Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War

by James Carroll

Book Overview

A devastating indictment of the Bush administration's war policies from the bestselling author and respected moral authority With the words "this Crusade, this war on terror," George W. Bush defined the purpose of his presidency. And just as promptly, James Carroll- Boston Globe columnist, son of a general, former antiwar chaplain and activist, and recognized voice of ethical authority-began a week-by-week argument with the administration over its...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805077030
• ISBN13: 9780805077032
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Discoveries

Crusade Seeing James Carroll on C-Span 2, Book TV, talking about his newest book, House of War, gave me a clue that I was missing an important American writer. I found a paper copy of one of his earlier books, Crusade, available locally. Crusade is a collection of the articles Carroll had written for the Boston Globe after 9/11. It begins with Carroll's first article after 9/11. In it Carroll provides the information that an educated person used to have: the Christian Crusades of the late Middle Ages were waged to claim the Middle East for Christianity. The viciousness of the Crusaders exhibited to Moslems the Christian capacity for cruel, bloody slaughter. The President's use of the term "crusade" to initiate retaliation for 9/11 was more than unfortunate. By the time I finished the article I wanted a hard cover copy to preserve. (I'll probably scribble in the margins of the paper copy.) To anyone who questions Carroll's knowledge of the history of the problems of the Middle East his earlier work. Constantine's sword is a ready answer.

The Dangers of Empire Exposed

James Carroll is a veteran columnist with the Boston Globe. He specializes in foreign affairs with a particular focus on issues relating to war and peace. His insightful volume "Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War" takes the reader from the tragedy of 9/11 to the launching of the Iraq War as well as shrewdly monitoring its continuing impact. Carroll realizes immediately that a calamitous result will occur from shifting the focus away from al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden following 9/11 to Iraq and the objective of toppling Saddam Hussein. He sees problems occurring from a reaction totally out of concert with international law as well as reason. Carroll, who has studied international religions closely, cites a major error on the part of the Bush Administration as occurring from his statement that its anti-terrorist initiative was part of a great crusade. Carroll notes that the word crusade sends a chill throughout the Muslim world. It stems from the bloody crusades in which so many Muslims were killed by Christians, culminating in slaughter of all of Arab occupants of Jerusalem. At a time when a major international problem exists in Israel pitting Israelis and Palestinians that is marked by conflicts over settlement construction and occupation as well as suicide bombers, Carroll observes that the emphasis has been shifted away from this trouble spot, along with others such as North Korea and Iran, as American forces occupy Iraq. He notes that this precipitous move plays into the hands of international terrorists by giving Osama bin Laden and others like him a rallying cry. Muslims are warned that by occupying Iraq the Bush Administration is establishing designs on the entire Arab world. Carroll recognizes that there is a fundamental problem with George W. Bush. "When the president speaks, unscripted, from his own moral center," Carroll writes, "what shows itself is a bottomless void. To address concerns about the savage violence engulfing `postwar' Iraq with a cocksure `Bring `em on!' (as he did last week) is to display an absence of imagination shocking in a man of such authority. It showed a lack of capacity to identify either with enraged Iraqis who must rise to such a taunt, or with young GIs who must now answer for it. Even in relationships to his own soldiers, there is nothing at the core of this man but visceral meanness." He goes on to describe Bush as a "selfless president," which he sees "not a compliment" but "a warning." One area where Carroll sharply criticizes the Bush Administration is in the misuse of intelligence. Rather than seeking answers by following the facts wherever they may lead and formulating policy based on those hardheaded, realistic conclusions, he sees the Bush Administration as tailoring circumstances to fit its own desires. Under such circumstances policies are motivated by propaganda rather than intelligence assessments. The classic illustration was the rush to war to protect Americans from a per

A wonderful book

This is a wonderful book containing James Carroll's essays published in the Boston Globe from September 11, 2001 through March 18, 2004. Carroll addresses the actions of the Bush administration, with particular emphasis on the ethical and moral shortcomings that have killed thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, mauled thousands more, have killed a thousand American young people and mauled an unknown number. The preemptive wars started by Bush have succeeded only in costing us the friendship of most of our former allies and have multiplied the number of enemies who hate us.

Voice of wisdom

James Carroll brings a unique perspective to his views on American foreign policy, having lived it virtually all his life with an Air Force general for a father. Carroll's policy split with his father was brilliantly documented in his National Book Award winning "An American Requiem." And now, in "Crusade," a collection of his Iraq-related columns from the Boston Globe, Carroll gives us more of his wisdom, honed over the years. And yet, despite the grave (no pun intended) subject matter, Carroll still manages to imbue many of his columns with a distinctly human touch. This is an important collection and one that should be required reading for anyone interested or involved in world politics.