The Foreign Service Journal, January 2011

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 W. Bush administration as virtually criminal for ignoring repeated warn- ings of an impending attack by al- Qaeda. After 9/11, President Bush was right to invade Afghanistan, but by no means justified in his methods. Mat- lock speculates that Bush “had been thinking of invading Iraq from his first Cabinet meeting.” The third section, “The Tasks Ahead,” is the shortest, but arguably the most important. In it Matlock de- scribes an agenda compatible with President Barack Obama’s mandate for change. Admittedly, all the items will be difficult, starting with straightening out the multidimensional financial cri- sis. Then we must refine the tools used to implement foreign policy, reduce the size of the armed forces, expand and better utilize the State Depart- ment and, in place of arrogance, con- sult and share decisions with our allies. Next, we should extricate ourselves from Middle Eastern wars, by per- suading the Palestinians to elect and support honest politicians and con- vincing the Israelis that time is running against them. The spread of nuclear weapons and ancillary worries about Iran, Pakistan and North Korea will also remain on the agenda, of course. Superpower Illusions also contains essays on topics ranging from the na- ture of empire to the pernicious influ- ence of neoconservatives, as well as capsule descriptions of such intellectu- als as Francis Fukuyama and Sam Huntington. All are delivered in crisp, fluent prose, which can be pungent when necessary. Eschewing jargon and cant, Matlock has given us a book accessible to anyone seeking informa- tion on recent U.S. foreign policy. B O O K S Eschewing jargon and cant, Matlock has given us a book accessible to anyone seeking information on recent U.S. foreign policy.