Victory at Risk: Restoring America's Military Power: A New War Plan for the Pentagon - Hardcover

Davidson, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760335575 ISBN 13: 9780760335574

Publisher: Zenith Press, 2009

Synopsis

Our combat readiness to fight a conventional war is in freefall. This is the alarm sounded with clarity, authority, and conviction in Victory at Risk, a veteran Army officer and policymaker’s deeply disturbing critique of today’s U. S. military establishment. Major General Michael W. Davidson, a decorated combat veteran and one of our most distinguished Army commanders, describes an America in grave danger; a nation whose ability to bring peace and stability to trouble spots around the world has become seriously compromised as we have strayed from the bedrock sources of our past victories.

As General Davidson shows, the force that triumphed in Desert Storm was the muscular remnant of the Cold War military. But today’s leaner military does not have the capacity to withstand misuse. A passionate and informed spokesman for the military, the general describes a Pentagon that does not work, a White House that has politicized decision-making, and a Congress that has abdicated its responsibility for declaring war on behalf of the American people. Drawing on the core lessons of the history of the United States, Davidson identifies the strengths that have brought victory and traces the path that has led us astray. He argues in plain and commanding terms that our readiness to win futures wars--against China, Pakistan, Iran, or any other threat around the world--requires a reconsideration not only of weapons and strategy, but also of the national interests and obligations that compel us to arms.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

In this candid and authoritative criticism of American military power today, Major General Michael W. Davidson, U.S. Army (Ret.), one of our most distinguished combat soldiers, describes an America in danger: “Our combat readiness to fight a conventional war is in freefall.” General Davidson argues that the ability of our national defense establishment to bring peace and stability to trouble spots around the world is seriously compromised. This alarming state of affairs has arisen because the United States as a country has significantly strayed from the bedrock sources of our past victories.

The force that won Desert Storm, the first Gulf War, was the muscular remnant of America’s Cold War armed forces. Today, a leaner U.S. military has much less capacity to absorb misuse and then bounce back to defend our vital national interests. The Pentagon does not work, the White House has politicized defense decision making, and Congress has abdicated its constitutional responsibility to declare war on behalf of the American people.

Drawing on the core lessons of America’s past wars, General Davidson, who unabashedly loves his Army, identifies what has brought the United States victory in the past and tracks how and why our country has drifted from these precepts. In plain, accessible language he argues that protecting our readiness to win future wars around the world will require a reconsideration not only of weapons and strategy, but of the national interests and obligations that compel us to stand up for ourselves.

This is no time for complacency; the world is a threatening place. China, Pakistan, Iran, and even a newly resurgent Russia have their own vital national interests, and they are in conflict with ours.

Despite the cottage industry of pundits who argue otherwise, history teaches us that the United States will fight another major war. And, as General Davidson writes, “Our past victories appear much more inevitable in hindsight than they did in the event. Our future victories and our ability to be a source of peace and stability in a troubled world are not at all assured. We are today more likely to lose our next war than we are to win it. And we do not know how long we have to get this right.”

From the Back Cover

From the book:

After the implosion of the Soviet Union, the United States found itself by default the dominant conventional military power in the world. We’d been in a two-nation dead heat and the other nation had dropped out of the race. To deal with that sudden change in fortune, the Pentagon cobbled together a post–Cold War military strategy. America was to shape the international environment to avoid war, maintain a military that could respond across the full spectrum of conflict, and prepare for future wars by buying the modern weapons systems that would assure battlefield dominance. . . .

Today, around the world our forces engage in training exercises, humanitarian missions, peacekeeping operations, and counter-terrorist efforts. In any given year, the United States has forces in well over a hundred countries. These interwar tasks are worth doing. When done well, they prevent wars, but they also demand people, time, equipment, and money. What we failed to appreciate as the Cold War ended was that the interwar missions that America would face would stretch as far as the eye could see. We did not take into account the debilitating impact that our escalating interwar workload would have on our ability to fight conventional wars, that is, armed conflicts between the military forces of opposing nations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0760335575
• ISBN 13: 9780760335574
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256