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The United States and Terrorism

An Ironic Perspective

Ron Hirschbein

What is terrorism? Academics search in vain for the unholy grail: the definition of terrorism that will exonerate or condemn American officials. There are many vying definitions and no tribunal to resolve the contest. In this unique essay, Ron Hirschbein analyzes conflicts in which officials themselves called their actions “terrorist.” He reveals that terrorism didn’t always get bad press. In fact, terror bombing was indispensable to winning World War II. Not only did the Allied Forces bombed German cities, but they also used the nuclear bomb in Japan, killing many noncombatant civilians. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear annihilation became the strategy to deter war between the superpowers.

Many ironies are brought to light in revisiting these conflicts, such as the fact that it was accepted that safety depended upon the willingness to detonate weapons of mass destruction. Not even American citizens enjoyed noncombatant immunity during the Cold War as they were held hostage to mutually assured destruction and marked for sacrifice in various strategic scenarios. Indeed, their lives were risked in confronting crises in Berlin and Cuba. Subsequent conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the War on Terror itself, are also examined. Like World War II, all involved killing noncombatants by accident or design. Casting these conflicts in an ironic light reveals incongruities in language and situations in which triumphant dreams become self-defeating realities (as with the second Iraq war). The War on Terror, now rebranded as an “Overseas Contingency Plan” seems to be the answer to a Jihadist’s prayer. Further, U.S.-led covert attacks and assassinations by drones raise many discussions of legalities. And today the curse of terrorism is fodder for captivating primetime entertainment, enjoyed even by the president of the United States.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 160 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-3777-3 • Hardback • April 2015 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

978-1-4422-3779-7 • eBook • April 2015 • $85.50 • (£66.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Terrorism, Political Science / Security (National & International)

The United States and Terrorism

An Ironic Perspective

Hardback

eBook

Summary

What is terrorism? Academics search in vain for the unholy grail: the definition of terrorism that will exonerate or condemn American officials. There are many vying definitions and no tribunal to resolve the contest. In this unique essay, Ron Hirschbein analyzes conflicts in which officials themselves called their actions “terrorist.” He reveals that terrorism didn’t always get bad press. In fact, terror bombing was indispensable to winning World War II. Not only did the Allied Forces bombed German cities, but they also used the nuclear bomb in Japan, killing many noncombatant civilians. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear annihilation became the strategy to deter war between the superpowers.

Many ironies are brought to light in revisiting these conflicts, such as the fact that it was accepted that safety depended upon the willingness to detonate weapons of mass destruction. Not even American citizens enjoyed noncombatant immunity during the Cold War as they were held hostage to mutually assured destruction and marked for sacrifice in various strategic scenarios. Indeed, their lives were risked in confronting crises in Berlin and Cuba. Subsequent conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the War on Terror itself, are also examined. Like World War II, all involved killing noncombatants by accident or design. Casting these conflicts in an ironic light reveals incongruities in language and situations in which triumphant dreams become self-defeating realities (as with the second Iraq war). The War on Terror, now rebranded as an “Overseas Contingency Plan” seems to be the answer to a Jihadist’s prayer. Further, U.S.-led covert attacks and assassinations by drones raise many discussions of legalities. And today the curse of terrorism is fodder for captivating primetime entertainment, enjoyed even by the president of the United States.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 160 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-3777-3 • Hardback • April 2015 • $90.00 • (£69.00)

978-1-4422-3779-7 • eBook • April 2015 • $85.50 • (£66.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Terrorism, Political Science / Security (National & International)

Author

Ron Hirschbein, taught war and peace studies at California State University, Chico and founded the University’s Chico Peace Institute.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Quest for the Unholy Grail
Chapter 1: World War II: Theory And Practice Of Terrorism
From Cold-Blooded Isolationism to Hot-Blooded Warfare
Bad Japanese, Good Germans, and Russian Comrades
From Emnity To Amity: The Occupations Of Japan And Germany
Chapter 2: Celebrating Nuclear Terror—Irony Of The Cold War
A Nukespeak /Doublethink Primer
The Irony of American Nuclear Endeavors
Oldest Psychology/Newest Logic
When Deterrence Fails
Nuclear Terror And War Prevention
Retirement Wisdom
Chapter 3: Goodwill Toward Men Without Peace On Earth
A World without Enemies
Hubris: Promoting What You Would Prevent
Korea: The Forgotten War
Vietnam: The War We Can’t Forget
Coda: A Lesson from Grand Fenwick
Chapter 4: The War on Terror
The Transmutation of Terrorism
Terrorism Experts
9/11 and Its Discontents
Iraq: A Never-Ending-Story
Drones: Terrorism-Lite
Chapter 5: Terrorism As Entertainment
Shock and Awe Becomes Aw Shucks
Daydreaming In the Aftermath of 9/11
The Present Is a Foreign Country
The Sacred and the Profane
Watching Homeland with President Obama
Bibliography
About the Author
Index

Reviews

Hirschbein has a wry, engaging, and insightful perspective on the US and terrorism. He reminds readers that ‘terrorism didn't always get a bad press.’ During WW II, the US government celebrated the terror bombings of Germany and Japan and during the Cold War extolled the virtue of nuclear terrorism as an indispensable strategy to deter war among superpowers. More recently, however, the American government views terrorism as evil, the illegitimate and intolerable actions of its enemies. Hirschbein's thesis is that the calculated use of violence to accomplish goals in foreign policy, regardless of whether defined as terrorism, rarely accomplishes the goals of the perpetrators (even when the perpetrator is the US government). . . .[H]e raises issues worthy of attention from ethicists, historians, political scientists, and everyone else concerned with the future of humanity. . . .[T]he book is a fascinating collection of provocative observations that should not be ignored. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.
— Choice Reviews

Ron Hirschbein is an ironist, a man of the left who takes exception to American exceptionalism, one whose professional mission is to bring to light the mismatch between elite-produced propaganda and 'what’s really going on.'
— Chico Enterprise-Record

[The book combines] a candid, hard-hitting analysis with unexpected ironic observation in exploring the myths and propaganda in terrorist experiences. . . .[This book is] a college-level reference perfect for political science debates and terrorist history studies alike.
— Midwest Book Review

A groundbreaking, highly-readable book designed for those willing to rethink, without prejudice, what they thought previously to be self-evident and undeniable in U.S. foreign policy.

— Ovadia Ezra, Tel Aviv University

With razor-sharp analysis and searing wit, Ron Hirschbein exposes the inglorious history of the world’s most powerful concept today: terrorism. Peeling back the layers of myth and propaganda in prevailing accounts of terrorism, Hirschbein outlines an alternative history of the way in which the concept has affected US foreign and domestic policy over time. If you ever wondered how the US wound up at Abu Ghraib, Camp X-Ray or using drones to kill children, this book is for you. Rigorous, insightful, and deeply ethical, this is academic criticism at its very best.
— Richard Jackson, University of Otago, New Zealand

Ron Hirschbein’s latest book lays bare the myriad contradictions in ‘the war on terror’. Rarely has such a dark topic had such a light touch, thanks to his inimitable, provocative and oh-so-readable style.
— Graeme Orr, professor, University of Queensland, Australia

The United States and Terrorism

An Ironic Perspective

Ron Hirschbein

The United States and Terrorism

An Ironic Perspective

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