Book Review: Why we’re losing the War on Terror by Paul Rodgers (2008)
A brief overview of the book
The book “Why We’re Losing the War on Terror” was written by Paul Rodgers in the year 2008. Mainly, the author wrote this book during the time of war. Thus, the central argument depicted by Rodgers in the book is to examine the causes of failure by focusing on military and political attitudes in the United States. Rodgers also based his argument on the impact of terror in America on the attack of 9/11 (Rogers, 2008). Moreover, the book focuses on the fallacy of a new American Century based on failure to move beyond westernization and the role of oil. Besides, Rogers also argues war is a disaster that may bring a huge if unexpected bonus. Thus, the failure of this war will also allow a complete re-think of military and political attitudes from the western part to international security (Rogers, 2008). More importantly, the author claims that this war will influence transformation towards a sustainable policy. The policy will be used actively to effectively address the real threats to global security. More significantly, Rodgers argues that the policy will effectively address the issue of climate change and resolve the socio-economic divide.
An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the book
In the novel, Rodgers writes a comprehensive issue of war between American and Afghanistan. Just like many other literacy works, Rodgers has expresses both the strengths and weaknesses. The primary strength of Why We’re Losing the War on Terror that has been depicted by the author is the unique view of the intentions behind the Al-Qaida attacks. The perspective of the strategies behind the Al-Qaida movement also forms part of the strength in this novel. In other words, these strategies demonstrate how the attacks of 9/11 were systematically arranged by the Al-Qaida movement, thereby forcing the United States to come to Al-Qaida. Al-Qaida used these strategies to destabilize the region as they offered aid to their cause (Rogers, 2008). Another strength in this book is that the author does a remarkable task of analyzing military strategies and the evolution of the American military. In that regard, Rogers makes his book to have a regional sense by focusing on the role of oil security and excellent insight into the geopolitics as the primary motive for security policies in the western region. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Conversely, Rodgers also depicts some weaknesses in the book. Why We’re Losing the War on Terror has a weak conclusion that attracts many critiques. In that regard, the conclusion in the book requires further explanations on the tactics and strategies that would enhance security sustainability (Rogers, 2008). The required explanation would provide insights about war and why the war on terror developed into a lost cause. Besides, the writing styles used by Rodgers and the technicality in the book narrows down the audience of Why We’re Losing the War on Terror. In that regard, a more complete insight and explanation would be paramount in widening the audience. Overall, using less technicality in the novel would have increased the accessibility of this book.
Analysis of the book
In this book, the author argues three critical reasons for the loss of the war on terror. In his first argument, Rodgers expresses his thoughts on the war of terror by claiming it is a lost cause. He uses the insight that war is a lost cause based on how Americans played a role that triggered Al-Qaida to launch attacks of 9/11. In that regard, the underlying argument of the author is that Al-Qaida attacked America because America brought war to them by fuelling their movement (Miller, 2019). Besides, America furthered the Al-Qaida movement because it claimed to protect America and restore democracy in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, the reality of the matter was that America wanted to protect their economic interests in Persian Gulf oil. Upon realizing the motive of war, Al-Qaida planned the attacks of 9/11 to prevent America from controlling oil in Afghanistan (Rangelov & Theros, 2019). In this review, Rodgers believes that America lost the war on terror because she failed to plan on military and political strategies for a long term war prior to the American-Afghanistan war. Besides, the United States lost the war on terror because she underestimated the power of the Al-Qaida movement.
After the attacks of 9/11, one can assume that the United States reacted in a way that Al-Qaida anticipated. In that regard, the success of the Al-Qaida movement after the attacks of 9/11 is fuelled by Americans through their war strategies on the war on terror. For example, the former leader of Al-Qaida Osama Bin Laden and his deputy has stated their motive for the war (Stenersen, 2016). Bin Laden had claimed that the attack on America was to provoke and bait. The United States appeared provoked and therefore has to offer Al-Qaida the attention they need for all those years after 9/11. Therefore, it is true to say that Rodgers provides an insightful and damning appraisal of the American-Afghanistan war. Besides, Rogers’ pessimistic views of war in terror in the future are also sobering.
Moreover, other authors believe that war on terror is just a war between America and Muslims. This perspective has been drawn from the views of President Bush that Christians have the strongest power to lead the world than any other religion in the world. In that regard, many Muslims and scholars believe that war on terror is “war on Islam” which makes it strictly ideological. Many scholars claim that war on terror has recorded minimum achievements if any (Hayden et al., 2017). Nonetheless, Rodgers expresses the opinion that although American has fuelled the Al-Qaida movement in the long term, the war on terror can be won. Some examples that prove his claim is the removal of Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the virtual destruction of Osama Bin Laden of Al-Qaida.
I also believe that any movement that can bring reasonable harm should never be underestimated. Mainly, the US was just fighting Al-Qaida as an enemy without understanding their motives. I, therefore, believe that America made a mistake in the war on terror because she failed to understand the terrains used by Al-Qaida to survive for many years after the attacks of 9/11. Thus, it is not easy to conquer a war of the goal of war is not clear (Byman, 2019). In Rodgers book, Americans should have set the motive of war through military strategies. Overall, Rodgers book is a critical overview of the intentions and impacts of the US policy of 9/11. Although it is difficult to measure success in the war on terror, Rodgers has offered an insightful analysis of military affairs between America and the Al-Qaida Movement.