The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 B OOKS The Neocon Prescription The War Over Iraq: Saddam’s Tyranny and America’s Mission Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, Encounter Books, 2003, $25.95, hardcover, 153 pages. R EVIEWED BY R ICHARD T HOMPSON Although the central purpose of this book, written shortly before the war with Iraq, was to encourage and justify that intervention, its authors, both prominent neoconservatives, contend that their policy prescriptions apply widely to U.S. foreign affairs. (Lawrence F. Kaplan is a senior editor at The New Republic , while William Kristol is the editor of The Weekly Standard and a political analyst for the Fox News Channel.) And for that reason, The War Over Iraq: Saddam’s Tyranny and America’s Mission is must reading for everyone seeking to understand the ideological underpin- nings of Bush administration foreign policy. After describing Saddam Hussein’s tyranny at home, aggression abroad and development of weapons of mass destruction, Kaplan and Kristol out- line why efforts to deal with him by the first President Bush (“narrow real- ism”) and Clinton (“wishful liberal- ism”) failed. They then describe their preferred policy toward Iraq as “a dis- tinctly American internationalism,” explicitly based on “American excep- tionalism.” This is the belief that the “uniqueness and virtue of the American political system” offer a model for the world and that American power and ideals should be vigorously applied in foreign affairs. Specifically, they advocate pre-emp- tion when necessary to forestall hos- tile attacks, promotion of regime change for undemocratic nations, and maintenance of U.S. military strength to remain the sole superpower. The necessity for the U.S. to over- throw Saddam Hussein and establish a democratic government in Baghdad is argued at length, with one estimate cited that 75,000 troops would be required to police the war’s aftermath, at a cost of $16 billion per year. One can only hope that Kaplan and Kristol are on firmer ground in assuring their readers that the establishment of the first Arab democracy in Iraq will have a powerful effect in the Arab world, in Iran and on the Israel–Palestinian conflict. They urge further that repressive regimes, especially Saudi Arabia, are financing extremist Islam and terrorism, and their conversion to democracy is a vital U.S. interest. Indeed, they argue that Washington should actively promote democratiza- tion worldwide, in accordance with both our ideals and our self-interest. The emphasis throughout the book is on the use of military power to encourage a world order beneficial to U.S. interests and the spread of democracy in the world; toward that end, the authors advocate spending an additional $100 billion a year to maintain U.S. military supremacy. Conversely, they place little emphasis on the importance of diplomacy to attract followers. Although they seem to consider existing American alliances a valuable asset, they dispar- age the United Nations as an organi- zation which coddles tyrannies. In fairness, however, the predominant focus on Iraq probably distorts some- what the authors’ views on multilater- alism; they would generally like to have international and U.N. support for U.S. policies, but argue strongly that we should act in the case of Iraq without such support if it cannot be obtained. The authors hold that U.S. policy toward Iraq will be key to defining the U.S. role in the world in the 21st cen- tury. If this is true, the long-term results of our efforts to establish a democratic Iraq, including regional repercussions, will be an important test for the validity of the neoconserv- ative prescriptions. A footnote: I had not realized until reading this book just how strongly the neoconservatives disagree with positions taken by Secretary of State The book’s consistent emphasis is on the use of military power to encourage a world order beneficial to U.S. interests.