Eugene Jarecki - The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril

GUIDED MISSILES, MISGUIDED MEN,
AND A REPUBLIC IN PERIL

EUGENE JARECKI

For Anna and Jonas,
whose early-morning joy
wakes me to see the forest
for the trees

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Copyright 2008 by Eugene Jarecki

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First Free Press trade paperback edition January 2010

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jarecki, Eugene.
The American way of war : guided missiles, misguided men, and a republic in peril / Eugene Jarecki.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. United StatesHistory, Military. 2. United StatesMilitary policy. 3. United StatesForeign relationsPhilosophy. 4. National characteristics, American. 5. MilitarismUnited StatesHistory. 6. Executive powerUnited StatesHistory. 7. Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946 Political and social views. 8. United StatesForeign relations2001 9. Iraq War, 2003 Causes. 10. InterviewsUnited States. I. Title.
E181.J27 2008
973.931dc22 2008029242

ISBN 978-1-4165-4456-2
ISBN 978-1-4165-4457-9 (pbk)
eISBN 978-1-4165-6532-1

The first publication of The American Way of War occurred on October 14, 2008 under what I can only describe as some measure of protest. For the latter months of the writing process, I had been engaged in a respectful difference of opinion with the books publisher about its release date. Fully sharing my goal to promote deeper understanding of the textured and challenging foreign and defense policy crises America faces, Free Press understandably sought to time the books release to coincide with the maelstrom of political discourse surrounding the 2008 election; I wanted to wait for that storm to pass. Ordinarily, I would not find internal shoptalk between an author and his publisher to be interesting to a reader, but in this instance it speaks to the question of what purpose a book like The American Way of War should serve at a time of national transition. My wish that the book succeed the election did not stem from any disagreement with my publisher about the value of raising challenging ideas at election time, but rather from the particular nature of my argument, which I saw then and continue to see as fundamentally election-neutral. By explaining my thoughts on this, I hope to give the reader some context for this paperback edition.

The American Way of War is an exploration of the dark side of the American storyof how a nation born in protest against an empire has, over two centuries, come hauntingly to emulate the very thing it sought to avoid. In this sense, the book examines how America lost her way and how the American way of war (a term I shall explore in greater detail) played a central role in the nations misguidance. So why is such an analysis election-neutral? Because the forces that drive the American way of warthose that have caused America to drift so dangerously far from her founding principlesdo not care who is president or which party holds majority power in Congress. They do not take the day off on Election Day. As I hope to demonstrate, these forces have over many decades cultivated both a sophisticated level of invulnerability to the shifting tides of party politics and a deep confidence that whoever is elected will quickly fall in line under the enormous influence they wield.

These driving forces have enjoyed the support and acquiescence of Americas elected officials from both sides of the aisle, leading the nation into an alarming constellation of crises that are bipartisan in origin and nature. Timing the books release with the election risked suggesting to the reader that I felt that any electioneven one as historic as that of Barack Obamacould prove a miraculous step on the road to national recovery. Were that only true, it would be short, happy work to redirect Americas priorities along a path more consistent with her first principles. Yet the American way of war, that specifically American brand of militarism that has come to wield unsettling influence over both Americas policy making and her national life itself, was not formed overnight. Likewise, it will not be reformed overnight.

The good news, though, is that if you are reading The American Way of War for the first time in this paperback edition, you are actually reading it in the context for which I originally intended it. As the writing process drew to a close and Obama looked to be the presidential front-runner, a hopeful glimmer arose that the book might contribute to the public discourse at the dawn of the age of changeObamas campaign catchall for the shift in direction his election was expected to represent. Yet what the following pages reveal is that the roots of our current predicament are deeper than the reach of any one man. Just as George W. Bush did not commit the errors and trespasses of his White House years overnight or alone, but rather in the shadow of history and with the crucial support of Congress, the courts, and the public, the enormous challenges America now faces will be met only by an equally vast and comprehensive national constituency building on the efforts of the past. No matter how smart, talented, charismatic, or well-intentioned he may be, neither Barack Obama nor any other public official can possibly bring about meaningful reform unless compelled and buoyed by a persistent and irrepressible public mandate to do so.

From his front-row seat in the Oval Office, five-star general and two-term Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower confirmed this enduring democratic truth. In his remarkable 1961 Farewell Address (discussed later in depth), Eisenhower famously warned of a conjunction of forceseconomic, political, even spiritualthat were at that time aligning to threaten the very structure of our society. The words military-industrial complex (MIC) are the most remembered from his Farewell Address, but, in todays world, a lesser known passage holds even greater relevance to the challenges America faces in the years ahead. Having warned of the disastrous rise of misplaced power that could result from the continued acquisition of unwarranted influence by the MIC, Eisenhower offered an inspiring rallying cry that must guide us today: Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry, he declared, can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.