Imperial Grunts

Imperial Grunts

The American Military on the Ground

by Robert D. Kaplan

This is a very interesting book. Kaplan's main thesis is that the United States is a hegemonic empire and he cites America's military presence around the world as proof. As unpalatable as that is to me, it's hard to disagree.

Kaplan's book is basically a travelogue of countries in which US troops are stationed. Most interesting to me was his trip through Mongolia and his constant stops in gers and the incessant drinking of toasts. Perhaps all that firewater got to his head, but he believes that Mongolia is a US bulwark against China -- as if the US would come to the aid of Mongolia against China.

In fact, Kaplan tends to see all of America's military posturing as being directed against China. Which is odd given that China owns most of our debt and is one of our most valuable trading partners.

Kaplan also believes that W's Iraq War took care of some unfinished business left over from the senior Bush's war, but he rails against U.S. troops,

Nothing angered me more than to enter a vast chow hall at Camp Victory, the headquarters of the military coalition at Baghdad airport, and see it teeming with troops choosing different kinds of fine cakes for dessert, and then to travel in the countryside and see barely a U.S. presence at all.

After earlier pointing out that an "economy of force" approach -- essentially the use of relatively few military advisors -- is more effective than a massive invasion and occupation to provide political change in countries in which we want influence, I don't know how he squares those two points of view.

All in all, though, it was a thoughtful and fascinating read. I mean, who knew we had troops in Mongolia?