Unintended Consequences: The United States at War
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“The United States does not do nation building,” claimed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld three years ago. Yet what are we to make of the American military bases in Korea? Why do American warships patrol the Somali coastline? And perhaps most significantly, why are fourteen “enduring bases” being built in Iraq? In every major foreign war fought by United States in the last century, the repercussions of the American presence have been felt long after the last Marine has left. |
Professor Ian J. Bickerton will discuss in his lecture how, despite adamant protests from the military and government alike, nation building and occupation are indeed hallmarks - and unintended consequences - of American warmaking.
Ian J. Bickerton is currently Visiting Research Fellow and previously Professor of U.S. Modern History and the History of U.S.Foreign Relations the University of NSW (Sydney). He is the co-author of leading U.S. and Australian textbooks on the history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and of the first book published on the 1991 Gulf War. He is a frequent commentator on Australian television and radio on the Arab-Israeli conflict. His most recent volume is Unintended Consequences: The United States at War (Reaktion Books, 2007) co-authored with Kenneth J. Hagan (U.S. Naval War College, Monterey, CA).