Conscription is not the answer either: Andrew Bacevich's powerful critique of U.S. foreign policy backs the wrong remedy.

• Author: Gregory, Anthony
• Position: Culture and Reviews - Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country - Book review

Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country, by Andrew J. Bacevich, Metropolitan Books, 238 pages, $26

War critics sometimes argue that modern militarism isolates Americans from the action, keeping the general population unaware of intervention's bloody costs. This theme is aired extensively in Andrew Bacevich's new Breach of Trust. Bacevich, a veteran Army officer and Boston University historian, has penned numerous critiques of U.S. foreign policy, and his latest contains valuable insights. But those who prioritize individual liberty will disagree with many of the book's conclusions, particularly its endorsement of conscription.

In the past, Bacevich argues, the United States maintained a "neat division of labor," comprising "a smaller regular army for everyday needs while mobilizing a much larger citizen-army in time of great emergency." Then Vietnam-era politics culminated with the end of the draft, leading Americans to become "disengaged from war, with few observers giving serious consideration to the implications of doing so."

In the new era, military service is no longer a shared national sacrifice but an elective personal choice. This shift coincided with a general desire to keep war remote. In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration solidified this new way of war, which Bacevich calls the "three no's": Americans refuse to share in the blood sacrifice, refuse to change their way of life, and refuse even to pay the financial costs up front. The "nation did not mobilize," he laments. "Congress did not raise taxes, curtail consumption, or otherwise adjust domestic priorities to accommodate wartime requirements." It's a familiar complaint.

Bacevich makes many good points in Breach of Trust. He thoughtfully questions U.S. Middle East policy, from the 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran to Washington's tilted relationship with Israel. He warns against excessive anti-Islamism, faults Obama for continuing the Bush doctrine, punctures the triumphalism of early Iraq War enthusiasts like David Brooks, and laments the liberal establishment's lack of anti-war stalwarts.

Most important, Bacevich discusses the hyper-militarism that emerged after the Vietnam debacle. "Since the draft ended, along with Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan, U.S. ground forces have intervened for stays ranging from weeks to years in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo," he notes. As for the popular Persian Gulf War of 1991, this...