Militarization of Foreign Policy

(see also War, Arms Trade, War Profiteering, War on Terrorism, American Empire, Foreign Policy Reform & US & the UN)

Basics

On the Web: Articles

Report: Military Spending Tops $1 Trillion Last Year. Mattias Karen, AP (6/7/05). World-wide. US accounts for about half of total, spends far more per capita ($1,453) than any other country, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The Marines' "How To" Book for Empire. William Marina, Common Dreams (4/14/04).

Career Officer Does Eye-Opening Stint Inside Pentagon. Karen Kwiatowski, Akron Beacon-Jouirnal (7/31/03). Retired Lt.-Col.'s critique of planning & execution of Iraq reconstruction.

Pentagon's "Footprint" Growing in Africa. Jim Lobe, Foreign Policy in Focus (5/12/03).

The Push for War. Anatol Lieven, London Review of Books (10/3/02). Brilliant critique of world view & militarist foreign policy of "think tank" intellectuals surrounding Bush administration.

The President's Real Goal in Iraq. Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (9/29/02).

Instances of the Use of US Forces Abroad, 1798-1993. Ellen C. Collier, Congressional Research Service (10/7/93). Lists 234 foreign interventions as of that date.

Haliburton's Destructive Engagement: How Dick Cheney & USA-Engage Subvert Democracy at Home & Abroad. EarthRights Report.

Killing Civilians to Show that Killing Civilians is Wrong: A Brief on the History of U.S. Military Interventions Zoltan Grossman Znet

On the Web: Specialized Sites

American Forces Information Service (Department of Defense).

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Center for Defense Information.

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Global Security Newswire.

International Institute for Strategic Studies.

National Security Archive.

What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy.

In the Library: Articles

Anon. "The military budget boondoggle," In These Times (6/16/97).

Arnove, Anthony. "Robber baron," In These Times (11/13/00):7-8. Dick Cheney profits from lucrative deals with Iraq.

Baker, Kevin. "We're in the army now," Harper's (10/03):35-46. GOP's plan to spread military culture.

Borosage, Robert L. "All dollars, no sense," Mother Jones (9-10/93):41-44.

Catley, Bob. "Hegemonic America: the arrogance of power," Contemporary Southeast Asia (8/99).

Cockburn, Alexander. "Cambodia to Kosovo," Nation (6/7/99):9. Origins & importance of War Powers Act, limiting President's authority to wage war without prior Congressional approval.

Cortright, David. "NATO’s new frontier," Nation (3/31/97):21-22.

Dowd, Doug. “Cry ‘havoc!’ & let slip the dogs of war: McCarthyism, Korea, & other nightmares,” Monthly Review 48, 11 (4/97):32-42.

Dreyfuss, Robert. “The thirty-year itch,” Mother Jones (3-4/03):38-45.

Evernden, Jack F. "Politics, technology, & the test ban," in Len Ackland & Steven McGuire (eds.) Assessing the Nuclear Age: Selections from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Chicago IL: Education Foundation for Nuclear Science), pp.181-187. When politicians deal with complex technology, things may not always be what they seem.

Falk, Richard. "Liberation from the military logic," in Len Ackland & Steven McGuire (eds.) Assessing the Nuclear Age: Selections from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Chicago IL: Education Foundation for Nuclear Science), pp. 295-302.

Farrell, Michael J. "If LIC is the answer, US interests are the question," National Catholic Reporter (4/20/90). On "low intensity conflict" doctrine of Reagan era & its projection into future.

Fitgerald, France. “Annals of justice: Iran-Contra,” New Yorker (8/16/89):52-84

Galambos, Louis. "Paying up: the price of the Vietnam War," Journal of Policy History 8 (1996):166-79.

Hertzberg, Hendrik. “Talk of the town,” New Yorker (4/14/03): 25-26.

Hersh, Seymour M. "Selective intelligence," New Yorker (5/12/03):44-51.

