Book Review

Obama’s Wars

By Kris Tee

Obama’s Wars

By Bob Woodward

Simon & Schuster

Price: US $ 20

Pages: 441

President Obama had the unenviable distinction of inheriting a war in which their main ally in the region, Pakistan, was in fact a dishonest partner. The Americans on their part had little choice but to go along with Pakistan, playing the role of a nanny escorting a peevish child, lest the fragile fabric of Pakistan’s uneasy stability give way completely.

          While one of Obama’s campaign promises had been that he would get the ‘boys’ back, he could not simply order them home, abandoning the sacrifice of so many American lives and giving up the proactive pursuit of the war on terror. At the same time, he had to prevent the situation from descending into another Vietnam. This meant that the aims of the war had to be very carefully scripted and translated into actionable and achievable goals for the military. On the one hand while the military was pushing for a troop increase, the general public wanted the boys to return home.

          This book describes the tightrope path negotiated by the US President in managing the various wars, both physical and virtual. The book has been written as an eyewitness account of the goings-on and deliberations during meetings, briefings and informal conversations. The pace tends to get rather slow and the author tends to pre-suppose knowledge of the US national security apparatus in the reader. Further, given the number of characters, the reader is forced to flip pages to ascertain who’s who. The book could have been made more interesting and perhaps shorter, had the author maintained a narrative form. The book provides insight into the functioning of the American security establishment and brings out many unusual aspects of the relationship between the President, in his role as Commander-in-Chief and military commanders. Post reading, a student of strategic and military affairs could use it as a useful reference book.