current affairs

Beyond Terror is a compilation of superb essays written by the most gifted military theorist of his generation. These essays predominantly examine the current terrorist threat. The reader should be aware that Ralph Peters is one of the very few writers in this arcane area of study that accurately foresaw the possibility of 9/11.

If you want to know why Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, read this book. If you want to know how such terrorists can best be attacked, read this book. If you want a clearer understanding of the terrorist threat, read this book. If you are tired of academic analysis on terrorism, that says much but clarifies little, read this book.

The author is one of the best traveled of the writers on contemporary terrorism. He knows his subject. A former US Army Intelligence Officer, Peters writes with honesty and conviction. Whether you agree or disagree with his analysis, you won't have any difficulty understanding his positions. Such clarity of thought is rare and valuable.

More importantly, this reviewer believes that Peters more often than not is correct in his assessments. His opinions are based in a multi-disciplinary approach to his subject matter... using the intellectual tools of psychologists, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. This approach explains much while obfuscating nothing.

Ralph Peters' work is highly recommended because he insists on gaining first-hand experience before writing his opinions... an unusual and laudable characteristic. Beyond Terror is the best of contemporary writings on the critical topic of terrorism.

It doesn't always feel good to be right.

10 years ago, while most of our country was getting in line for a golden age of globalization, fueled by technology and free trade, Ralph Peters, an Army Intelligence officer, was trying to find an audience for his theories on the deadly threat global terrorism would soon pose to the West.

Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World collects articles written by Peters both before and after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Peters' main argument is that the US has to do some serious catching up in order to do battle with its new enemies. The strategies and, more importantly, the mindset of the Cold War just won't do.

Of course, in hindsight, it's easy for us to read a book like this, proclaim Peters a seer, and accuse our military and government of wilfull ignorance and hubris. These accusations may very well be warranted, but it's important to remember that 10 years ago, Peters' voice was just one among many trying to predict the future.

However, since Peters did turn out to be right, Beyond Terror is worth reading, not for the "I told you so" moments (which are the most unfortunate parts of the book), but because, better than almost anyone else I've read, Peters is able to frame the war on terror in concrete, as opposed to ideological or philosophical, terms.

That it is a war on terror and not a "matter of law enforcement", Peters makes very clear, although, in general he maintains a non-partisan stance (he's as hard on Donald Rumsfeld as he is on former President Clinton). He provides a "How To" guide for fighting terror, builds a damning case against the way our intelligence services' bureaucratic, civil service framework undermines quality intelligence work, shines a light on the political causes for America's military defeats in the 1990s, and shows that from its beginnings America has been most effective militarily while fighting against empires. Part of the problem in America today, he argues, is that our traditional role of fighting empires conflicts with our current role of existing as a de facto post-modern empire.

However, the most interesting article isn't about strategy. It deals with the role information plays in a culture's ability to compete on a worldwide level. Societies that accept in the flood of information of our computer age and provide tools for their people to deal with it have become the most successful in the history of mankind. However, those countries with autocratic leaders who have tried to stop this flood from washing away their traditional, closed societies are fighting a losing battle.

Unfortunately, though the spread of information is inevitable, the damage has already been done. A vast majority of the people in the world simply do not have the skills to process the level of information we in the West are faced with every day. Already, this information shock has fueled the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, and Peters argues that things are likely to get worse unless the autocratic leaders in the world bring their countries fully into the information age. Of course, these leaders are unlikely to do this out of the goodness of their hearts: freedom of information is the first step in undermining autocracy.

The concept of information-friendly cultures vs. restricted information cultures is a much less inflammatory way of looking at the global conflict than some other models that have been offered over the last few years. People who are put off by "clash of civilization" arguments should find Peters' approach appealing.

Now, I don't agree with everything in this book. I believe Peters is far too hard on Cold Warriors, in general. Communism was a genuine threat to the world to which I'd have us overreact rather than underreact. But overall, Peters makes sond arguments based on his experience in military intelligence and his observations of the world we live in.

Retired U. S. Army colonel Ralph Peters may be the United States' best strategic military thinker since Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan. In a series of prescient, and often infuriating, essays written primarily in the 1990's, Peters argues why we have to fight the War on Terror, recognizes possible mistakes in judgement by senior civilian and military leaders, and how this war should be fought. He lays much of the blame for our inability to fight this war well on the Clinton administration; it is an assessment that is unfortunately correct due to Clinton's inability to deal with terrorism (a mission which former advisor Dick Morris urged him to do back in 1996; Morris has noted that this was Clinton's greatest failure, not the Lewinsky sex scandal.). Peters is a brilliant, persuasive, and yes, frequently infuriating writer, who is a splendid prose stylist. I was most intrigued with his observations on Clausewitz's and Sun Tzu's observations on the necessity of waging war. This splendid book should be required reading for all interested in why we are waging war in Iraq and elsewhere against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.