__________. "Offense & defense," New Yorker (4/7/03):43-45. Rumsfeld vs. Pentagon in preparations for Iraq war.

Klare, Michael. "US military strategy after Vietnam," Monthly Review 25,10(3/74):11-26.

__________. "Itching for a fight. Washington prepares for war against the ‘rogues’" Progressive (9/96):32-33.

__________. "Permanent presence: US strategic policy for the 21st c.," NACLA Report 34,3 (11-12/00):8-15.

Lawson, Maggie Ledford. "The fatal legend of preemptive war," National Catholic Reporter (2/27/04):18.

Mandebaum, Michael. "A perfect failure: NATO’s war against Yugoslavia," Foreign Affairs (9/10/99).

Marshall, Joshua Michah. "Practice to decieve: chaos in the Middle East isn't the Bush-hawks' nightmare scenario-it's their plan," The Washington Monthly (4/03):29-34.

Melman, Seymour. "Military state capitalism," Nation (5/20/91):1,664.

Mesler, Bill. "NATO's new arms bazaar: US military contractors & diplomats are hawking their wares together," Nation (7/21/97).

Nearing, Scott. "They call it defense," Monthly Review (5/55). Critical response to Newsweek article mapping aggressive encirclement of Soviet Union.

Rogers, Paul. "US military posture: a uniquely benign imperialism?" in L. Panitch & C. Leys (eds.) Socialist Register 2004: The New Imperial Challenge (NY: Monthly Review, 2004).

Rostow, Walt W. "Countering guerrilla warfare," New Leader (7/31/61):12-14. Early formulation of US counter-insurgency doctrine perfected in Vietnam, & applied later in Southern Africa, Central America, Philippines, Colombia & elsewhere.

Saletan, William. "Humanitarian hawks. What wars can liberals support? The kind that conservatives hate" Mother Jones (7/8/99):29-31.

Schwarz, Benjamin & Christopher Layne. "NATO at 50: it’s time to quit," Nation (5/10/99):15-19.

Slotkin, Richard. "Gunfighters & Green Berets: The magnificent seven and the myth of counter-insurgency," Radical History Review 44 (1989):65-90.

Stocking, Ben. "Viet-US military ties to be pursued," San Jose Mercury News (10/3/03): 1AA.

Ziferstein, Isidore. "Psychological habituation to war," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry ?,? (4/67). How government propaganda prepares people for war.

Zinn, Howard. "The ‘greatest generation’?" Progressive (10/01).

In the Library: Non-Fiction Books

Aldrich, R.J. & G.D. Rawnsley (eds.) The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945-65: Western Intelligence, Propaganda & Special Operations (Portland, 2000).

Arlinghaus, Bruce E. (ed.) Arms for Africa: Military Assistance & Foreign Policy in the Developing World (Lexington MA: Lexington, 1983).

Bacevich, Andrew J. & Eliot A. Cohen (eds.) War over Kosovo. Politics & Strategy in a Global Age (NY, 2001).

Bellesiles, Michael A. Lethal Imagination: Violence & Brutality in American History (NY, 1999).

Bennis, Phillis. Before & After: US Foreign Policy & the September 11 Crisis (NY: Olive Branch, 2003).

Blum, William. Rogue State. A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower (Monroe ME, 2000).

Brandes, Stuart D. Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America (Lexington KY, 1997).

Brodine, Virginia & Mark Selden (eds.) Open Secret: The Kissinger-Nixon Doctrine in Asia (NY: Harper & Row, 1972).

Clark, Gen. Wesley. Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, & the Future of Combat (NY: Public Affairs, 2001).

___________. Winning Modern Wars: Iraq, Terrorism and the American Empire (NY: PublicAffairs, 2003).

Cohen, Warren I. (ed.) The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations (NY: Cambridge, 1993).

Collins, John & Ross Glover. Collateral Language: A User's Guide to America's New War (NY: NYU, 2003).

Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches & Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (Berkeley: U. California, 2002).

