“A War of Ambition.” America, February 10, 2014, 13–15.
“What Happened at Bud Dajo: A Forgotten Massacre—and Its Lessons.” The Boston Globe, March 12, 2006, C2.
“Why Read Clausewitz When Shock and Awe Can Make a Clean Sweep of Things?” Review of Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor. London Review of Books, June 8, 2006, 3–5.
I want to express my gratitude to the University of Notre Dame Press for making this volume possible, above all to Steve Wrinn for suggesting the possibility of collecting my recent essays. But Steve’s colleagues have been nothing short of splendid: responsive and supremely professional. They include Susan Berger, Matt Dowd, Wendy McMillan, and Kathryn Pitts. My thanks to all.
Index
Abu Ghraib, 20, 77, 114, 125, 170
Abu Nidal, 312
Acheson, Dean, 44–45, 332–33
Adams, Henry, 11, 45, 200, 455
The Education of Henry Adams, 132–35
Adams, John, 171
Adams, John Quincy, 361, 407, 455
Addams, Jane, 214
Afghanistan War (Soviet), 61, 302, 304
US support to “freedom fighters,” 310–11, 312, 316
Afghanistan War (United States), 21, 77, 191, 271, 467
fall of Kabul, 270, 451
Obama and, 241, 344
Operation Enduring Freedom, 119, 127, 315, 402, 437–38
Trump and, 186–87
African Americans, 275
Against All Enemies (Clarke), 323
Age of Great Expectations, 201–12
as Age of Unwelcome Surprises, 206–7
themes defining, 203–5
Aguinaldo, Emilio, 289
Albright, Madeleine, 28, 248, 430–31
The Mighty and the Almighty, 167
on use of military, 128, 273
Aldous, Richard, 32, 34, 35, 37
Algeria, 56
Alito, Samuel, 369
al-Qaeda. See Qaeda, al-
America First
during Cold War, 184–85
original movement, 184, 193
reimagined, 189–92
Trump and, 184, 186–87, 190, 192–93
American Century, 155, 215, 359, 360
Luce on, 68–72
American exceptionalism, 160, 276
Niebuhr on, 169–72, 174
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), 33
American Soldier (Franks), 118–31
America the Redeemer, 24–29
Amery, Leo, 295
Among Empires (Maier), 282
anti-colonialism, 159, 160
appeasement, 184, 193, 215, 228
Arab Spring, 21, 338
Armitage, Richard, 80, 324
Arthur, Chester A., 405
al-Assad, Bashar, 240, 338
al-Assad, Hafez, 312
“axis of evil,” 110, 363, 390
baby boomers, 445
Bachmann, Michele, 65
Baker, James, 331
Baker, Russell, 248–49
balanced budget, 414, 458
Baldwin, James, 11
Balfour Declaration, 294–95
Balkan crisis, 99–100
Bannon, Steve, 26
Bates Agreement (1899), 289
Batista, Fulgencio, 55
Battle Ready (Clancy and Zinni), 119–20
Bayles, Martha, 281
Bay of Pigs, 71, 91, 154, 236
Beard, Charles A., 11, 158, 200
Beard, Mary, 200
Becker, Carl, 158, 195–97, 199
Beinart, Peter, 167
Beirut bombing (1983), 310, 436
Bellow, Saul, 16
Berlin Blockade, 244
Berlin Wall
creation of, 224, 302, 333
fall of, 7, 43, 155, 201, 202, 231, 259, 388
Berry, Wendell, 455
bin Laden, Osama, 127, 172, 276, 300, 319, 325, 402
call for jihad against United States by, 318, 320, 344
death of, 241, 330, 345
9/11 attack organized by, 18
response to US policies by, 320–21, 401
Bismarck, Otto von, 325
Black Lives Matter, 184, 437
Blair, Tony, 262, 297
Blow, Charles, 198–99
Bolton, John, 230
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 11, 464
Boorstin, Daniel, 431–32
Boot, Max, 261, 451
Bosnia, 352, 393, 400–401
Boston Red Sox, 460–64
Boston University, 9, 10
Bourne, Randolph, 11, 148–52, 285, 455
biographical information, 148–49
on war, 148, 149–51
Boxer Rebellion, 219
