The Limits of Power (Iran, Iraq, middle east, Israel)

[TnHilltopper]

The Limits of Power and the End of American Exceptionalism is a book that was produced by Andrew Bacevich, a conservative historian who taught and attended West Point, had a 20+ year distinguished military career and served in Vietnam and now teaches history at Boston University.

In his book he asserted that the US, like all great nations and empires before it, have limits to the ability to project power and influence. The ascension of the US to basic global supremacy has fueled the idea that America is special and unique in the sense that it is not constrained by limits to its desires and will. Bacevich argued that this was a false premise based upon gross over estimation of our abilities to use military force to project power and the financial stability that most took for granted prior to 2007.

Recently we have seen events unfold in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan in regards to their populations moving towards non-dictatorial leadership. We have watched as Iraq elected a pro-Shiite President sympathetic to Iran despite our efforts to support a pro-Sunni government, meanwhile violence is on the rise. We have watched as Pakistan has began to slowly withdraw its cooperation with the US and obstinately object to drone attacks and the 4000 man CIA army within its borders. We have watched as Turkey has begun to withdraw its close relations with Israel and the US in favor of more of a leadership role in the Middle East. We have watched as a new Sunni leader in Lebanon has came out openly supportive of Hezbollah, which is has even shaken the Muslim world in a symbolic act of solidarity.

And this is just the Middle East and makes no mention of events taking place in Latin America.

Has America reached the limits of its ability to project power and influence abroad?


The Limits of Power: The End of ... - Google Books