The case of the lurking paradigm.(The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World)(Book Review)

THE UTILITY OF FORCE: THE ART OF WAR IN THE MODERN WORLD by Rupert Smith Allen Lane, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 428, ISBN 0713998369 [telephone] 16 [pounds sterling] (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655

The gung-ho photo on the dust jacket--battle fatigues, the red beret of the Paras, eyes narrowed to determined slits--suggests a touch of the Paddy Ashdowns. But that is at odds with the picture of the author that emerges from this his first book: 'For my part, I do not think ! have been in action in the broadest sense for more than about six of my 37 years of commissioned service.'

Yet as military careers go in an age of peace-keeping and humanitarian intervention, General Sir Rupert Smith's has not been exactly uneventful. As a young company commander in the 1970s he was blown up by the IRA in Crossmaglen; years later, as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, he was held personally responsible by the Beijing press when the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was hit …