Below is a link and a an excerpts from three-page article in The
Nation. Ostensibly a book review of Winning Modern Wars, it gives a
favorable run-down of Clark's background and his views on foreign
policy, and to a less degree, national security. The first and last
paragraphs should indicate why I think it's worth reading in full.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20031208&s=fitzgeraldreview |
A Soldier's Story
by Frances FitzGerald
In the annals of American politics Winning Modern Wars is an unusual
book. Written--by Clark himself--between April and September of this
year, it proceeds from an analysis of the military campaigns in
Afghanistan and Iraq to a comprehensive critique of Bush's war on
terror and on his national security policy generally. Possibly some
other modern presidential candidate wrote a book such as this just
before entering the race, but offhand I can't think of one. Most of
Clark's views about the general direction of US foreign policy will
sound familiar, for most are shared by the other major Democratic
contenders. However, this book is nothing like the goo usually served up in campaign literature, for he is also a very good writer:
logical, lucid and concise. Moreover, he has much of interest to say
about military operations and the relationship--or lack of it--
between specific campaigns and the overall US security strategy. He
is well qualified for the task.
"Transforming frustration at home into action abroad has emerged as a pattern in democracies under stress," Clark observes. "It...happened in ancient Rome, in the Netherlands and in Britain. And like most distractions, it provided false reassurance and was followed by damaging consequences." In Clark's view, American power resides to a large degree in the "virtual empire" the United States constructed after World War II: that is, among other things, its network of economic and security arrangements, the leverage it had in international institutions and treaty regimes, plus the shared values and reservoir of trust, or "soft power," that permitted past Presidents to lead by persuasion. Clark's forceful book warns that the Bush Administration is undermining this virtual empire and at the same time imperiling the "hard power" Bush counts upon, the power of America's economy and armed forces.