Analysis Of John L. Gaddis’ A Grand Strategy Of Transformation

7 Pages 1852 Words

A Grand Strategy of Transformation, written by John
L. Gaddis, delves into George W. Bush’s
report on national security and strategy, which was
the first statement put forth from the Bush White
House,
and the first since the attacks that struck this
country on September 11th. Going over the report with
the
reader Gaddis presents us with what the NSS says and
what it fails to mention, goes into wether it can
work,
and what it all means. All the while, giving critical
acclaim to Mr.Bush in creating the greatest strategy
one
would think America has ever seen in its entire life
as a nation.
First point Gaddis talks of is on Bush’s amazing
equating skills, ” The first innovation is Bush’s
equation of terrorist with tyrants as sources of
danger, an obvious outgrowth of September
11th.”(Gaddis
81) The second point Gaddis speaks of is Mr. Bush’s
remarkable insight on the need to work together with
others, ”That gets us to another innovation in Bush’s
Strategy, which is its emphasis on cooperation among
the great powers.”(Gaddis 82) And the last innovation
of Mr. Bush Gaddis remarks on is that,” The final
innovation in the Bush Strategy deals with the longer
term issue of removing the causes of terrorism and
tyranny. Here, again, the president’s thinking
parallels an emerging consensus within the academic
community. For it’s becoming clear that poverty wasn’t
what caused a group of middle-class and reasonable
well-educated Middle Easterners to fly three airplanes
into the buildings and another into the ground. It
was,
rather, resentment growing out of the absence of
representative institutions in their own societies, so
that
the only outlet for political dissidence was religious
fanaticism.”(Gaddis 82) Gaddis’ stance on Bush’s
strategy was that it was brilliant and well thought
out, not to mention supported by some of the best
academic theories on politics today, ...