Boykin, William G., and Boykinism, 60–66
McCarthyism compared to, 64, 65–66
Bremer, L. Paul, 21, 106–7, 108, 110, 115, 373
Rumsfeld and, 78, 112
brinkmanship, 229
British Empire, 155, 292
in Middle East, 162, 293–97, 346–47
See also United Kingdom
Brooks, David, 23–30, 54, 167
on Iraq War, 27–29
on populism, 139
“A Return to National Greatness,” 25
Brownson, Orestes, 32
Broyard, Anatole, 246
Bryan, William Jennings, 147, 421
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 15, 16, 312, 331
Buckley, William F., 59, 279
Bud Dajo, 288–91
Burke, Edmund, 280
Bush, George H. W., 18, 87, 187, 261, 283, 370, 467
and Gulf War, 246, 268, 316–17, 396
Bush, George W., 98–99, 165, 187, 206, 286, 410–11, 422
on “anticipatory self-defense,” 76, 384, 390
on “axis of evil,” 110
conservative values and, 144
on “culture of responsibility,” 435–36, 439
election of, 18, 115
Freedom Agenda of, 226, 285, 467–68
on freedom and liberty, 168–69, 172, 226, 274, 285–86, 323, 389, 398–99, 467
Global War on Terror, 177, 323, 325, 340, 368–69, 395–96, 398–99, 401–2
on God and Islam, 62, 348
grand strategy of, 381–85
history narrative of, 162, 237–38, 262, 276
Iraq War and, 59, 107, 108–10, 115, 174–75, 284, 321–25, 337–38, 352–53, 363, 366, 376–77, 380
on Middle East transformation, 69, 109–10, 173–74, 226, 264, 308, 324, 336, 379
oil resources and, 277, 283
personal qualities, 115, 124, 368
policy team of, 76, 77–78, 332
preventive war doctrine of, 80–81, 82–85, 104, 363, 384, 467
response to 9/11 attacks, 80–81, 262–63, 322, 389, 398–400, 401–2
Bush Doctrine, 76, 80–81, 82–85, 175, 384, 390, 467, 468
Truman Doctrine compared to, 401, 402
Wohlstetter School and, 82–84, 101
as Wolfowitz handiwork, 19
Cambodia, 56
Cambone, Stephen, 370
Camp David peace agreement, 319
Canada, 276
Cantor, Eric, 65
Capra, Frank, 455
Carnegie, Andrew, 135
Carter, Ashton, 331
Carter, Jimmy, 76, 313
elaboration of Carter Doctrine by, 303–7
energy policy of, 306–7, 434, 435–36
Iran and, 309, 329
on Persian Gulf as vital US interest, 255, 304, 307, 435
Carter Doctrine, 162, 225, 347, 435, 437
as beginning of World War IV, 304–7
Castro, Fidel, 55, 64, 157
Catholicism, 132, 423, 440
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 218, 344–45
coups instigated by, 46, 163, 217, 347
intra-bureaucratic attacks on, 106, 368, 369
Chalabi,
Ahmed, 20, 78, 111, 122
Chamberlain, Neville, 228, 238
Cheney, Dick, 77, 103, 332, 369–70
US wars and, 21, 325, 366
Chicago Tribune, 3
China, 219–20, 229–30, 272, 356
Boxer Rebellion in, 219
“losing” of, 220–21
Mao and, 56, 64
Nixon and, 55, 221, 277, 333
Christianity, 132–35
The Church, The Empire, and The World (Hirtzel), 293–94
Churchill, Winston, 24, 255, 262, 264, 295, 343
citizenship, 279, 436, 450
military service and, 465–66
civil-military relations, 371, 468
Civil War, 275, 341, 375, 451
Clancy, Tom, 48–52, 119–20
Clark, Wesley, 120
Clarke, Richard, 122, 123, 323
Clausewitz, Carl von, 130, 371
client states, 315
climate change, 215, 330, 357, 414
Clinton, Bill, 102, 187, 247, 344, 410–11
on America’s historic mission, 26, 28, 237, 388, 448
foreign policy of, 370–71, 383, 422
on globalization, 370, 383, 448
military interventions under, 317–20, 351–52, 383, 400–401, 467
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, 29, 227, 421–22
belief in globalization, 208, 421–22
in election of 2016, 208, 407, 409, 420, 423, 426–28, 429–31, 433
