Andrew Bacevich
Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, is the author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, which has just been published by Random House. He is also editor of the book, The Short American Century (Harvard Univ. Press), and author of several others, including: Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country (American Empire Project); Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (American Empire Project), and The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II.
Articles by this author
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Views Thursday, June 07, 2018 Infinite War: The Pentagon's Gravy Train Rolls On “ The United States of Amnesia .” That’s what Gore Vidal once called us. We remember what we find it convenient to remember and forget everything else. That forgetfulness especially applies to the history of others. How could their past, way back when, have any meaning for us today? Well, it just... Read more |
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Views Friday, April 20, 2018 Trump Declares ‘Mission Accomplished’ on Syria Attacks — But Whose Mission? As a novice candidate for high office, Donald Trump spelled out his views on war with admirable clarity. The smart approach, he insisted, is to use maximum force in order to win quickly. If victory fails to materialize, then you cut your losses and get out. The last thing you want to do is to get... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, April 10, 2018 Creating a Perpetual War Machine The purpose of all wars, is peace . So observed St. Augustine early in the first millennium A.D. Far be it from me to disagree with the esteemed Bishop of Hippo, but his crisply formulated aphorism just might require a bit of updating. I’m not a saint or even a bishop, merely an interested observer... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, March 20, 2018 On Seeing America's Whole Wars: A Memo to the Publisher of the New York Times March 20, 2018 Dear Mr. Sulzberger: Congratulations on assuming the reins of this nation’s -- and arguably, the world’s -- most influential publication. It’s the family business, of course, so your appointment to succeed your father doesn’t exactly qualify as a surprise. Even so, the responsibility... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, January 30, 2018 How We Got Donald Trump: American Paths Chosen and Not (1989-2018) The present arrives out of a past that we are too quick to forget, misremember, or enshroud in myth. Yet like it or not, the present is the product of past choices. Different decisions back then might have yielded very different outcomes in the here-and-now. Donald Trump ascended to the presidency... Read more |
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Views Saturday, December 16, 2017 As American Statecraft Crumbles into Dangerous Incoherence, Where is the Senate? Where is J. William Fulbright when we need him? Or if not Fulbright, perhaps Robert M. La Follette or George W. Norris. Personally, I’d even settle for William Borah or Burton K. Wheeler. During the 20th century, each of these now largely forgotten barons of the U.S. Senate served the nation with... Read more |
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Views Monday, December 11, 2017 Still Waiting... A Harvey Weinstein Moment for America’s Wars? What makes a Harvey Weinstein moment? The now-disgraced Hollywood mogul is hardly the first powerful man to stand accused of having abused women. The Harveys who preceded Harvey himself are legion, their prominence matching or exceeding his own and the misdeeds with which they were charged at least... Read more |
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Views Monday, October 09, 2017 How We Learned Not To Care About America's Wars Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts. First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven . Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less. Nor can it be said that we don’t care because... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Can a War of Words Become a World of War? There is no saner, seasoned or sensible voice on American foreign policy today than Andrew Bacevich. He graduated from West Point and served in Vietnam, earned his doctorate in diplomatic history from Princeton University, taught history and international relations at Boston University, and has... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, August 22, 2017 The Conflict in Afghanistan Is Trump's War Now With President Trump’s Monday night speech, prospects for ending the Afghanistan war anytime soon have vanished. Whether that bodes well for U.S. national security is another matter. Nearly 16 years after U.S. forces first entered Afghanistan, there they remain. Success, narrowly defined as... Read more |