it turns out it doesn't. As befits Foreign Affairs magazine, which assembled the essays published here, the contributors are all pillars of the Foreign Policy Establishment (can you get more ubiquitous than Brian Jenkins?). Consequently, few of the analyses or recommendations venture far from what you'd find on the New York Times op-ed page.
I thought the first four essays were the best in the book. They analyzed the September 11 terrorists themselves, the Middle Eastern culture whence they sprang, and the impact of America's quest for a Pax Americana. Once the focus turned from history and sociology to defense and counter-terrorism strategies, the voice of Conventional Wisdom was clearly recognizable.
Sandy Berger's offering is typical: 'First, we must dismantle and destroy the terror groups arrayed against us, and their support systems, using every tool at our disposal, including military force. In so doing, we must use that force in a way that isolates the extremists without isolating us. ... Second, we must bring more of our diplomatic, political, intellectual, and economic energy to the Islamic world ... Third, we must actively seek to reverse the spiral of violence in the Middle East...' (p. 126-127). It says so much, and yet so little.
In the next essay, William Wechsler argues that President Clinton did the right thing in targeting the Al Qaeda financial structure, and that President Bush needs to keep doing it, and also start doing it again. The bad guys here, it turns out, were Phil Gramm and Paul O'Neill, who failed to recognize the wisdom of the Clinton approach.
Another theme runs through these latter essays too. 'The U.S. government needs more power to (Wechsler, p. 142) ... the key for [Tom] Ridge will be budgetary authority (Nye, p. 206) ... devote more funding to intelligence and law enforcement programs (Perry, p. 237) ... there simply wasn't enough money in the defense budgets (Clark, p. 246)' ... and on, and on. A nice contrast was Richard Betts' clear-eyed piece about the U.S. intelligence community, its 'failures' in the war against terrorism, and what the American people can and legitimately should expect from our intelligence agencies.
In all, there is some good background and historical material here, and a few insights into establishment thinking on terrorism and how to deal with it. But few people who've been paying attention to these issues will fund much here that's new.
Rating: 4
Summary: Why Did it Not Happen Sooner
Comment: Although this book was a rush job right after the 9-11 attacks it does cover some very interesting issues and points of view. The book has essays from a number of foreign policy and terrorism experts on topics ranging from the CIA efforts in Afghanistan, the cultural environment in the Middle East, airport security, bio-weapons and the ability of the US armed forces to handle this new threat. The topics covered are very interesting and gives the reader and good overview of the different issues involved in this complicated foreign policy and security issue. The essays are also minus most of the emotion that many other books on the 9-11 attacks have. This is probably due to the topics of the essays and the limited space each author was given. The editors also did a good job of arranging the essays so that the book had a good flow and the items lead into one another.
Overall my only real complaint with the book is that there were a few errors here and there, but they are due to the quick publishing date of the book and do not take away much from the points. Also reading a book with a new author per chapter you do not have a consistent writing style but the editors did a good job in that the wide range of authors is not a detriment to the flow of the book. I assumption is that the test of some was edited with a heavy hand to provide the consistent writing style. Overall the book is an interesting look at the causes of the 9-11 attacks and well worth reading.
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Title: Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy by Paul R. Pillar, Michael H. Armacost ISBN: 0815700040 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: 30 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Inside Terrorism by Bruce Hoffman ISBN: 0231114699 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden by Peter l. Bergen ISBN: 0743234952 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11 by Strobe Talbott, Nayan Chanda ISBN: 0465083579 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 17 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction by Walter Laqueur ISBN: 0195140648 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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