"The Utility of Force," by General Rupert Smith, is my latest read. I recommend it to you. Smith surveys military history from the time of Napoleon up to the present-day war in Iraq, with an eye for discerning how military force is used effectively or not.
The book is quite a tome, and explores exhaustively its topic. Smith is thoughtful, with a strong analytical mind and acute perception of the things that go on during war. This reflects his long and varied experience in the field of making military decisions.
Smith does not ask the question "Should nations ever use force?" He is far from a pacifist seeking to convince us to scale back our use of force. Instead he argues that we must learn how to use force better; that is, make it more useful. He argues that our (the European and American West's) current use of force is ill-equipped for the challenges we face. This failure to match use of power with our goals in the world is what produces "quagmires" in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The Utility of Force" gave me new questions to ask when I watch the news about events in war-torn areas of the world. Now, instead of echoing the popular cry that "War sucks, but sometimes you just have to go to war," I can think more critically about why and how nations go to war. Best of all, Smith offers a way out of our current spiral of watching heavily armoured vehicles full of well-intentioned coalition soldiers getting blown up by IEDs on a regular basis. The way out, as always, requires a profound shift in thinking. But I, even as someone who only watches the wars from the media sidelines, am grateful for Smith's vision, a ray of hope in what I sense to be an otherwise despairing situation.
If you are interested in a different way to think about war that honours the complexity we see these days--and if you can handle some heavy reading--pick up "The Utility of Force."
~emrys
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