Review: Imperial America

I'm currently reading this book by John Newhouse. The title makes it sound far-left wing, but the author is a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. He's also a former bureaucrat, having served as senior policy advisor for European affairs in the Department of State. Book link.

It's critical of the Bush administration, which is to be expected -- he's a Democrat. However, his criticism has its foundation in the center; he says nice things about moderate Republican Colin Powell, offers substantive remedies to real problems, and minimizes rhetorical cheap shots on the president.

To a certain degree it fits what the president would consider "armchair quarterbacking," but I find that most of the book is fleshing out a reality which I perceived to be the case all along -- that the "Axis of Evil" was a stupid oversimplification, that the invasion of Iraq was ill-planned, and that the administration has suffered from infighting between the GOP's moderate and radical branches.

It's a very great book for people interested in the current layout of international relations and the path upon which Bush's policies have led the nation for the past four years.