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The Changing Face of Empire: Special Ops, Drones, Spies, Proxy Fighters, Secret Bases, and Cyberwarfare

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Following the failures of the Iraq and Afghan wars, as well as “military lite” methods and counterinsurgency, the Pentagon is pioneering a new brand of global warfare predicated on special ops, drones, spy games, civilian soldiers, and cyberwarfare. It may sound like a safer, saner war-fighting. In reality, it will prove anything but, as Turse's pathbreaking reportage makes clear.

107 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2012

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Nick Turse

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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Helen.
735 reviews106 followers
July 10, 2022
This 2012 book, based on TomDispatch.com blog entries of 2011-2012, deals with the various modalities the US government and military uses around the world to fight the war on terror, including numerous partnerships with host countries involving training, joint military exercises and covert operations, all of which amount to a little-known, mostly hidden, dimension of American military activities abroad, which the author seeks to describe for the general public in this easy-to-read and understand book. Although most Americans have known about the military's use of drones for some time, probably few would guess how extensive, sophisticated, and elaborated drone warfare has become and how crucial it is to the military in its operations abroad. This book gathers tons of information -- as of 2011-2012 -- about drones, drone bases around the world, as well as about related topics, such as continuing US support for autocracies in sensitive areas such as oil-rich areas of the Mid-East, as long as said autocrats are pro-American, a historic pattern in the Western hemisphere as well. In order to strengthen US allies, even if they are autocracies with little regard for human rights, the book describes the ongoing, recurring, or continuing training exercises that sharpen the skills of the military in these countries with questionable human rights records - skills that may be used to repress the populations of these countries, even repressing law-abiding citizens if they dare to protest. Thus, the military of the world´s oldest continuing democracy (US) sworn to uphold human rights, sadly may be used to strengthen the military-police capabilities of autocracies with little regard for human rights, as long as said regimes are pro-American. And even more sadly, this has been the case all along, globally, rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. The book describes the stalemated situation in Afghanistan circa 2011-2012, how even then planners were searching for a way to exit the conflict by transferring responsibility for the fighting to the Afghan National Army (ANA). Little did they know then that the war would drag on for another ten years or so, with the outcome in favor of the Taliban because the ANA crumbled as the US withdrew its troops. The book discusses various wars ongoing in Africa that are mostly no longer even covered in the News, and the role of the US in pursuing various figures (at that time) such as Joseph Kony (who is in fact still at large), how the US prefers to fight proxy wars rather than wars that US troops must fight, given the negative outcome of a number of wars since 1945, and, according to the author, how the US is involved in pushing global instability in its support of autocracies, which many times lead to the development of insurgencies by the disgruntled population.

Although the author obviously has an agenda, the book wasn't excessively tendentious or polemical. Rather it mostly lets the reader draw their own conclusion from the information presented. The justification for the far-flung operations of what the author characterizes as the military´s secret military - various types of bases including drone bases, is to disrupt, engage and destroy the enemy abroad before they can organize to stage 9/11 type attacks at home, or to undercut any possible emerging regional power that might be anti-American. I would say most Americans would support this defensive approach, but many would have second thoughts about us supporting and helping train the military of autocratic regimes around the world, if they are pro-American, given that such training is probably going to be used to crush human rights in these autocracies, and will inevitably lead to even more instability once the population inevitably rebels against the despotic regimes. Still, there have been no repeats of the 9/11 catastrophe thank God, so the strategy of fighting terror abroad before it can organize itself and strike us at home, seems to have worked - although Iraq, a war that led to the rise of ISIS (although this despicable terror group has mostly been defeated by now) and Afghanistan, a war that was won by the Taliban, both show the limits of this policy.

Here are some quotes from the book:

¨...a...transformation [of US military strategy] -- this one geared toward avoiding ruinous, large-scale land wars which the US. has consistently proven unable to win.¨

¨...President Obama...became the first American commander-in-chief to order sustained cyber-attacks designed to cripple another country´s infrastructure.¨

¨The United States ... an imperial power chastened by more than 10 years of failed, heavy-footprint wars ... hobbled by a hollowing-out economy, and inundated with hundreds of thousands of recent veterans -- a staggering 45% of the troops who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq -- suffering from service-related disabilities who will require ever more expensive care. No wonder the current combination of special ops, drones, spy games, civilian soldiers, cyber-warfare, and proxy fighters sounds like a safer, saner brand of war-fighting.¨

