Hard Truths About America Gone Astray

The limits of American power have never been more vividly on display. That's the subject of my conversation this week with Andrew J. Bacevich. Here is a public thinker who has been able to find an audience across the political spectrum, from THE NATION or THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE magazines, lecturing to college classes or testifying before Congress. Bacevich speaks truth to power, no matter who's in power, which may be why those of both the left and right listen to him. Perhaps it's also because when he challenges American myths and illusions, he does so from a patriotism forged in the fire of experience as a soldier in Vietnam. After 23 years in the Army, the West Point graduate retired as a colonel and has been teaching international relations and history at Boston University. Bacevich has published several acclaimed books, including this one, THE NEW AMERICAN MILITARISM. His latest, published this week, is THE LIMITS OF POWER: THE END OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. Note; His son also was killed in IraQ last year. Via Transafixion....Open left....and the whole text on the Bill Moyers Journal. Please use links as my pasting is not enough. Also, I'm curious if anyone out there has read or seen the book/HBO series Generation Kill? Curious yet a bit hesitant to bring this up but it's pretty shocking. Especially when you listen to Bacevich's points on how uninvolved the people are with our troops.