moneyed interests and, 421, 427
national security views of, 28, 430
on Trump “deplorables,” 187
Cobra II (Gordon and Trainor), 365–74
Cohen, Richard, 70
Cohen, Roger, 241
Cohen, William, 101–2
Cold War, 143, 184–85, 300, 410
American military and, 6–7, 267
binary definitions during, 61, 135–36, 322–23, 355, 398
containment strategy during, 40, 177, 343
Eisenhower on, 357–58
Kagan on, 54–56
Kennan and, 41, 43, 44, 46
as name and label, 301, 342
nuclear strategy during, 85–86
preventive war argument during, 175
Reagan and, 71, 155, 224, 302
real history of, 71–72
standard narratives of, 71, 236–37, 259, 301–3
Truman and, 322, 343, 398
two phases of, 302
Vietnam and, 221, 302, 333
war for Europe during, 224
Wohlstetter School on, 85–89, 100
as World War III, 238, 298, 301, 302, 343
Cold War ending, 69, 201–3, 299–300
as “end of history,” 136, 202, 237, 266
fall of Berlin Wall, 7, 43, 155, 201, 202, 231, 259, 388
need for revisionist narrative on, 259–60
“peace dividend” from, 185
Comey, James, 409
Commager, Henry Steele, 32
Commentary, 298
Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy, 86
Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy, 86
Congress, 368–69
conservatism, 11, 24, 144, 279, 455
basic tenets of, 454–58
new agenda proposed for, 458–59
consumerism, 282
containment, 80–81, 468
Cold War strategy of, 40, 177, 343
of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, 99, 317–18
Costigliola, Frank
The Kennan Diaries, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47
covert action, 227, 304, 312, 398
Cross, Gary, 281–82
Cruz, Ted, 28, 48, 49, 227, 432
Cuba, 55, 64, 218, 357
Cuban Missile Crisis, 55, 90–92, 154, 302, 425
cultural revolution, 280–82, 417–18
Czechoslovakia, 55
Daladier, Édouard, 228
Danner, Mark, 336–37
Davis, Sammy, Jr., 75
Day, Dorothy, 11, 214
Dayan, Moshe, 268
Debs, Eugene V., 214
Declaration of Independence, 279, 281
Defense Department, 97, 189, 215, 229, 269, 315, 324, 351, 378, 380
budget of, 356, 358
on Long War, 148, 156, 343–45
under Rumsfeld, 105–16, 367, 370, 371, 372
Defense Planning Guidance, 17–18, 99
defensive war, 163
See also self-defense
democracy, 172, 322
America the Redeemer narrative on, 25–26, 28
(G. W.) Bush narrative on, 77, 173–74
“democratic domino theory,” 336–38
History That Matters narrative on, 235–36
“making world safe for,” 146, 149, 183, 294
democracy (journal), 212
Democratic Party, 412, 414, 421, 424, 425, 426–27
DeMuth, Christopher, 336
Desmond, Norma, 27
Dewey, John, 172
Dewey, Thomas, 425
Diego Garcia, 314
Diem, Ngo Dinh, 71, 250–52
Di Rita, Lawrence, 370
Dirksen, Everett, 412–13
discriminate deterrence, 96–98
diversity, 411, 430, 439
Dominican Republic, 217, 218
Dos Passos, John, 148
Douglas, Paul, 245
drones, 348, 353
Dulles, John Foster, 45
economic inequality, 207, 448–49, 452
Eden, Anthony, 261, 296
education, public, 26–27, 414, 458–59
The Education of Henry Adams (Adams), 132–35
Egypt, 261, 296, 338, 350
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 228, 441
in election of 1956, 424–25, 426, 433
foreign policy of, 71, 217–18, 229, 296, 303–4, 329
on nuclear war and Cold War, 357–58
election financing, 413, 429
elections, presidential
of 1956, 424–25, 426, 433
of 2008, 151–52
of 2016, 188, 207–10, 214, 411–12, 423, 426–33
Electoral College, 413
Elie, Paul, 168
Eliot, T. S., 233, 335
El Salvador, 7, 218
Emmet, Alexandra, 37
An End to Evil (Frum and Perle), 293
