Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World
by By Amos, Deborah
Category: History , General

For many Americans, the Gulf War served as an introduction to a part of the world about which they knew virtually nothing. It provided a kind of mass-marketed crash course in Middle Eastern politics, tradition, and history.But what did they learn?In Lines in the Sand, veteran Middle East journalist Deborah Amos provides a unique perspective on the war, looking beyond the stories that were reported over and over to get at the truth about the events that led up to the conflict, and to examine a year later the effects it had on the people of the region.Among the issues she explores are how America armed Hussein, providing him with much of the power and expertise he demonstrated in overrunning Kuwait; how the collapse of the Soviet Union led to dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward Iraq, which the Americans had supported in its long war with Iran; how the rich Arabs of the Gulf states found a common strategy with their poorer neighbors; how the PLO, forced to deal with an intra-Arab conflict that included Israeli influence on one side, came to support Hussein; how Saudi domestic policies affected U.S. military strategies how the burgeoning resistance movement in Kuwait was crushed after the war; and, how, despite the war and the upheaval among so many nations, very little of substance has truly changed.Deborah Amos brings a fresh perspective to the war, with new insights into the region's history and culture. She explores the volatility of the region and concludes that it is as unstable now as before. Most significantly, she looks at the war not just from a U.S. perspective, but from the point of view of Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.Lines in the Sand is dramatic war reporting at its best, by a top female journalist covering the first war in which the American military put women on the frontlines--and, ironically, from a place in which women aren't even allowed to drive.