Abstract
What does this war mean?
The invasion of Iraq
was intended to bring clarity to the
nature of the war and America ’s purpose, but it has succeeded in muddying
both. Yet it has
also succeeded in accelerating change in, and deepening America ’s
relationship with, the
Muslim World, with consequences far beyond what we have surveyed to
date.
These essays are a meditation on the essential (if essentially untreated) theme of
war as the ultimate
bringer of change.
Annotated Table of Contents
Skepticism
Defeating the Gods of War
(May 1,2003)
In
Iraq the United States ended the utility of classical war. Demonstrating
American “military transformation ” ironically ushered in a new paradigm
of war in which we can be defeated. Thus the “triumphalism ” that
succeeded the initial Iraq campaign was premature. The real war was yet to
come.
Military Identity in the Age
of Empire (June 19,2003)
Even if wholly successful, total world security management,
or “American Empire,” would be realized at the expense of the
U.S. military ’s very
identity. Military societies serving an empire rather than a republic,
acting as enforcers rather than defenders, suggest a terrible irony both
to the concept of military transformation and even victory.
“Enemy Mine ” (July 29,2003)
Victory itself has
been fundamentally misunderstood. In war the relationship with the enemy
and his world defines both the narrative of the conflict and the
parameters of victory. In
Iraq the
United States ignored the centrality of its relationship with the Muslim
World and instead reflexively replayed its own cherished story line of
World War II. In doing so we are unconsciously participating in —and
legitimating —the enemy’s story.
Inquiry
The Muslims Are Coming! The
Muslims Are Coming!(August 26,2003)
American strategy fixates on
the majority Muslim World, but the future of Islam may be shaped in the
minority Muslim World, especially in Western Europe. In France, Italy, and
Spain, Muslims may reach a quarter of the population by 2050.This not only
suggests the prospect of religious reform, but also the possibility of
religious and social mixing that could lead to a new cultural synthesis. A
much more Muslim European culture might have important strategic
implications for the
United States
in the pursuit of its long war.
The Six Dilemmas of the
Moderate Islamist (October 16,2003)
The moderate Islamist is ignored —even denied —by U.S. statecraft
but the broader movement for change within Islam has a strong and vital
element that is pluralistic and non-violent. Its quietude makes it
vulnerable, however, to the radical Islamists, who insist that theirs is
the only way to defend a Muslim World under attack from the United States
of America needs to reach out to peaceful Islamists or risk change in
Islam that is wholly radicalized.
The Story of This War
(November 6,2003)
There was once a story, a complete narrative on which the administration
had come to rely. U.S. war strategy, including planned campaigns, depended
on the proper unfolding of this story. But the American strategic
narrative failed, leaving confusion and uncertainty about even a local
outcome in Iraq.
What happened to this story of the future? What new narrative will succeed
it?
Enemies of the Good
(December 11,2003)
The United States has become the bringer of change to the Muslim World.
However, rather than appealing to the more moderate and pluralistic change
forces within Islam, America has adopted a strategy of destroying the
radicals ’ notion of Islam while attempting to impose the American vision
of secular democracy on all Muslims. We should rethink our longer-term
relationship with the Muslim World before we usher in the opposite of what
we intend.
Prospects
The Soldiering Ethos
(February 19,2004)
Although America has fought a war for more than two years with a peacetime
military, the situation is changing. Effective insurgency in Iraq is just
the first step moving our military into long-term wartime. Over the
decades that this war promises, an active U.S. engagement in the Muslim
World will mean nothing less than a profoundly altered military
establishment and military society —not, as assumed initially, a supreme
force running the world, but rather a “soldiering ” society and way of
life.
The Muslim
Renovatio and U.S.
Strategy (April 27,2004)
If the Islamist trajectory
continues, in its elusive intertwining of violent and non-violent forms,
then America ’s intervention in the Muslim World will become increasingly
enmeshed in Islamist issues. The decisive factor in the Muslim future
will, in fact, be the relationship between the United States and Islamism.
American actions are even now promoting change along Muslim trajectories
rather than ours. Thus the United States has set in motion a
“world-historical ” process that will profoundly affect us as well.
Exhuming the “War of Ideas ”
(July 19 –22,2004)
American ideas and persuasion —what is now called “public diplomacy ” but
was once known as propaganda —worked reasonably well in the months after
9-11.Nevertheless,the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent unraveling
ruined the U.S. message to the Muslim World.
America
has once again lost the “hearts and minds ” of Muslims and must now
struggle even to communicate with them, let alone persuade them. Yet the
“war of ideas ” is perhaps the key to this war. What is to be done?
Full Text
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Culture's Mask: War & Change After Iraq
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