Literary Review of The American Way of War

Political engineering, frontloading, private contractors, and the disastrous rise of misplaced power in the executive branch of government, these are just some of the phrases and concepts that Eugene Jarecki introduces the reader to in his book, The American Way of War. Continuing to explore the subject of the military industrial complex that he based his 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary "Why We Fight.", the author further explores the most under reported and discussed issues effecting America today.

While the book by Eugene Jarecki is an excellent print edition follow up to his 2005 film on the military industrial complex (MIC), the book falls a bit short in fully exploring the vast empire of bases the MIC possesses around the world or the probable involvement of the MIC in the September 11 “terrorist attack” in New York City and Washington D.C. Readers familiar with the gold standard work done by Chalmers Johnson in Blowback, Empire of Sorrows, and Nemesis, would agree with the aforementioned estimation.

As Rob Williams; editor, Vermont Commons newspaper writes in a Amazon book review of The American Way of War,

Speaking critically, as a U.S. historian and secessionist/ decentralist, my arguments with Jarecki's book are not insignificant. I find troubling his refusal to touch the mountain of evidence - the scholarly and well-researched work of David Ray Griffin or Michael Ruppert, for example - that suggests that the 9/11 attacks served as a "false flag" operation engineered by elements within the U.S. government to advance a "new Pearl Harbor." This is an odd omission, since this phrase is one he uses repeatedly in the book, quoting the Project For A New American Century's statement calling for a new "defensive" posture - one that essential advocates a policy of "full spectrum dominance" in which the U.S. militarizes the entire globe and outer space. (Orwell would be nodding knowingly right now.)

Perhaps prompting the aforementioned opinion by Mr. Williams was the lack of follow through by Jarecki on linking the 9/11 attacks and the talk of a “new Pearl Harbor” after Jarecki analyzes the Arthur McCollum memo in 1941 in the chapter, The Arsenal of Democracy. In the chapter, Jarecki appears to make a strong suggestion that Franklin D. Roosevelt used some of the tactics suggested in the eight-point memo by an officer serving in the Far Eastern section of the Office of Naval Intelligence to get the United States involved in World War II.

While Jarecki may falter in connecting the highly controversial and sensitive issues of Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jarecki adequately compensates for this in the chapter, The Missing “C”: An Insiders Guide to the Complex. One of the more interesting chapters in the book, The Missing “C” , Jarecki interviews Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of Dwight D Eisenhower, who reveals that the original configuration of the now famous phrase by Eisenhower had not been ‘military industrial complex’, but rather ‘military industrial congressional complex’.

In addition to interviewing Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Jarecki also interviews Franklin Spinney, a retired military officer who is considered one of the most recognized experts in defense cost overruns and how the defense industry operates. Any Tea Party supporter or conservative who reads the sub-chapters entitled, The Plans/reality MisMatch and Frontloading and Political Engineering, will see how badly corrupted and inefficient the defense industry is in America.

Although the book by Eugene Jarecki is not as polished as the books by Andrew Bacevich or filled with encyclopedia amounts of information like Chalmers Johnson’s trilogy of books, The American Way of War is still an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn the true reasons why the United States is a perpetual war.