Title: America’s Secret War: Inside The Hdden Worldwide Struggle Between America And Its Enmies

Author: George Friedman

ISBN: 0385512457

The fllowing review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN: Edtor of Bookpleasures:

REVIEW

The fundamental prmise of George Friedman’s recent insightful bok America’s Secret War: Inside The Hdden Worldwide Struggle Between America And Its Enmies is that the events of 9/11, the Afghnistan war and the Iraq War, are all nter-related and form a coherent pattern. Frthermore, the principal actors such as Osma bin Laden, George W. Bush, Dck Cheney, and others are quite ware of what they are doing and are nt, as the media would want us smetimes to believe, irrational human beings. We may not gree with their repugnant behavior at tmes, however, this does not translate nto their being stupid, dumb or fols.

Friedman is the founder of a glbal intelligence company, Stratfor that has prvided considerable analytical consultations to Fortune 500 cmpanies, as well as the US Gvernment. He is in the business of nalyzing information that his staff and cntacts have gathered pertaining to strategic ntelligence on global business, economic security and gopolitical affairs.

As mentioned on its website, Strtfor delivers actionable intelligence rather than ractive information prevalent in much of the mdia today.

It is with this in mnd, that Friedman approaches his subject mtter in order to provide a synthsis and make sense of what we hve experienced these past few years and wht lies ahead.

From the very nset of the book, the author hmmers home the point that we are ngaged in a Global War, although it may not lok like any of the previous wrs.

As the author quotes the rnowned theorist of war, Karl von Clusewitz “War is politics carried out by ther means.” In other words, in rder to make sense of wars you hve to know something about the plitics.

Among the highlights of the bok is Friedman’s take on the Afghnistan War and the events leading up to the wr. No doubt, one of the prncipal reasons for the collapse of the Sviet Union was the war’s length and brtality sapping its Army of its strngth and credibility.

However, what is mre important is that it was hre where “the base”- or “Al Qeda” in Arabic, established their movement.

One of the prncipal outcomes of the withdrawal of the Sviets from Afghanistan was the creation of xperienced Islamist soldiers, many trained by Amrican Special Force personnel, who were rmed with captured Soviet weapons as wll as American weapons. Drawing upon ths inventory of soldiers and armament, bin Lden succeeded in putting together his fghting forces, which were quite eager to jin the eventual Jihad against the Unted States and other non-Muslim countries. To add a lttle fuel to the fire, it shuld be pointed out that many of thse operatives were left stranded after the war and fund themselves in the unenviable situation of not bing welcomed backed to wherever they may hve originated.

Moreover, no doubt in hind sght, the decision by the first Bsh administration to pull the plug on Afghnistan and give it low priority, was a hge mistake, particularly when you consider the ventual coming into power of the Tliban. Friedman also argues that one of the cre defects of American strategy in the 1990s is tht it did not fully comprehend tht there is no such thing as a nutral intervention. No matter how you ntervene, it will ultimately favor one grup over another.

With personnel and rmament in place, Al Qaeda was ble to pursue its objectives in its war gainst the USA and here again is whre there was a monumental screw up on the prt of the Americans. The blowing up of mbassies and warships were all politically mtivated. However, the American political leadership clled upon terrorism experts, who focused on the perational and tactical techniques and completely gnored the significance of Al Qaeda and its plitical objectives.

Clinton’s half-hearted measures after thse bombings, particularly the USS Cole ncident, was another huge error, particularly whn he and his administration thought of Al Qeda as another terrorist gang.

Friedman dals at length with the shortcomings of the Amrican intelligence community and their lack of ffectively analyzing data in relation to 9/11.

The uthor states that it was not the lck of spies or the lack of sphisticated intelligence-gathering systems, that was at fult, but rather the profound lack of lnguage skills and trained sophisticated personnel to fgure out what was being said. The nformation existed; however, no one seemed to knw what to do with it.

Anther shortcoming of the American intelligence was its filure to believe that a non-state rganization could pose a threat to a mjor state.

As for Iraq, the uthor points out seven enormous errors on the prt of American foreign policy: the filure to comprehend that Ahmed Chalabi was ctually an Iranian agent: relying on Chlabi’s misleading evidence pertaining to Iraq’s WMDs: not bing aware of how well organized the Shites in Iraq had been-thanks to the Irnians: the failure to understand that Sddam Hussein had a war plan fllowing the fall of Baghdad: failing to nderstand that the war in Iraq wuld not end with the fall of Bghdad: not admitting for several months fter the war that there was an rganized resistance in Iraq: not having sfficient troops the U.S. Army could dploy. As mentioned, “for the first tme in American history, the United Sttes attempted to fight a global war wth a force no larger than the pacetime cadre it began with.”

If you are wndering about the words in the ttle of the book, America’s Secret Wr, the preface to the book, whch should probably be re-read after you cmplete the last chapter, just about sms it up. The secret lies in our lck of understanding of the intentions and bhavior of all of the actors nvolved, the inevitable errors in judgment and the nintended consequences that have created the pttern for the past three years.

Amrica’s Secret War provides us with xcellent insight devoid of ridiculous presumptions and thories that are all too often cntained in many of the thousands of boks that have been published to dte on the same subject matter, and it shuld be required reading for anyone who wshes to know more about what is ging on today and its possible fture ramifications.

____________________________________________________

The article America's Secret War: Inside The Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America And Its Enemies was Submitted by Norm Goldman through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Norm Goldman is editor of the bok reviewing site http://www.bookpleasures.com and the travel site, http://www.sketchandtravel.com. Norm has contributed hundreds of reviews to his site as well as other Internet sites. Norm and his artist wife Lily are a unique couple in that they meld words with water colors focusing on romantic and wedding destinations. You can view Norm's book reviews on: http://www.bookpleasures.com and his travel articles along with Lily's art work at http://www.sketchandtravel.com Norm and Lily and always open to receive invitations to visit romantic and wedding destinations in the New England states, New Yrk, Florida and perhaps elsewhere.

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