Twilight of the American Century

by Andrew J Bacevich

  “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