Download Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War AudioBook Free
The best-selling author of The Boundaries of Power critically examines the Washington consensus on countrywide security and just why it must change. Going back 50 % century, as administrations have come and gone, the fundamental assumptions about America's armed forces policy have remained unchanged: American security requires the United States (and us by itself) to keep up a permanent armed presence around the world, to prepare our makes for military operations in far-flung parts, and to be ready to intervene everywhere at any time. In the Obama time, just as in the Bush years, these values remain unquestioned gospel. In a vivid, incisive evaluation, Andrew J. Bacevich succinctly presents the origins of the consensus, forged at a moment when American electricity was at its height. He exposes the preconceptions, biases, and practices that underlie our pervasive beliefs in armed forces might, especially the idea that frustrating superiority will oblige others to support America's needs and desires-whether for cheap essential oil, cheap credit, or cheap consumer goods. And he issues the usefulness of our own militarism as it has become both unaffordable and significantly dangerous. Though our politicians deny it, American global might is faltering. This is the moment in time, Bacevich argues, to reconsider the guidelines which shape American policy in the world-to acknowledge that correcting Afghanistan should not take precedence over correcting Detroit. Replacing this Washington consensus is essential to America's future, and could yet offer the key to the country's salvation.