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Bush at War   Written by: Bob Woodward, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002, ISBN: , 376 pp. Reviewed by: Dr Alexandra Siddall, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade In Bush at War , Bob Woodward provides an informative and non-partisan account of the presidential decision-making process in the hundred days following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. During this period, the United States prepared for a war in Afghanistan against al-Qa’ida and the Taliban, took steps towards a pre-emptive strike …

The Precision Revolution: GPS and the Future of Aerial Warfare   Written by Michael Russell Rip and James M. Hasik, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2002, ISBN: 9781557509734, 552 pp. Reviewed by: Major Russell Parkin, Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre This analysis of the precision revolution by Michael Russell Rip and James M. Hasik has been described by the leading scholar of American air power, Benjamin S. Lambeth, as ‘a sweeping survey of the technologies of precision navigation and …

The Lion, The Fox and the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia   Written by: Carol Off, Random House, Toronto, 2000, ISBN: 9780679311386, 406 pp. Reviewed by: Alan Ryan, Senior Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre This extraordinary book examines the disastrous peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Rwanda, and it does so by analysing the role played in these disasters by three senior Canadians. The Lion of the title is Major General Romeo Dallaire, the commander of the …

The Strategists Written by: Hugh Smith (ed.), Australian Defence Studies Centre, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, 2001,  ISBN: 9780731704538, 145 pp. Reviewed by: Martin Sheehan, Strategic and International Policy Division, Department of Defence In 1989 Francis Fukuyama, then Deputy Director of the US State Department’s policy planning staff, published a curious essay, ‘The End of History?’ in the journal The National Interest . Fukuyama’s argument was that, …

Introduction The Retrospect section of the AAJ is designed to reproduce interesting articles from the Australian Army’s earlier journals, notably the Commonwealth Military Journal and the Australian Army Journal ( AAJ ) from the 1940s to the mid 1970s. In this edition of the new AAJ , we are reprinting an edited version of an article by Field Marshal Sir William Joseph Slim, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC (afterwards 1st Viscount Slim), then Governor-General of Australia. This article appeared in the …

Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Eddington Rhoden, OBE, ED (Retd) (1914-2003) Reflecting on the 2/14th Battalion’s attack at Manggar Airfield as part of the Balikpapan operations in July 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Phillip ‘Phil’ Rhoden recalled that he refused to ‘rush in’, despite pressure from his superiors to do so. Instead, he bided his time, concentrated his battalion and progressively seized limited objectives, employing his considerable fire support to full effect. It was a strategy designed to save lives, …

Major General Ross Buchan, AO (Retd) (1935-2003) Major General Ross Buchan entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1954, graduating into the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery in 1957. His 37-year career thus mirrored the role that Australia’s professional army played in the Cold War and his personal development as an officer was forged by the active and varied military life that was open to a promising officer during this period. His was a rich and exciting life, and despite his too early …

Major General Ronald Hughes, CBE, DSO (RETD) (1920-2003) Major General Ronald Hughes was an infantry officer whose distinguished career typified the critical contribution that the Australian Army’s officer corps has made to Australian security. His career spanned four decades: from entry to the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1937 until his retirement in 1977. He fought in three wars and served as Australia’s Military Attaché in Indonesia during the period of Confrontation. His was a varied and …

Editor’s Note: In April 1995 members of the Australian Defence Force Medical Support Force, a component of the Australian Contingent of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) were deployed to the Kibeho displaced persons’ camp. The camp had been surrounded by two battalions of Tutsi troops from the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), which regarded it as a sanctuary for Hutu perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. In the ethnic slaughter that followed, the RPA killed some 4000 of the camp’s …

The main and obvious difference between peace enforcement and war is impartiality. In peace enforcement, military operations are directed against anyone who has violated agreements or the formally expressed will of the international community. The key difference from war is that there is no designated ‘enemy.’ In war, the enemy has to be rendered powerless. In peace enforcement, the idea is not to render him powerless—the aim of ‘victory’ takes second place to the achievement of measures, which will …