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CHOICE Review

Epstein focuses on the strategic problems facing the US in the Persian Gulf since the Iranian revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The author sets out three strategies available to the US to deter Soviet conventional attack: vertical escalation involving introduction of a small American force to serve as trigger for a nuclear response in case of Soviet attack; horizontal escalation involving US counteroffensives at targets outside the Gulf; direct conventional defense with rapid deployment of sizeable US forces. The author advocates the third strategy, although he proposes a five-division force instead of the Pentagon's plans to deploy seven and one-half divisions, the key factor being speed. These conclusions are based on data, calculations, models, and simulations that are presented in four appendixes. Although the author tends to underestimate Soviet power, the book compares favorably with Anthony H. Cordesman's The Gulf and the Search for Strategic Security (CH, Nov '84) and Thomas L. McNaugher's Arms and Oil: U.S. Military Strategy and the Persian Gulf (CH, Nov '85) which are more general and less technical studies. It is required reading for military planners and Middle East specialists. Includes many tables, graphs, equations, and a good bibliography.-R.H. Dekmejian, University of Southern California