Rating: 
Summary: Just finished watching Ralph Peters on Fox news.
Review: Ralph Peters is probably the most insightful strategic thinker in the United States today. His collection of essays "Beyond Baghdad" should be required reading for every decision maker in government or the military. I can attest from personal participation in both Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM that his observations are accurate and illuminating. The state of affairs he describes in Baghdad and Iraq in general is much closer to the truth than anything you will see in the mainstream media. If you read only one book about the current war in Iraq. Read "Beyond Baghdad"
Rating:
Summary: The best analysis of the war on terror to date
Review: Ralph Peters is probably the most insightful strategic thinker in the United States today. His collection of essays "Beyond Baghdad" should be required reading for every decision maker in government or the military. I can attest from personal participation in both Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM that his observations are accurate and illuminating. The state of affairs he describes in Baghdad and Iraq in general is much closer to the truth than anything you will see in the mainstream media. If you read only one book about the current war in Iraq. Read "Beyond Baghdad"
Rating:
Summary: The best analysis of the war on terror to date
Review: Ralph Peters is probably the most insightful strategic thinker in the United States today. His collection of essays "Beyond Baghdad" should be required reading for every decision maker in government or the military. I can attest from personal participation in both Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM that his observations are accurate and illuminating. The state of affairs he describes in Baghdad and Iraq in general is much closer to the truth than anything you will see in the mainstream media. If you read only one book about the current war in Iraq. Read "Beyond Baghdad"
Rating:
Summary: Superb Review of Strategic Issues
Review: Ralph Peters is the best American commentator on what does and does not work internationally for the United States. He is both brutally honest and intellectually secure. His strongest character trait, though, is hard-headed common sense, which is grounded in hard-won overseas experience. In other words, he is not a closet idealogue, political pundit or armchair general. If you are looking for someone to tell you what you already think you know... look elsewhere. If you are looking for innovative strategic thinking, you have found your man.Now, conservatives and liberals alike have tended to paint Ralph Peters into boxes not of his making. He will have none of it. He merely speaks truths... and truths supported by facts. Say what you will, Ralph Peters means what he says and says what he means. He regularly angers both enemies and friends alike because he insists on basing his perspectives on facts, no matter what oxe is gored on either side of the aisle in the halls of Congress. Beyond Baghdad is a powerful indictment of those who would permit political wishful thinking to become American Foreign Policy. Ralph Peters is nothing if not refreshingly frank and to the point. Many will not agree with his prescriptions, but nobody can ignore the force of his intellect. In a brilliant series of essays he rips apart sacred cows across the political spectrum. And he does it with extraordinary clarity and unusual artistry. He uses a superb multi-disciplinary approach in his analysis of war, peace and the all too often short lulls in between. This means that he examines and digests history; places his historical lessons in a contemporary cultural and psychological context; and then applies his very considerable experience base to explain to his reading audience often controversial truths. A true American patriot, Ralph Peters makes no bones about his positive feelings for America and its future. There are those who will be put-off by his fervor for his home country. But, he is not a blind patriot. He knows America's strengths and weaknesses, and he knows that for all of our problems, the United States is the only country on the face of the globe that stands for something other than its own selfish self-interests. Beyond Baghdad is must reading for all students of political science, international affairs and national security policy; as well as military men and women and those mere politicians that would attempt to rise some day to the position of statesmen.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Review of Strategic Issues
Review: Ralph Peters is the best American commentator on what does and does not work internationally for the United States. He is both brutally honest and intellectually secure. His strongest character trait, though, is hard-headed common sense, which is grounded in hard-won overseas experience. In other words, he is not a closet idealogue, political pundit or armchair general. If you are looking for someone to tell you what you already think you know... look elsewhere. If you are looking for innovative strategic thinking, you have found your man. Now, conservatives and liberals alike have tended to paint Ralph Peters into boxes not of his making. He will have none of it. He merely speaks truths... and truths supported by facts. Say what you will, Ralph Peters means what he says and says what he means. He regularly angers both enemies and friends alike because he insists on basing his perspectives on facts, no matter what oxe is gored on either side of the aisle in the halls of Congress. Beyond Baghdad is a powerful indictment of those who would permit political wishful thinking to become American Foreign Policy. Ralph Peters is nothing if not refreshingly frank and to the point. Many will not agree with his prescriptions, but nobody can ignore the force of his intellect. In a brilliant series of essays he rips apart sacred cows across the political spectrum. And he does it with extraordinary clarity and unusual artistry. He uses a superb multi-disciplinary approach in his analysis of war, peace and the all too often short lulls in between. This means that he examines and digests history; places his historical lessons in a contemporary cultural and psychological context; and then applies his very considerable experience base to explain to his reading audience often controversial truths. A true American patriot, Ralph Peters makes no bones about his positive feelings for America and its future. There are those who will be put-off by his fervor for his home country. But, he is not a blind patriot. He knows America's strengths and weaknesses, and he knows that for all of our problems, the United States is the only country on the face of the globe that stands for something other than its own selfish self-interests. Beyond Baghdad is must reading for all students of political science, international affairs and national security policy; as well as military men and women and those mere politicians that would attempt to rise some day to the position of statesmen.