¨...military action tends to have unforeseen consequences.¨

¨History demonstrates that the U.S. is not very good at winning wars, having gone without victory in any major conflict since 1945.¨

¨Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret force within the U.S. military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world´s countries.¨

¨Americans have yet to grapple with what it means to have a ¨special¨ force this large, this active, and this secret-- and they are unlikely to begin to do so until more information is available.¨

¨An analysis by TomDispatch determined that there were more than 1,000 U.S. military bases scattered across the globe...¨

¨Barring an unprecedented and almost inconceivable policy shift [the Pentagon] ... will continue to broker lucrative deals to send weapons systems and military equipment to Arab despots.¨

¨For decades, the US. has provided military aid, facilitated the sale of weaponry, and transferred vast quantities of arms to a host of Middle Eastern despots.¨

¨...recurrent joint-training exercises...constitute the core of an elaborate, longstanding system that binds the Pentagon to the [military forces] ... of repressive regimes across the Middle East.¨

¨These joint missions ensure tight bonds between the U.S. military and the security forces of repressive government throughout the [Middle East] region...¨

¨In early 2010, the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had nearly 400 bases in Afghanistan. A year later...the number topped 450.¨

¨For more than a decade, the U.S. and its coalition partners have been training Afghan security forces in the hopes that they would take over the war there.... Yet despite an expenditure of almost $50 billion on bringing it up to speed, the Afghan National Army and other security forces have drastically unperformed any and all expectations, year after year.¨

¨The training, advising, and outfitting of a proxy force in Vietnam drew the United States deeper and deeper into that doomed conflict, leading to tens of thousands of dead Americans and millions of dead Vietnamese.¨

¨...people of the global south see the United States as promoting or sustaining, not preventing, instability, and objective measures bear out their claims. ...numerous popular uprisings opposing authoritarian rulers allied with the U.S. proliferated during the Arab Spring provides the strongest evidence yet of that.¨

¨In one way or another, the U.S. military is now involved with most of the nations on Earth. Its soldiers, commandos, trainers, base builders, drone jockeys, spies, and arms dealers, as well as associated hired guns and corporate contractors, can now be found at any given moment just about everywhere on the planet. The sun never sets on its troops conducting operations, training allies, arming surrogates, schooling its own personnel, purchasing new weapons and equipment, developing fresh doctrine, implementing novel tactics, and refining their martial arts. It has submarines trolling the briny deep and aircraft carrier task forces traversing the oceans and seas, robotic drones flying constant missions and manned aircraft patrolling the skies, while above them all spy satellites circle, peering down on friend and foe alike.¨

¨Aside from triumphs over such non-powers as the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada and the small Central American nation of Panama, the U.S. military´s record since World War II has been a litany of disappointments: stalemate in Korea, ... defeat in Vietnam, failures in Laos and Cambodia, debacles in Lebanon and Somalia, two wars against Iraq -- both ending without victory, more than a decade of wheel-spinning in Afghanistan, and so on.¨
Profile Image for Matt Sautman.
1,845 reviews30 followers
July 5, 2020
The information here is fine but Nick Turse’s writing is plain and focuses almost exclusively on relaying information. A title like The Changing Face of American Empire gave me a false impression that this was going to be a postcolonial text that uses American involvement in the Middle East to explore how has imperialism evolved in the United States since our foundation. Rather this is just a collection of blog posts that occasionally call their academic credibility into question given Turse’s decision to consistently cite his publisher like one may cite a think tank. I don’t doubt the legitimacy of the information here but the style and aforementioned academic faux pas makes this me unlikely to recommend it for recreational or scholarly reading.
Profile Image for michelle.
135 reviews18 followers
December 25, 2017
reads like a rather dry longform piece. apparently it’s a compilation of blog posts (which i did not know until i had finished it) so i guess that makes sense. it was fine
Profile Image for Anna.
212 reviews16 followers
March 16, 2021
“While President Obama spoke about a new US approach to foreign policy in the Middle East following the Arab Spring, it was business as usual for the Pentagon. While protestors marched to demand reforms and rights, “trained eyes couldn’t help noticing something startling about the tools of repression in those countries. The armored personnel carriers, tanks, and helicopters used to intimidate or even kill peaceful protesters were often American models.”