Fallaci, Oriana. Interview with History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976). Interview with Henry Kissinger.

Fousek, John. To Lead the Free World: American Nationalism & the Cultural Roots of the Cold War (Chapel Hill, 2000).

Gibson, James W. Warrior Dreams. Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America (NY, 199?).

Goff, Stan. Full Spectrum Disorder: The Military in the New American Century (Brooklyn NY: Soft Skull, 2004).

Greider, William. Fortress America: The American Military & the Consequences of Peace (NY: PublicAffairs, 1998). Pentagon trapped in spiral of wasteful & potentially deadly spending. Urges honest debate of alternatives for long-term security.

Halberstam, David. War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton & the Generals (NY, 2001). On post-Cold War uses of bombing as "low-cost" assertion of power.

Hartung, William D. And Weapons for All (NY: Harper Collins, 1994). Institutionalization of US arms trade since Nixon Doctrine, & its implications for US society & world.

__________. Corporate Welfare for Weapons Makers: The Hidden Costs of Spending on Defense & Foreign Aid (Washington: Cato Institute, 1999).

Hoffman, Stanley. America Goes Backward (NY: NY Review, 2005?)

Hoyt, Edwin P. The American Attitude: The Story of the Making of Foreign Policy in the US (NY: Abelard-Schuman, 1970).

__________. America's Wars & Military Incursions (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1987).

Hirsh, Michael. At War with Ourselves: Why America is Squandering its Chance to Build a Better World (NY: Oxford, 2003).

Hunter, Stephen. Time to Hunt (NY: Bantam, 2003).

Johnson, Chalmers. Blowback: The Costs & Consequences of American Empire (NY, 2001).

Katzenstein, Peter (ed.) The Culture of National Security: Norms & Identity in World Politics (NY, 1996).

Klare, Michael T.& Cynthia Arnson & Delia Miller & Daniel Volman. Supplying Repression: US Support for Authoritarian Regimes Abroad (Washington: Institute for Policy Studies, 1981).

__________. Beyond the Vietnam Syndrome: US Interventionism in the 1980s (Washington: Institute for Policy Studies, 1981).

Kofsky, Frank. Harry S. Truman & the War Scare of 1948: A Successful Campaign to Deceive the Nation (NY: St. Martin's, 1993).

Kolko, Gabriel. The Roots of American Foreign Policy: An Analysis of Power & Purpose (Boston: Beacon, 1969).

__________. Confronting the Third World: US Foreign Policy, 1945-1980 (NY: Pantheon, 1988).

Kolko, Joyce & Gabriel Kolko. The Limits of Power: The World & US Foreign Policy, 1945-1954 (NY: Harper & Row, 1972).

Kuttner, Robert. Everything for Sale. The Virtues & Limits of Markets (NY, 1997).

LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, & the Cold War, 1945-2000 (9th ed.; NY: Wiley, 2002).

__________. America in the Cold War: Twenty Years of Revolutions & Response, 1947-1967 (NY: Wiley, 1969).

Landau, Saul. The Dangerous Doctrine: National Security & US Foreign Policy (Boulder: Westview, 1988).

Lens, Sidney. The Military-Industrial Complex (Philadelphia: Pilgrim, 1970).

__________. The Maginot Line Syndrom: America's Hopeless Foreign Policy (Cambridge MA: Ballinger, 1982).

__________. Permanent War: The Militarization of America (NY: Schocken, 1987).

Logevall, Frederick. Choosing War. The Last Chance for Peace & the Escalation of War in Vietnam (Berkeley, 1999).

Maddox, Robert J. The Unknown War with Russia: Wilson's Siberian Intervention (San Rafael CA: Presidio, 1977).

__________. From War to Cold War: The Education of Harry Truman (Bouldere: Westview, 1988).

Mann, Michael. Incoherent Empire (NY: Verso, 2005). US imperial project "fundamentally flawed on its own terms," promising "a future in which unfettered militarism must make up for glaring inadequacies in polcy-making."

