Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War

Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War

â€œ[A] chilling cautionary tale of Orwellian repercussions.â€ â€”Kirkus Reviews

â€œMasterly...eloquentâ€ â€”The New York Review of Books

Trapped in a forever war by 9/11, in Spiral Mark Danner describes a nation that has been altered in fundamental ways. President Bush declared a war of choice and without an exit plan, and President Obama has proven unable to take the country off what he has called its â€œpermanent war footing.â€

The War on Terror has led to fourteen years of armed conflict, the longest war in Americaâ€™s history. Al Qaeda, the organization that attacked us on 9/11, has been â€œdecimatedâ€ (the word is Obamaâ€™s) but replaced by multiple jihadist and terror organizations, including the most notoriousâ€”ISIS.

Spiral is what we can call a perpetual and continuously widening war that has put the country in a â€œstate of exception.â€ Bushâ€™s promise that we have â€œtaken the gloves offâ€ and Obamaâ€™s inability to define an end game have had a profound effect on us even though the actual combat is fought by a tiny percentage of our citizens. In the name of security, some of our accustomed rights and freedoms are circumscribed. Guantanamo, indefinite detention, drone warfare, enhanced interrogation, torture, and warrantless wiretapping are all words that have become familiar and tolerated.

And yet the war goes badly as the Middle East drowns in civil wars and the Caliphate expands and brutalized populations flee and seek asylum in Europe. In defining the War on Terror as boundless, apocalyptic, and unceasing, we have, Danner concludes, â€œlet it define us as ideological crusaders caught in an endless war.â€
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2016-06-14
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781476747767

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2016-06-14
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781476747767

Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War

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