Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement by Scott Ritter
BUY IT NEW
- $13.95 List price$13.25 Online price$11.92 Member price(Save 14%)Limited Time Offer! Everyone receives the Member Price on books.
See Details
(Paperback)
- Pub. Date: April 2007
- 174pp
- Sales Rank: 630,685
Buy it Used: 41 copies from $1.99 See All Available
Customers who bought this also bought
Product Details
- Pub. Date: April 2007
- Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group
- Format: Paperback, 174pp
- Sales Rank: 630,685
- ISBN-13: 9781568583280
- ISBN: 1568583281
Synopsis
Scott Ritter, former Marine and UN weapons inspector, argues that there is a growing despondency amongst the anti-war movement. Ritter proposes the anti-war movement seek guidance from sources they normally spurn — that one must study the “enemy” in order to learn the art of campaigning and of waging battles when necessary. They need to understand the pro-war movement’s decision-making cycle, then undertake a comprehensive course of action.
Publishers Weekly
Former U.N. weapons inspector Ritter (War on Iraq)is that rarity, a peacenik who's also a gung-ho ex-Marine besotted with the leatherneck's romanticized warrior ethos. In this eccentric manifesto, he critiques the antiwar movement in the light of military-philosophical chestnuts gleaned from Sun-Tzu, Marine Corps "maneuver warfare" principles and aerial combat guru John Boyd's "OODA-loop" theory. His mission, couched in a repetitious blend of stolid Pentagonese and bloody-minded exhortation, is to militarize the peace movement's organization ("A Type I Personnel Support Unit would be able to mobilize with a week's notice to deploy... for up to 7 days within a 500 mile radius") and attitude ("Dominate and destroy your enemy"). Unfortunately, Ritter's practical proposals are cumbersome and ill-considered, his political instincts hackneyed (proposed antiwar battle cry: reverence for the Constitution) and his intellectual conceits-which encompass everything from Newtonian physics to the centrality of "conflict" in life and shopping-unenlightening. The relevance of, say, dog-fighting doctrine to political organizing remains murky, except as a vague model of abstract virtues of speed, improvisation and initiative. Ritter raises cogent points about the peace movement's failure to think strategically, hone a compelling message and build bridges to mainstream America, but then obscures these issues in a fog of garbled war metaphors. (June)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Scott Ritter was one of the UN's top weapons inspectors in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. Before working for the UN he served as an officer in the US Marines and as a ballistic missile adviser to General Schwarzkopf in the first Gulf War. He is the author of many books including Iraq Confidential and lives in New York State.
Customer Reviews
Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movementby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
October 07, 2007: Scott Ritter is a man who is unaccustomed to losing. He grew up on US military bases and attended military college. Winning is what it?s about, and Lt. Ritter avidly absorbed the writings of some of the greatest military minds, Clausewitz and Sun Tzu in particular, in his training to be a winner. While he may have lost a skirmish or two, Scott Ritter was always on the winning side. Was, that is, until GW Bush ordered the invasion Iraq because Iraq had ?weapons of mass destruction.? Lt. Ritter, a man of high integrity, had done his job as weapons inspector to the best of his ability, and told the world that Iraq did not have such weapons. He made it very clear to the officials of the United States government that he had been very thorough, and there were no such weapons in Iraq. When the U.S. invaded anyway, based on charges that he knew to be false, Lt. Ritter got his first taste of losing. Being trained to be a winner, Lt. Ritter refused to accept defeat, and joined the anti-war movement to fight back. It opened up a whole new social circle for him, as he met with and delivered speeches to the type of people that he?d never had the opportunity to interact with before. He tells us about it in his latest book, ?Waging Peace?, subtitled ?the Art of War for the Antiwar Movement.? It?s a slim volume, with 99 pages of his own words, and the complete text of the United States Constitution and the Charter of United Nations as appendices. Interweaved with his autobiography is a fairly scathing critique of the strategies and tactics of some of the people and organizations he has encountered while on his mission. It has not been an easy alliance for this man steeped in war-making and winning. He has had to spend time with people who don?t divide society into ?winners? and ?losers? and who aren?t so quick to recognize or appoint ?the enemy.? The kind of people who don?t understand the distinction between ?strategy? and ?tactics?. So he provides us with his textbook on military science 101. I did not enjoy reading this book, mercifully brief though it may be. I trudged thru the exposition of glorious battles, outflanking the enemy, and a fair dose of loser bashing, not the usual reading material for this pacifist. Ritter wants us master conflict and crush the enemy. He wants us to adopt military strategies, to see our efforts as a battlefield. He misses the structure and the single-mindedness of the Marine Corps, which devotes a great deal of effort to developing leadership. In the antiwar movement, leadership is much more haphazard. As a coalition of diverse groups allied to the cause of ending the war in Iraq, the current antiwar movement is not the lean mean fighting machine Ritter is accustomed to. Ritter would have us adopt a command structure and the mindset of the military, and rally to the defense of the US constitution and the UN charter. If pacifists are his audience, then he loses his audience completely (those who are still reading) in the concluding chapter, ?On Winning?, where he states: ?In conflict you must be prepared to knock your opponent down, and then, instead of offering a helping hand, hold your opponent down with the heel of your foot while you plunge a bayonet into his or her heart. You can be assured that your opponent will do the same to you.? Here he demonstrates that the words of Dr. King have not been heard. Here we see that he?s not able to communicate with those who espouse a different paradigm...
Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movementby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
September 18, 2007: Ritter's intended audience is anti-war protesters, but his message has broad application for anyone who longs to be taken seriously on important issues, or covets more self-discipline. Ritter shares parts of his training that has triggered his thoughts concerning his subject. These 99 pages have strong potential for those willing to invest some time. Included as Appendix is the Constitution and the UN Charter to assist readers in finding their/our centers as citizens. This is a fellow who always does his homework--may his tribe increase!
Loading...