Nick Turse writes that this is “a story that should take your breath away.” Certainly, the size and scope of US military interventions across the world accomplishes this. Written during the Obama administration, Turse briefly details how US special ops carry out over 70 special operations a day, how the US is militarily involved in over 120 countries, and how billions of dollars in arms deals happen on a constant basis.

My only criticism is that I wish there was a deeper analysis here. It felt like the author was only scratching the surface.

Despite being a few years old, it proves to be a timely book. As the US violently puts down protestors advocating for the end to the murder of Black Americans by police forces, as well as police and prison abolition, this book is another reminder that violent repression of protest is standard practice for the US government, at home and abroad.
Profile Image for Jeffrey Cavanaugh.
399 reviews7 followers
January 20, 2013
Though short, the book presents an enlightening current snap-shot of US military strategy since the end of the Bush administration. To summarize, big conventional wars and occupations are out, drones, covert ops, and proxy wars are in. In a sense, it's a return to US strategy prominent in earlier eras, such as under the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations and then after the debacle in Vietnam - both eras in which massive commitments of conventional power were both politically difficult and economically strenuous. But, as the author points out, it is unlikely this strategy will be any more successful as the US is trying to control world-historical economic, demographic, and political change with the blunt, inelegant tool that is coercive military power. Plus ça change...
Profile Image for Anais Maria.
75 reviews
November 9, 2015
Show how the Pentagon works? Show how the US use drones for most of its overseas missions? It's more a complete collection of the author articles than an actual books about the US new weapons and new strategy to war.
9 reviews1 follower
April 8, 2014
Merely a summary of TomsDispatch, no new analysis
Profile Image for Dan.
15 reviews
December 29, 2015
Truly the scope of American militarism, interventionism, and the unchecked growth of the Military Industrial Complex are dwarfed only by their massive levels of waste and foolish folly.
1,372 reviews23 followers
October 27, 2024
This very short book (around 90 pages) is summary of the author's online articles. They follow slow progress of US war waging strategy from direct combat to proxy wars using incited and nations put under "cooperation" that get used as front-line meat instead of US soldiers, while they fight for US interest.

Basically what happens is that US co-opts the governments (via usual financial means, or in case they do not like them coups that put people that will work with US in power), builds logistic bases from where weapons and equipment are delivered to governments in question and remote air strikes (drones or fighter-bombers) are coordinated and finally US special operations or armed forces training teams are deployed to train and lead respected government forces in the field against US opposition.

So in total this is what is Moore's Utopia all about - use others to fight your battles. They are nothing more than expendable assets. And US does this very well, all done with cut-offs like mercenaries and black operations teams and consultants for plausible deniability when required. And if there is need, these "allies" can be also bombed, raided and degraded as required. This is world of constant warfare and constant tension and most importantly constant control over pressure points to make everyone bend to US interests as required.

All in all, wet dream of every country aspiring to control the world. And for all the masses out there the constant goal of defending freedom and democracy is on such constant move that after a few cycles everyone will be certain that there is enemy at every corner because everyone can be marked as enemy. Who is going to check the data, or remember what was said in the past.

What is troubling about all of this? It started as part of anti-terror operations, hunting the dangerous and ever elusive terrorists with every means possible. As such it de-evolved US diplomatic corps and basically made it rely more and more on use of military might for every problem(remember that old adage about people with hammers and every problem seen as a nail). With time, when your job is just twisting other nation's arms because you know they cannot strike back arrogance start to show up, and soon every issue is just target for escalation. Because you only need just a bit more force - right?

This might work while hunting guerillas but soon appetites went up and peer nation was targeted for the same scenario, this time with more heavily armed proxy forces. And believe me whoever planned this is feeling very bad, because problem with peer opponent is in the word peer.

So basically, while developing very high tech forces, US tied their own hands with no escape from constant escalation and seeing solution only through use of military might. It seems that all US institutions went through such level of militarization that it seems there are no non-military organizations involved in the international relations any more. What US seems to have achieved is to apply Israeli style militarism on a world level. And while I can understand Israel, because it is as it is due to its location and relations with neighbors, world level militarization is Metal Gear Solid level of dystopia.

As author notes - if you expect that military power will be successful, think again. Not a single COIN campaign in last 20-ish years finished as expected. Disaster.

And if you think author is against US, think again. He is worried about the way US so lightly chooses war over everything else, but he has no sympathy for US enemies, not for a second. And to make things more ridiculous he actually sees all the North African colored revolutions as spontaneous events :D this made me laugh, oh my.....