environment, 189, 215, 330, 357, 414, 458
European Union, 230–31
evangelical conservatism, 171
Everyman. See Mr. Everyman
expansion, American, 159, 178–79, 275–77, 278–80
Family Research Council (FRC), 63–64
Farrakhan, Louis, 64
Faulkner, William, 265
federal deficit, 282–83, 305, 458
Feith, Douglas, 370
on Iraq War, 21, 105–13, 116, 366
Ferguson, Niall, 292, 297
Fillmore, Millard, 405
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 4
Fonda, Jane, 51
Ford, Gerald, 75
Foreign Affairs, 44, 58, 88, 90–91, 248
France, 54, 189, 329
Middle East and, 162, 223, 294
Pacific and, 218, 221
World War II and, 78, 184, 222, 332
Franks, Fred, 119
Franks, Tommy, 373
American Soldier, 118–31
biographical information, 120–21
Rumsfeld and, 123–24, 130, 372
on war, 129–30
Freedom Agenda, 226, 285, 467, 468
freedom and liberty, 9–10, 158, 179, 188–89, 281, 286–87, 393–94, 452–53
American expansion and, 278–80
(G. W.) Bush on, 168–69, 173–74, 186, 226, 285–86, 323, 389, 398–99, 467
Clinton on, 448
Cold War framing of, 143, 398
Lasch on, 143–44
as new international order theme, 204–5, 206, 207
Niebuhr on, 171–72
free en
terprise, 393
Freneau, Philip, 388
Friedan, Betty, 280
Friedman, Milton, 455
Friedman, Tom, 101, 260
Fromkin, David, 295
Frum, David, 293
Fukuyama, Francis, 266, 272
full-spectrum dominance, 101, 103, 351, 352
Fussell, Paul, 71
Gaddafi, Muammar. See Qaddafi, Muammar, al-
Gaddis, John, 39
Gaither Committee, 86–87, 94
Galston, William, 167
Garner, Jay, 111
Gates, Bill, 410
gay marriage, 441
Gelb, Leslie, 247, 331, 333, 334
gender, 145, 417, 418, 430, 442
The General’s War (Gordon and Trainor), 365–66
Germany
East Germany, 55
Kennan argued against reunification of, 43
in World War I, 222, 258
in World War II, 126–27, 223–24, 258, 342
See also Berlin Wall
gerrymandering, 413
Gerson, Michael, 353
globalization, 101, 173, 206, 260
Bill Clinton and, 370, 383, 448
Hillary Clinton belief in, 208, 421–22
transformative potential of, 203–4
Trump on, 186, 209–10
utopian globalism, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 192
wealth created by, 69, 99, 188, 203, 207, 409, 411
Global War on Terror
(G. W.) Bush on, 98–99, 177, 323, 325, 340, 368–69, 395–96, 398–99, 401–2
changing the way others live through, 163, 283–85
congressional blank check given to, 368–69
evaluating, 447
History That Matters narrative on, 237–38
initial outlining of, 395–96, 398–99, 401–2
Islamism as target of, 61–62
Israeli comparisons to, 270–71
justifications for, 18–19, 27–28, 151, 162, 174–75, 323, 398–99
as living room war, 376–77
as Long War, 148, 151, 163–65, 263, 343–44
metaphorical character of, 377–78
Obama discarding of label, 332, 340
Rumsfeld and, 76, 81, 103, 325
US imperial power and, 389–90
“with us or against us” framing of, 177, 398
Wolfowitz and, 19, 103, 325, 332
as World War IV, 298–99, 340
See also Afghanistan War (United States); Iraq War
The Good Fight (Beinart), 167
Good Neighbor policy, 217
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 71, 201–2, 224, 291
Gordon, Michael, 365–74
Gore, Al, 117
Graham, Lindsey, 261
Graves, Leonard, 255
Great Recession, 254, 448–49
Greece, 245, 396–97, 398
Grenada, 218
Guantanamo, 330
Guatemala, 55–56, 71, 217
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 74, 368
Gulf War (1990–91), 8, 99, 185, 227, 246–47, 268–69, 396
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