Rating:
Summary: An important book
Review: This is an important book for anyone interested in understanding the United States' place in the world today. From the critically-important essay "Rolling Back Radical Islam" that opens the book to the populist-style op-eds that end the book, Peters is always interesting (even when I disagree with him). Perhaps just as important, Beyond Baghdad is a pleasure to read. This is the opposite of dry, academic writing. My favorite line may well be this gem from the introduction: "America may, indeed, be the new Rome, but Secretary Rumsfeld has not yet been hailed Caesar. He might show a hint of humility to the Senate and the people as well as to the legions guarding the barbarian frontier." I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the future of this nation.
Rating:
Summary: The Cutting Edge
Review: When you read Ralph Peters bring your thinking cap. He will challenge you by taking you outside of the box. He will not let you find safety in platitudes. Combine a razor sharp analytical mind with an extraordinarily gifted writer and you have Ralph Peters. In Beyond Baghdad Peters makes us look at the world as it is, not as some of us would have it. Consequently we realize that there will be no quick victory, no glorious sprint over the finish line in the war against Islamic fundamentalism. Peters tells us frankly that we are in a gritty, dirty and prolonged war against a brutal, committed enemy bent on destroying us. And then offers suggestions to win that war.
Peters eschews convenient partisan shelters to forge new strategies in this war. He has a global geopolitical view and a long horizon. Beyond Baghdad is a must read for any concerned, informed person who worries about what a tumultuous future holds for this country. If you want to learn what the war on terror is about, start with Ralph Peters and Beyond Baghdad.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - without reservation!
Review: With this book Ralph Peters further establishes himself as the West's foremost strategist-philosopher. His was among the first serious voices raised well over a decade ago to alert the West to the growing strategic threat posed by the decay and failure of Third World societies and especially Islam. The cognitive dissonance among Muslims arising from the failure of Islam as a civilization generates the rage that fuels Osma bin Ladin and his followers, which he deftly argued in FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE and BEYOND TERROR. Now BEYOND BAGHDAD picks up the struggle to explain the strategies the West, and particularly the United States, must employ to win this "long twilight" struggle." Peters' conclusions are not based on a lifetime of comfortable academic reflection untroubled with the harsh realities of life. Indeed, they are based on a muscular involvement with life as it is around the world. There are few greater groundings in reality than growing up in a mining family, enlisting in the Army, winning a commission, learning German and Russian fluently, and roaming around the world on special missions for the Army. Peters blends eternal verities of man and civilizations at war with the specific problems of the age to mark him a philosopher of war to a depth Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, in their narrower spheres, never attempted. His essays travel the world to explore the cultural trends that offer the greatest strategic dangers and opportunities for the future. He identifies the United States as the world's center of gravity for modernization and for the unleashing of human potential, especially that of women, on a scale unrivalled by any other civilization. In doing so, the US has enraged the fossilized Islam of its Arab core. "Islamic terrorism is the violence of extreme desperation, symptomatic of the startling failure of Middle Eastern Islamic culture to compete with "the West" on a single productive front. Their failure is not our fault, but it is our problem." Peters observes that our obsession with the Middle East has obscured the serious potential for modernization of Islam elsewhere, in Africa, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia to which our attention should shift. His support for President Bush's strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq is argued in compelling terms. Overthrowing Saddam represented the priceless strategic opportunity to shock the Muslim world out of its rut and ease it into the modern world. To suggest, as another reviewer has, that he has been hoodwinked by an