World War IV (Norman Podhoretz) - Book Review

World War IV - The Long Struggle Against Islamofacism -- $2.95 at Amazon! No wonder these neocon potboilers are NYT best-sellers.

Podhoretz has been an intellectual combatant in the neoconservative ranks for decades, and here he engages critics of America's current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Stoutly defending President George W. Bush, Podhoretz covers every avenue of attack on Bush's strategy of responding militarily to Islamic terrorists rather than continuing the law-enforcement approach that had been the tendency prior to 9/11. The so-called Bush Doctrine of regime change, preemptive war, and propagation of democracies in the Middle East, Podhoretz argues, is comparable to the Truman Doctrine at the start of the cold war and is strategically and morally sound in light of the aims and methods of radical Islamic terrorists. However, Podhoretz is pessimistic about the successful application of the Bush Doctrine. He asserts that a nearly unanimous anti-Bush phalanx in academia, in the Democratic Party, and in mass media has been successful in influencing public opinion toward an antiwar direction. Quoting and debating criticisms of Bush from such precincts, and from conservative corners as well, Podhoretz stands as a beleaguered but unwavering voice in the controversy over American foreign policy.