What do we call them - Essay Example

Andrew Bacevichs "The New American Militarism" It is a common knowledge, that for a country to reach the top echelons, its defense has to be sound and strong. That is, a country’s army, navy, air force, scientists etc, etc will only join ‘hands’ together, to protect the territorial integrity as well as to gain superiority over other countries. To achieve these two objectives, countries will initiate or get involved in a series of events, which will contribute to the overall objectives. But, these events even while achieving the set objectives could cause dangerous repercussions to the country, who initiated the events.

So, this paper will evaluate Andrew Bacevichs book, The New American Militarism focusing on his thesis that U.S. is becoming a kind of ‘military crusader’, who are militarily involving themselves in theatres of war, without utilizing the diplomatic and peace options.In the beginning of the book itself, Andrew Bacevich states that the Americans have become enthralled and captivated by its military power and so have formed notions of world domination. So, this book actually examines the origins and importantly the unwanted repercussions of these misguided notions.

That is, American militarism originated as a form of reaction to the Vietnam War, with the antics of Saddam Hussein and importantly the September 11 bombing of Twin Towers, only adding ‘fuel to the fire’. He further asserts that the Government leaders and officials have overrated the effectiveness of military force in foreign affairs, and so avoided the role of diplomacy, to achieve its foreign policy aims. Importantly, the romanticized images of war happenings, which are being featured in Films (action movies), TV channels, etc, have also ‘tuned’ many people in accepting the effectiveness of military power.

So, the basic point that is being put forward in the book is, American citizens including the conservatives and liberals should strongly oppose mixing militarism with utopian ideology, which could have dangerous repercussions for both the American people and also the people of other countries. This can be explained by the happenings in the Iraq War. Under the pretext of finding the non-existent nuclear weapons, USA launched a series of violent attacks on the country, killing thousand of innocent people. . “We will wreak havoc abroad.

We will endanger our security at home. We will risk the forfeiture of all that we prize."(Bacevich). Even though, it toppled, the most autocratic government headed by Saddam Hussein, USA’s violent acts inside Iraq, caused loss of many lives and led to a lot of hostility against USA in the Muslim world, with many rising against the USA. So, Bacevich is correct in his assertions regarding USA’s military policies and so conceived The New American Militarism not only as "a corrective to what has become the conventional critique of U.S. policies since 9/11 but as a challenge to the orthodox historical context employed to justify those policies.

" Andrew Bacevich was a West Point graduate, a Vietnam veteran and a conservative, and so his notion that USA should not use military power to achieve its foreign policy aims, sounds odd as well as interesting. He openly touches his divergence in the book, by stating that even though he was conservative, he does not support the immoral, unfeasible and also unconstitutional military initiatives of the U.S. government. He writes that he still sees himself "culturally on the right… But my disenchantment with what passes for mainstream conservatism, embodied in the present Bush administration and its groupies, is just about absolute.

Fiscal irresponsibility, a buccaneering foreign policy, a disregard for the Constitution, the barest lip service as a response to profound moral controversies: these do not qualify as authentically conservative values” (Bacevich). So, on the whole, Bacevich opposes the American military initiatives or American militarism, by discussing its origins and its repercussion, in a more in-depth and telling way. Works CitedBacevich, Andrew. The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War.

Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.