Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

Mini Teaser: There is no shortage of books on security and strategy in a world beset by terror. "Fortunately," writes Harvey Sicherman, "most are short."

by Author(s): Harvey Sicherman

The Perils of Cheap Hawkery

These books are indeed variations on American traditions but not the tired realist versus idealist. Pearl Harbor and World War II taught Americans that the Germans and Japanese, if left alone, would do grievous harm to their neighbors and American interests. The great title deeds of U.S. leadership after 1945--the UN, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, NATO, the U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty, the opening to China--were all intended to transform continents and regions. And they were also backed by large American forces, still deployed forward. It was a reluctant imperium--maybe that explains part of its success--that kept the national interest crowd and the Wilsonians in tenuous balance at home.

Confronted by international terrorism, Bush has indeed fashioned a similar strategy. Unlike John Q., George W. has the power to project military force worldwide. Like FDR, he has a basic if fluctuating coalition that, if handled skillfully, adds real strength. But is it yet enough to win and transform or only to contain? How far are we prepared to go with a foreign policy doctrine that hails enforcing "a balance of power that favors freedom"? Must we do as we did after Korea, mobilize "for the duration" of a long war of attrition? Timidity will guarantee defeat. But so will cheap hawkery--excessive rhetoric supported by underwhelming force.

Essay Types: Book Review