Anybody read "Washington Rules"?

[trof]

It's by Col. Andrew J. Bacevich, U.S. Army, retired.
Very well written and insightful.
He's done a complete 180 about U.S. foreign policy/militarism/defense/"security" and the conventional wisdom that he accepted and believed for most of his career.

It ain't a feel good book, but he sure calls a spade a spade.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Fiction or non-fiction forum, maybe?

What did you like about it?
When did it come out?

[trof]

2. Came out in 2010.

I guess I like it (only a couple of chapters in) because I reached the same realizations in the last few years.
The 'players' in D.C. change, periodically (Dems, Repubs, Dems, Repubs), but the rules and the game and the 'conventional wisdom', NEVER changes.

Ike warned us about the military/industrial complex in his farewell address.
Interesting he didn't mention it while he was prez.

According to the author, we spend more on the military ('National Security', 'Defense', 'Intelligence') than all...ALL of what the other nations on the planet spend combined.
That's senseless.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. You had quite an "aha" moment.

I wish more people would "get" it.
an additional irony: we use up finite resources to create the weapons, armies, bases, etc, that we use to gobble up other countries' finite resources.
That is what we are involved in, ya know, resource wars. Rapidly dwindling resources. Rapidly dwindling means to pay for them.
but the bit players in DC are locked in this dance of ego and money ( which is the same, to them).
Dancers come and go, the music stays the same.