A War on Terror

If you have never read a Paul Rogers’ article or book before, you will probablybe wondering who he is and from what angle he is approaching the“war on terror.” Paul Rogers is a professor of peace studies, as well as aninternational security correspondent who focuses upon trends in internationalconflict. More specifically, he examines western military responsesto regional conflicts and political violence. It is with this intellectual backgroundthat he intends to analyze and understand what is happening in theMiddle East (as events occur vis-à-vis “real time”) and predict future implicationsof Bush’s “war on terror” (p. 2).This book is a compilation of articles that Rogers wrote from October2001 to December 2002 as weekly columns for the Open Democracy webjournal (www.openDemocracy.net). His choice to submit these articles tothe web journal, which is neither media-controlled nor affiliated with anyspecial interest group, is a provocative statement that clarifies his positionon the media’s “war on terror.” That is, in the author’s words, “media manipulationis easy” (p. 10) and comes “with little or no critical analysis” (p. 15).After editing and refining his articles to prepare them for book form,Rogers divides the articles into seven chapters: Chapter 1: “War inAfghanistan – I,” Chapter 2: “War in Afghanistan – II,” Chapter 3: “A NewAmerican Century?,” Chapter 4: “Consequences of War,” Chapter 5: “Israeland Palestine,” Chapter 6: “Winning or Losing?,” and Chapter 7: “EndlessWar.” He opens the book with a very brief “Introduction” and ends it with aslightly longer “Afterword.”With a closer look, it becomes evident from the chapter titles thatunderneath the motif of conflict several interrelated issues are presentedthroughout this book: the Bush administration’s (strike first) political ...