"Dirty War" and "Time's Up"

By Laura Miller and Suzy Hansen

 

Feb 8, 2002 | Read "Dirty War."

Laura Miller follows in the trend of New York literary critics who somehow think they have been suddenly, magically endowed with a thorough knowledge of military history and are therefore just as qualified to review books on that subject as they are to chatter about bad women's fiction. Her review of my "The Lessons of Terror" is riddled not only with references to statements made in the book that she can't PROVE wrong, but simply FEELS MUST be wrong, as if she is reviewing something as subjective as Lady Bushnell's latest tripe, but also with arrogant misstatements of actual facts: Japan, for example, was not reduced to surrender by either the bombing of its civilians or, finally, the atomic bombs; it had been reduced to fatal weakness by something that I'm sure Ms. Miller is utterly unaware of, one of the most underappreciated military campaigns in history: that of American submarines against Japanese naval and merchant shipping. But let's not let facts or a shaky grounding in history keep us from being a bitchy wise-ass -- THAT would get you thrown out of the club that meets at Michiko's to watch "Sex in the City" and spout a lot of nonsense about things they don't know.

Read the New York Observer review: At least it displays SOME knowledge of the SUBJECT, rather than just ATTITUDE.

LAURA MILLER: REASON NO. 8 MILLION WHY THE SOUL OF NEW YORK CITY IS DYING.

-- Caleb Carr

I am very interested in reading "The Lessons of Terror," by Caleb Carr, but I have to admit I had problems with Laura Miller's review of it. Carr argues that the mass killings of civilians, in and out of warfare, is a bad thing. As a civilian, and as the mother, wife and daughter of civilians, I wholeheartedly agree with him. But Ms. Miller isn't sure. She states that "Islamist terrorists confront Americans with a choice between living under the constant threat of sudden violence and such alternatives as pulling U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia or ending aid to the secular government of Egypt, foreign policy commitments most Americans were probably unaware of to begin with."

Does Ms. Miller believe that if we gave into those demands that Islamist terrorists would say, "Gee, thanks, and sorry about the mess at the World Trade Center. We won't bother you anymore." Is that her interpretation of al-Qaida and their objectives? I guess she missed that "kill all Americans" comment bin Laden made or the way he has responded to weak responses by escalating the damage of his attacks. Oh, and that strong horse/weak horse comment. If Ms. Miller's grasp of the goals of Islamist terrorists is that weak, I'm not surprised that she has trouble understanding Mr. Carr's book. The question is not whether terrorism has "worked" in the past. The question is, what can we do to be sure that it doesn't "work" in the future? Fighting back is just one of many effective tactics. Appeasement and weak responses have been proven to be ineffective.

By the way, many Americans, including myself, were aware of our foreign policy commitments to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Ms. Miller may find this hard to believe, but we are aware of what's going on in the world around us.

-- Mary Madigan

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