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How America Can Win Or Lose Off The Battlefield
Palgrave Macmillan Trade
September 2014
On Sale: September 2, 2014
256 pages
ISBN: 1137279389
EAN: 9781137279385
Kindle: B00JTIOXX4
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
For the better part of the last half century, the United
States has been the World’s Police, claiming to defend
ideologies, allies, and our national security through brute
force. But is military action always the most appropriate
response? Drawing on his vast experience, from combat in
Vietnam to peacekeeping in Somalia, to war games in
Washington, DC and negotiations with former rebels in the
Philippines, retired four-star General Tony Zinni argues
that we have a lot of work to do to make the process of
going to war—or not—more clear-eyed and ultimately successful. He examines the relationship between the executive and the
military (including the difference between passive and
engaged presidents); the failures of the Joint Chief of
Staff; the challenges of working with the UN, coalition
forces, and NATO; the difference between young, on the
ground officers and less savvy senior leaders; the role of
special forces and drone warfare; and the difficult choices
that need to be made to create tomorrow’s military. Among
his provocative points: * Virtually every recent American military operation follows
a disconnected series of actions that lead to outcomes we
never foresaw or intended. * We need to assign accountability for the political
decisions that can make or break a mission. * Words and ideas are as important to victory in today’s
conflicts as bullets. * The cyber “war” is ongoing. Either you must build better
tech than the other guy, or you must steal it. * Our foreign aid budget is pitiful, our State Department,
USAID, and the other government agencies that we critically
need to be on a par with our military are underfunded,
undermanned, and poorly structured for their current objectives. From the Oval Office to the battlefield, Before the First
Shots Are Fired is a hard-hitting analysis of the history of
America’s use of military action and a spirited call for change.
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