May, Ernest R. & Walter LaFeber. The Impact of War on the US in the 20th Century (Houston TX: U. of St. Thomas, 1974).

McFarland, Keith D. & David L. Roll. Louis Johnson & the Arming of America: The Roosevelt & Truman Years (Bloomington: Indiana U., 2005).

Murtha, John P. From Vietnam to 9/11: On the Front Lines of National Security (University Park: Pennsylvania State U, 2003).

McCormick, Thomas J. & Walter LaFeber (eds.) Behind the Throne: Servants of Power to Imperial Presidents, 1898-1968 (Madison: U. Wisconsin, 1993).

O'Hanlon, Michael E. The Art of War in an Age of Peace: US Military Posture for the Post-Cold War World (Westport CT: Praeger, 1992).

__________. Defense Planning for the Late 1990s: Beyond the Desert Storm Framework (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1995).

Peceny, Mark. Democracy at the Point of Bayonets (University Park PA: Pennsylvania State, 1999).

Peterson, Scott. Me Against My Brother. At War in Somalia, Sudan & Rwanda (NY, 2001).

Powaski, Ronald E. Toward an Entangling Alliance: American Isolationism, Internationalism & Europe, 1901-1950 (NY: Greenwood, 1991).

__________. The Cold War: The US & the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 (NY: Oxford, 1998).

Priest, Dana. The Mission: Waging War & Keeping Peace with America’s Military (NY: Norton, 2003).

Quigley, John B. The Ruses for War: American Interventionism since World War II (Buffalo NY: Prometheus, 1992).

Retort. Afflicted Powers: Capital & Spectacle in a New Age of War (London: Verso, 2005).

Schell, Jonathan. The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, & the Will of the People (NY: Holt, 2003).

Schoenbaum, Thomas J. Waging Peace & War: Dean Rusk in the Truman, Kennedy & Johnson Years (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1988).

Schmitz, David F. Thank God They’re on Our Side: The U.S. & Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921-1965 (Chapel Hill, 1999).

Scott, James M. (ed.) After the End: Making U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War World (Durham NC, 1998).

Simpson, Christopher. Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis & its Effect on the Cold War (NY: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988).

Small, Melvin. Was War Necessary? National Security & U.S. Entry into War (Beverly Hills, 1980). Reviews circumstances of entry into wars of 1812, Mexican-American, Spanish-American, World Wars I & II & Korea.

Stockwell, John. The Praetorian Guard: The US Role in the New World Order (Boston: South End, 1991).

Vidal, Gore. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace (NY: Nation Books, 2002).

Williams, William Appleman. America Confronts a Revolutionary World, 1776-1976 (NY: Morrow, 1976).

Yergin, Daniel. Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War & the National Security State (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977).

Zunes, Stephen. Tinderbox: US Foreign Policy & the Roots of Terrorism (Monroe ME: Common Courage, 2002).

In the Library: Fiction

In the Library: For Young Readers

In the Library: Poetry

In the Library: Drama

In the Library: Photography

CD & Audio

Film & Video

"Arms for the Poor" [1998], dir. ?, 25m. From Old Dog Documentaries. Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney & the Dalai Lama argue against US arms exports to developing countries.

"Bowling for Columbine" [2002], dir. Michael Moore. In video stores.

"Deadly Mistakes" [2005], dir. Walter Miale, 405m (2 videodiscs). From Bullfrog Films. Egregious US policy errors: nuclear weapons, Cuba, Vietnam, Cold War, Central America, Iraq, Colombia.

" In Whose Interest?" [2002], dir. ?, 27m. On transformation of US into "superpower" since 1945.

"Keeping the Old Game Alive" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. Examines annual NATO war games, & prospects for the next world war.

"The Road to Total War" [1983], by National Film Board of Canada, 60m. From Films Inc. Advances in military technology over two centuries.

"The Trials of Henry Kissinger" [2002], dir. Alex Gibney & Eugene Jarecki, 80m. From First Run Features.