Wars of Blood and Faith

by Ralph Peters

Book Overview

In the no-holds-barred tradition that has won him so many fans across the nation and around the world, best-selling author and strategist Ralph Peters confronts the crucial security issues of our time--and the troubled times to come. With his trademark clarity and force, Peters argues that we have left behind the "Age of Ideologies" to enter a violent period in which ethnicity and religion--blood and faith--will continue to be the source of ferocious...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081170274X
• ISBN13: 9780811702744
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Fresh views based on actual experience and clear thinking.

Some of the writers and thinkers I value most are those whose views are so fresh and original that I am startled when I read them. They push my frame of reference in ways I had not expected. Ralph Peters is one of those writers. I value what he has to say a great deal. Not because I agree with everything he says, but because he is committed only to thinking clearly about the military and America's place in the world. He never shades his views or analyses to favor one party or the other; or one service or the other. Bush comes in for his share of criticism, as do the Democrats. This is a collection of articles by Peters that cover a wide range of military, foreign affairs, and domestic security topics. He never pulls his punches. What I enjoy most about his positions is that he never takes a position to help the Republicans or Democrats or the Pentagon establishment. The stands he takes are based on his own experience, his own reasoning, and he let's the grenades fall were they may. His article on "Blood Borders" where he rethinks the borders of the Middle East is certainly a non-starter in reality (except after a huge war), but just going through the mental exercise is very much worthwhile in allowing the reader to see the situation with new eyes and recontextualize the issues. In "Kill, Don't Capture" from July 2006, he makes clear the necessity to kill the enemy. This is one area where our "modern" age gets awfully squeamish. This quote is dead on: "Consider today's norm: A terrorist in civilian clothes can explode an IED, killing and maiming American troops or innocent civilians, then demand humane treatment if captured - and the media will step in as his champion. A disguised insurgent can shoot his rockets, throw his grenades, empty his magazines, kill and would our troops, and then, out of ammo, raise his hands and demand three hots and a cot while he invents tales of abuse." On September 11, 2006 he published an article about the state of the country five years after those hateful attacks. His points out the achievements we have made during those years and says: "What should we worry about? Plenty. First, the unscrupulous nature of those in the media who always discover a dark cloud in the brightest silver lining. They're terror's cheerleaders. Second, the rabid partisanship infecting our political system - when "getting Bush" is more important than protecting our country, something's wrong." He lists the third worry as the extremism, fanaticism, and conspiracy paranoia fostered by the Internet. His June 28, 2006 article on the public "lynching" of the marines involved in the Haditha incident is very powerful. He excoriates those who jumped to a guilty verdict. If they are found guilty, he wants them punished, but: "Isn't it remarkable that, to the media, our troops are guilty until proven innocent, while our enemies are innocent even after they're prove guilty?" The articles are not presented chron

A MUST READ FOR OUR LEADERS

As I read through the author's collection of articles in book format, I wished that it were required reading for each and every one of our 2008 presidential candidates. Aside from the fact that Peters is an absolutely brilliant writer, he lays out under one cover the status quo and history of violence across the world. How could one man know so much, says I! He hits hard at our leadership and is honest in his assessments, giving credit when it is due, and delivering gut punches when it is not. For an understanding of today's world in conflict, this is the one to read -- enthralling, informative, and encouraging. It is a book I will put on my shelf and return to, again and again.

