What I'm reading - Oct. 2006 - Part 3

Listen up. You NEED to read this book. This book was the reason I decided to add the "Required Reading" sidebar on my blog. The book is Imperial Grunts by Robert Kaplan, a columnist for The Atlantic Monthly and one of the most pre-eminent military journalists in the world today. He's neither right- nor left-wing, from what I can gather. Indeed, at least in this book, he's an equal-opportunity basher of politicians from both sides of the aisle. Granted, he does little political analysis of his own - instead, he leaves that job to the "grunts" with whom he's embedded. The analysis he does provide is more along the lines of drawing comparisons between different conflicts in the world across history, and between different soldiers he's met in his extensive travels and research.

Here's why you need to read this book: I learned more about the role of the military and the context in which the Global War on Terror is being fought from the Prologue of this book than I had in all my readings - book, news article, op-ed piece - to date. And while I was initially uncomfortable with Kaplan naming the US an "imperial" nation, he makes the case quickly and convincingly, and I'm actually embarrassed to admit that discomfort now, and that I'd never thought about it in such terms before. From the Prologue:

He was a lieutenant colenel in the First Marine Expeditionary Force...stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. I met him before he left for the Persian Gulf in the autumn of 2002. He had just been injected with anthrax vaccine, and had been taking malaria pills for many months of his life... The Romans, by their rites of purification, accepted and justified the world as it was, with all its cruelty. The Americans, heir to the Christian tradition, seek what is not yet manifest: the higher ideal. Thus, he was without cynicism.

'The century is only two years old,' he told me, 'and look at what's happened. That al-Qaeda incident on September 11 was somewhat significant. But we may have nuclear attacks and disease outbreaks that will take many mroe lives, and which will get us deeply involved on the ground in countries still obscure to us, the way September 11 got us involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is those involvements-to-come that will shape the course of the new century.'
...

Imperialism is but a form of isolationism, in which the demand for absolute, undefiled security at home leads one to conquer the world, and in the process to become subject to all the world's anxieties. That is why empires arise at the fringes of consciousness, half in denial. By the time an imperial reality becomes truly manifest, it is a sign that the apex of empire is at hand, with a gradual retreat more likely than fresh conquests... Rome never consciously thought that it was building an empire until it already had one, and had already reached the limits of its expansion in the Near East... Empires are works in progress, with necessity rather than glory the instigator of each outward push.

Since antiquity the collapse of empires has been a messy business, and the most benign antidote to the chaos unleashed has been the birth of new imperial domains. Consequently, the turn of the 21st century found the United States with bases and base rights in 59 countries and overseas territories... while defense appropriations amounted to only 3.3 percent of America's GDP - compared to 9.4 percent during the Vietnam War and 14.1 percent during the Korean War.

...

Some denied the very fact of American empire, claiming a contradiction between an imperial strategy and America's democratic values. They forgot that Rome, Venice, and Britain were the most morally enlightened states of their age...Liberalism at home and a pragmatic, at times ruthless policy abroad have not been uncommon in the history of some empires.

It's that combination of vivid descriptions of the soldiers, political philosophy, painstakingly documented military history, and the terror and excitement of the events he chronicles that make this such a readable book. If you don't at least once find yourself considering talking to a military recruiter while reading this book, well, you're either sleeping your way through your reading, you're unpatriotic, or you're a robot.

I've obviously condensed and cherry-picked passages that I deem appropriate to sum up the argument for the USA being an empire, and thus Kaplan's choice of the modifier "Imperial" in the title of his book. And while his argument for "empire" takes up nearly 11 pages in the prologue, in a very poetic and symbolic way, his argument for the choice of the word "Grunts" takes up only one paragraph. And even the first sentence of that paragraph really needed little follow-up: "Grunts: cannon fodder."

For the entirety of the book, Kaplan details his extensive travels across the globe, embedded with US troops (Army and Marines). Among the nations he visits are the expected ones: Iraq and Afghanistan; and many unexpected ones: Yemen, Mongolia, The Philippines, and Eritrea/Somalia/Ethiopia. In each place, he details his activities with the troops, and describes the "grunts" with such vivid detail that if you ever met someone he profiled, you'd have a major head start toward striking up a friendly conversation. And understand one thing clearly: this is NOT a journalist who hangs around the base or does interviews via phone from hotels well-removed from danger zones. Kaplan basically serves mini-tours of duty; he's given assignments during operations like feeding ammo to gunners, driving vehicles under pressure of RPG fire, supervising prisoners while the "grunts" clear more buildings in their area of operation, etc. In doing so, he forges a unique bond with the troops, earns their trust, and therefore gets the ultimate scoop: the true feelings, thoughts, and visions of the "grunts".

Couple that with Kaplan's amazing grasp of military history, and you've got yourself a book that I will guarantee will not only hold your interest (an understatement), but it will educate you in ways you didn't know possible.

VERDICT: REQUIRED.