Summary Of Drift By Rachel Maddow

Have you ever wondered what has changed within the military in the last 50 years? In her non-fiction book “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power,” Rachel Maddow unveils and discusses the major changes in how America now conducts its wars. Specifically, Maddow examines how military powers have been abused by presidents beginning with Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War to the more recent examples from the Obama administration’s use of private contracts and the CIA. Ms. Maddow’s book is a fascinating expose’ into american militarism and the ideals that America was founded upon. Within the first chapter of her book, Maddow begins by describing the infatuation Americans had with its soldiers. After World War II, while the U.S. was

Reagan was able to win the presidency on the idea that he would never allow Americans look weak to the world. Although he had no evidence to support his claims, he was able to convince Americans that the Soviet Union was preparing a preemptive attack on the United States. Using this technique to gain public support for the military, Reagan promoted the idea of power in the military to counter-balance what he viewed as “threats” to America. Not only did this steadily increase enlistment, but also allowed President Reagan to pass several increases in the defense budget placing America in a huge deficit during

Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein and it was apparent that his target were the oil fields located in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, placing America’s oil supply in danger. Feeling the pressure, Bush convinced the Saudi king to allow American troops to defend the oil fields much to the chagrin of local Taliban leader, Osama Bin Laden. In addition to the Middle East, Bush was also under fire from Congress for not first asking permission to commit troops in Saudi Arabia. In fact Congress fought tooth and nail against Bush until they finally buckled, agreeing to the Gulf War in