Review of Rise of the Vulcans: the History of Bush's War Cabinet.

Review of Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet

James Mann 

Penguin

New York 

ISBN: 0670032999 $25.95, 426 pp.

Rise of the Vulcans is an extremely important book. As its subtitle explains, this book explores the history of the current war cabinet operating out of the White House: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Armitage, Rice, etc. It is absolutely essential to have an understanding of the people who have shaped and controlled our government, especially its foreign policy, for most of the last thirty years. These individuals first rose to power under Nixon but have returned to power now through the Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II administrations. Their interconnected relationships and deep commitments to each other and their common hawkish agenda have been well-known but little studied in depth. James Mann has provided a rather comprehensive and fascinating study of this group of policy hawks who call themselves The Vulcans (this misnomer, by the way--whether because of their desire to be seen as fire-wielding forgers of the new or simply as a joke spawned by the massive Vulcan statue in Rice's hometown--does indeed sound better or perhaps more serious than what their name truly should be: The Martians).

Mann, in a deft biographical and intellectual history, explores the long-term working relationships of the Vulcans, some from school on up, and the dogged way they return each other to power. Regardless of who succeeds amongst them, they are committed to each other and forcibly bring along the crowd wherever they go. This clannish behavior is almost unique in the annals of political history, where parties have always favored their elites and powerbrokers and cronyism is almost synonymous with political career, but never has a single group accomplished such repetitive ascent over the course of decades. It is rather frightening when you dig into their collective history and discover the same handful of names and same handful of goals recurring as if in a feedback loop. This gives new meaning to the current mantra of "staying on message"--it borders absolute obsession. It also strongly suggests that progress will never occur until the feedback loop is broken. One of the great strengths of democracy has always been its ability to field a thousand diverse voices and reach compromises between opposing ideologies. There is great natural balance in democracy that never occurs in dictatorships or closed societies. Hence the maxim "from many, one." This does not and cannot occur in a feedback loop. A single message defines itself; striving for a single goal has no other possible destination. This narrow one-way loop cancels out broad-based democracy and drives the nation further and further into a funnel, a corner, or a cul-de-sac.

This study of the newly re-christianed "neocon knights" is incisive, detailed, and downright frightening at times. No, make that very frightening. It was eerie reading about Vice President Dick "undisclosed bunker" Cheney designing and and testing just such a secret government in a highly classified Reagan-era project to create a secret government outside the bounds of the Constitution just in case of emergency, which at that time they felt would be the nuclear war with the Soviet Union they were themselves preparing to launch. Scary is the fact that on a yearly basis throughout the '80s he and Rumsfeld and other Vulcans (including such criminals as Oliver North) would disappear from Washington and operate a shadow government run by themselves practicing things like nuclear holocaust in secret bunkers they had built and designed for just that purpose. Snap forward to today and it throws a new light on Cheney constantly disappearing into bunkers throughout the Terror War plus also the questions about a shadow government currently operating and if President Bush II is really the one calling the shots. It seems rather like what it is: a neocon game plan carefully laid out, repeatedly practiced for more than a decade, and now being executed. And when we review their history next to our repeated dabblings in and wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, we find familiar patterns between their theories and our reality. It is absolutely scare-the-pants-off stuff that seems more like fiction than reality.

Sadly, this book is all too true. This is a glimpse into the minds of the group that dominates American foreign policy and has repeatedly led us into war over the past thirty years. It is vital to understand what and who is going on in Washington. The Vulcans' policy is clear: to create an American empire or hegemony where world policy is determined solely by us, is unchallengeable, and enforced by our overwhelming military might. Worldwide everyone will either fall in line behind us or be run overby our tanks (wit us or agin us). These wars and policies effect everything globally--from the economy and environment down to our prestige and trade relations. Why, how, and who is operating the machinery behind the curtains? The Rise of the Vulcans chronicles "the pursuit of unrivaled American power" by a single group over many decades and it is an astounding read. For anyone interested in current events, global geopolitical strategy, war, politics, or any tangent and intersection thereof, this book is a vital resource.