America’s longest war hasn’t been with a country. As Peter L. Bergen points out, our longest war has been fighting a shadowy multinational organization: Al-Qaeda. The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda tells the story of how terrorists led by Osama bin Laden targeted the United States and carried out their plots. Bergen is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed bin Laden. His insights into the terrorist movement that continues to operate in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan explain where this struggle is headed. If you want to read a detailed history of the war on terror, The Longest War provides the analysis needed to understand the dangers in the future. GRADE: A
The many tentacles of this war puts me in mind of Orwell’s 1984 where “We have always been at war with Oceania” is a constant refrain.
Bergen presents a persuasive argument that we’re in a perpetual war with terrorists, Deb. Yes, you’re right: it is Orwellian.
And with no end in sight, there many never be a longer war.
The terrorists Bergen describes move from country to country, Patti. This struggle will go on for a hundred years or more.
Patti–I hate to use George’s blog to ask you this totally unrelated question, but are there problems with Blogger today? Everytime I try to post a comment on your blog (or on Bill Crider’s, I haven’t tried any other Blogger blogs yet), Blogger takes me to a “Create Your Own Blog” page and my comment doesn’t post. It’s such a shame, as I had the most interesting, brilliant, perceptive comments to make, but now, alas, they’re lost!
(Sorry George!)
No problem, Deb. Feel free to leave comments for Patti (or anyone else) here anytime.
Deb, I noticed that and wrote to Patti and Bill Crider about it, but it is fixed now.
Soon there will be kids graduating high school who will have never known a day when we weren’t at war with someone. I’ve been saying this (at least) since the first Gulf War, but as long as there is no draft most people in this country will just ignore what is going on, feeling that it doesn’t affect them.
It affects all of us, everything about us and this country.
I believe all citizens should give the country a couple years of service, Jeff. Whether it’s Americorps or the Peace Corps or the military, everyone should serve. You’re right about the Draft. It makes war too acceptable since so few have a stake in the fight.
Thanks, Jeff!
I’ve long suspected that the War onTerror was prolonged because someone (I’m naming no names) decided to fight it in Iraq.
I agree totally about national service.
Too many of my students are completely disconnected from what the Government is doing, Bob. If they had some “skin in the game” things would be different.