Andrew Bacevich

Andrew J. Bacevich's new book is America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History.

From his Q & A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: You begin your new book with a look at Operation Eagle Claw, the failed hostage rescue attempt during the Carter presidency. Why did you choose to start here, and what role did Carter play in the shift of U.S. attention toward military involvement in the Middle East?

A: The Carter Doctrine, promulgated in December 1979, initiated the process of militarizing U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf and more broadly throughout much of the Islamic world.

The failed Iran hostage rescue mission represented the first fruits — however bitter — of this new policy, which over time blossomed into what we should rightly call America’s War for the Greater Middle East.

I don’t mean to imply that Carter in any way anticipated what was to follow during the decades to come. He certainly did not. He was...[read on]

The Page 99 Test: The New American Militarism.

The Page 99 Test: The Limits of Power.

--Marshal Zeringue