Ralph Peters' Latest 'Must Read' Book

Wars of Blood and Faith contains 78 carefully-selected, hard-hitting articles the author published in 2006-2007 in the New York Post, Armed Forces Journal, USA Today, Washington Monthly, The Weekly Standard, Military Review, RealClearPolitics.com, and Armchair General magazine. Individually, as originally published, each essay provided plenty of food for thought - now, read as a book in this superb collection by publisher Stackpole, it's a real feast! Peters', today's most insightful, clear-headed strategic thinker, includes a revelatory introductory essay that, alone, is well worth the price of the book. He shatters the mythology so dear to the hearts of America's "ruling elite" that "all men want peace, with its corollary fantasies of bloodless war and a lawyer's faith in negotiations." These through-the-looking-glass assumptions belong to the now-past Age of Ideology, a two hundred year "aberrant period in history ... a time of unaccountable mass delusion, when human beings convinced themselves that individuals could reason out a better architecture for human societies than human collectives could arrive at organically." Peters perceptively reveals that "we have returned to the historical mainstream, abandoning conflicts over artificial systems of social organizations in favor of strife provoked by those ineradicable causes, religion and ethnicity ... the bleeding over political systems is largely finished; we have returned to the historical norm of wars of blood and belief." The age of wars over "isms" (fascism, nationalism, Communism, Nazism, etc.) is over - it's tribe versus tribe in a war to the death. The enemy's preferred strategy is no longer one of winning hearts and minds; that's been replaced by one calling for a knife to the heart and a bullet to the brain. Our leaders' failure to comprehend that represents little more than national suicide. Yet, don't assume that the sole value of Wars of Blood and Faith lies only in its sorely-needed wake-up call that we must realize our survival depends upon - quite literally -- killing our enemies before they kill us. Peters' prescient, timely and carefully-crafted articles cover the world, explaining in the author's trademark crystal-clear, Hemingway-esque style the myriad of critical security issues that confront America and the West around the globe. Although many of the book's essays address the Iraq War's military and political issues (including its domestic and international fall-out), Peters razor-sharp analysis looks beyond the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan to encompass such far-flung places as China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Israel, Somalia, and Darfur. With continuing worldwide experience in 70 countries, Peters is no stay-at-home "studio pundit" - the book includes first-hand reporting from the front lines in Iraq and Israel's war with Hezbollah. Ralph Peters knows what he's talking about. More important, he's not afraid to "go public" by sharing that unequaled experience with

You Can Read This More Than Once, and Learn Each Time

Ralph Peters is one of a handful of individuals whose every work I must read. See some others I recommend at the end of this review. Ralph stands alone as a warrior-philosopher who actually walks the trail, reads the sign, and offers up ground truth. This book is deep look at the nuances and the dangers of what he calls the wars of blood and faith. The introduction is superb, and frames the book by highlighting these core matters: * Washington has forgotten how to think. * The age of ideology is over. Ethnic identity will rule. * Globalization has contradictory effects. Internet spreads hatred and dangerous knowledge (e.g. how to make an improvised explosive device). * The post-colonial era has begun. * Women's freedom is the defining issue of our time. * There is no way to wage a bloodless war. * The media can now determine the war's outcome. I don't agree with the author on everything, this is one such case. If the government does not lie, the cause is just, and the endeavor is effectively managed, We the People can be steadfast. A couple of expansions. I recently posted a list of the top ten timeless books at the request of a Stanford '09, and i7 includes Philip Allott's The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State. Deeper in the book the author has an item on Blood Borders, and it tallies perfectly with Allott's erudite view that the Treaty of Westphalia was a huge mistake--instead of creating artificial states (5000 distinct ethnic groups crammed into 189+ artificial political entities) we should have gone instead with Peoples and especially Indigenous Peoples whose lands and resources could not be stolen, only negotiated for peacefully. Had the USA not squandered a half trillion dollars and so many lives and so much good will, a global truth and reconciliation commission, combined with a free cell phone to every woman among the five billion poor (see next paragraph) could conceivably have achieved a peaceful reinvigoration of the planet with liberty and justice for peoples rather than power and wealth for a handful. The author's views on the importance of women stem from decades of observation and are supported by Michael O'Hanlon's book, A Half Penny on the Federal Dollar: The Future of Development Aid, in which he documents that the single best return on investment for any dollar is in the education of women. They tend to be secular, appreciate sanitation and nutrition and moderation in all things. The men are more sober, responsible, and productive when their women are educated. THIS, not unilateral militarism, virtual colonialism, and predatory immoral capitalism, should be the heart of our foreign policy. The book is organized into sections I was not expecting but that both make sense, and add to the whole. Part I is 17 short pieces addressing the Twenty-First Century Military. Here the author focuses on the strategic, lambastes Rumsfeld for not listening, and generally overlooks the fact that all

The shape of things to come...

Ralph Peters is likely the premier observer and commentator on the world's most vexing problems and challenges and this volume is a worthy successor to his previous works. Neither a kibitzer nor a naif, Peters is a veteran, professional soldier, a keen observer, and a no-holds barred critic. There are many who will dispute Peters' views but none can come close to duplicating his depth of knowledge or his informed and insightful views. The world is full of reporters and commentators who will opine from afar and profess to hold all the answers -- Peters won't. He'll express vexation, describe situations and parties to problems, draw from the lessons of history, and propose solutions, alternatives or invite further study of the situation. More to the point, unlike those who propose to set the nation's agenda in either Congress or the media, his opinions are backed by first person experience and exposure -- he's been there, done that. India, Somalia, Bosnia, Tajikistan, Israel, Kurdistan, Iraq -- he's been there, on the ground, living with and listening to those who call these trouble-spots home. For the interested, discerning reader who wishes a more informed and intelligent view of a world in upheaval this work is a must read.