administration "bought and paid for by Zionists" is an outrageous canard. Peters, is his own man. He recognized that this was grand strategy at is boldest and most profound. Great opportunities were worth a great throw. This is what we elect presidents for. Peters adds, based on is own conclusions, the vital illumination of the vast cultural/military context and a logical articulation of that strategy that should make the administration green with envy. While supporting the grand strategy, Peters does not spare the rod in taking Rumsfeld and his senior aides to task for two serious failings. The first is Rumsfeld's espousal of the concept that a mix of high-tech, air power, and light ground forces is the warfare of the future. Funds for future high-tech development would cut deep into the expensive military manpower pockets, with the Army as bullseye. The results of this "light boots on the ground" approach in Afghanistan was the escape of bin Ladin at Tora Bora The result in Iraq was a twofold failure. First, against military advice, was the refusal to plan for the most vital element of the operation, the political transition from combat to the transformation of Iraq into the model for Islamic reform in the Middle East. Second, also against military advice, was to cheese pare the ground force component well below an acceptable level of risk and to hinder the transition phase. Responsible policy does not rely on the valor and skill of the troops to rescue you from feckless decisions. Rumsfeld's fixation on operational and theoretical means put strategic ends at risk. Underlying these failures is on an all too evident disdain for the leadership of military institutions they lead, dismissing them as mere "military janitors". "[A} number of Donald Rumsfeld's posse of commissars, creatures with no first-hand experience either of the military or of the savage harshness of the world, insisted that none of our generals or admirals or military veterans were worth a damn and that civilians who had never tied on a combat boot knew best how to wield our military. They ridiculed the voices of experience, even implying that those in uniform had a yellow streak, while the civilian lions safe at their Washington desks were models not only of wisdom but of courage." Peters was one of those "military janitors" whose essays were prescient in their accurate description of the strategic setting, the resulting operational requirements, the course and nature of operations, and the postwar challenges. Anyone wishing to be informed of the essence of the war would do better reading Peters essays in the New York Post than watching Rumsfeld's briefings. Peters ideas have been polished to deep gleam by the sharpness and sparkle of his prose. As he himself writes, "The notion that 'serious' writing has to be as dull as mortgage paperwork had been foisted upon us by academics who couldn't write a grocery list without ten pages of footnotes. A writer's goal should be not to stretch out one small, frail conceit into a book the reader can barely lift, but to pack as many fierce ideas into one cleanly written essay or column a he or she can do. If you cannot say a thing simply and clearly, it simply means you have no clear idea of what you want to say." On is own terms, Peters delivers handsomely.
Rating:
Summary: Wow - another stellar book from Ralph Peters
Review: WOW! Another stellar book from Ralph Peters! As with all his books he never disappoints and since one ought always to read books written by both liberal and conservatives, this is a book that ought to be read by everyone. We need informed criticism and this is it. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
Rating:
Summary: Steel On Target
Review: You know a man's qualities by his enemies. I note that the negative reviews of this book are just leftie rants--and I can't believe any of the detractors actually read it. Frankly, I'm not sure you can classify Peters as liberal or conservative. But I'd class him as one great American.
This book is right on target, based upon my own experience. No bull, no blather, no boredom. Straight talk about the difficult world in which we find ourselves.
There's a lot of great, thought-provoking stuff in this book--my own favorite section is a brilliant reinterpretation of the strategic environment, but the pieces on Operation Iraqi Freedom are super--all through the war, he called it right. And I believe he's calling the future right, as well.
Read it and decide for yourself. Great work for America!
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