Very interesting book that today makes more sense than when it was published.

Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Clare.
872 reviews46 followers
August 30, 2020
In one of my book sale fugue states I picked up an extremely short book called The Changing Face of Empire: Special Ops, Drones, Spies, Proxy Fighters, Secret Bases, and Cyberwarfare, by Nick Turse. The book is barely 95 pages long so the subtitle seems like a bit much for it, but it does mean that you get Exactly What It Says On The Tin. It is essentially a repackaged batch of blog posts from during the Obama administration detailing the steps the military was taking during that time to pivot away from the heavy boots-on-the-ground land invasion type stuff that brought so much bad press during the Bush years and towards things that are full of fancy words and expensive technology and therefore sound more sophisticated and nuanced to people who really want to think of Democratic administrations’ approach to bombing brown people as being more sophisticated and nuanced than the Bush administration’s, but which essentially just constitutes another iteration of expensively expanding the military surveillance state over the entire world to the benefit of absolutely no one except defense contractors because we simply cannot abide the notion of doing anything else. If you are on the foreign policy left, this basic thesis is likely already known to you; what The Changing Face of Empire does is basically just fill that in with a bunch of facts about particular projects in particular parts of the globe, how they work, how they don’t work, how the people pitching them said they’d work, and why they were never going to work like that. It is a disheartening read, unsurprisingly, but it is also quite interesting if you think special ops stuff is inherently interesting, but also does its bit to puncture the mystique of special ops being ~special~ and point out how utterly bad the U.S. military is at anything except setting money (and other people’s countries) on fire, no matter how much fancy equipment or training it has.

I read this book over, like, two entire cups of coffee, and overall I’m glad I did and would be happy to lend my copy to anyone else who would like to be depressed for 95 pages.

Originally posted at: Team America: World Police version 2.0.
76 reviews1 follower
July 4, 2020
It certainly had some valuable information, but in many ways it read like a list. It didn’t seem to be building to an overarching thesis. The title is ostensibly about American imperialism but doesn’t really put forward an argument about how or why the US is engaging in imperialism. That conclusion is taken for granted.

It is always refreshing, though, to hear someone criticize the Obama administration
Profile Image for Matthew Tanous.
13 reviews14 followers
September 26, 2018
An important short look at the massive scale of global American military involvement by special forces, drones, and proxy armies, all of which is almost guaranteed to blow up in the face of the US in the coming decades, furthering a cycle of insecurity and terrorism.

It’s only shortcoming is that it was written before the problem got even worse and extended to a hot war in Syria.
Profile Image for Dexter.
10 reviews2 followers
March 9, 2021
If you're new to understanding US foreign policy and modern day imperialism, this is a nice, short primer. For anyone already even moderately versed in these topics, however, feel free to pass on this; you probably won't get much out of it except for some tidbits (which are dated, this book came out in 2012).
Profile Image for Artur Coelho.
2,602 reviews74 followers
September 29, 2013
Pelo título, o livro promete uma análise à colisão entre tecnologia avançada e estratégia militar que se reflecte na estética dos drones, guerra cibernética e militarização científica. De permeio fica outra promessa, a de analisar as estratégias obscuras de intervenção imperialista americana no palco global. Mas não chega tão longe. Fica-se apenas por um superficial enumerar de localizações geográficas e considerações sobre a expansão militar americana nas zonas mais pobres do mundo, uma espécie de colonialismo à distância. O problema essencial deste livro é não ser uma obra escrita com um fio condutor mas um coligir de artigos previamente publicados sem que se note grande esforço na colagem das partes.
Profile Image for Mujahid Khan.
111 reviews19 followers
December 23, 2016
It doesn't feel like Investigative writing rather one feels that he is reading a thriller!
The author probed deeply into the US military's dynamics and how Pentagon is encircling the whole world into its web of hegemonic power via its military. Spies, drones, black ops... feels like a recent edition of Call of Duty video game.
Intensely action-packed writing!
If you're in for a bumpy ride, jump on the bandwagon!
Profile Image for Vasil Kolev.
1,139 reviews198 followers
January 26, 2014
Interesting, though lacking in depth, like most journalistic books.
4 reviews
June 15, 2016
It's interesting but give just a general idea, there is not specific about each story or event mentioned.
I was expecting a more detailed book, still not bad to read it
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