America's misadventures in the Middle East
By: Chas W. Freeman Jr. ; foreword by William B. Quandt
Publisher: Just World Books
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Charlottesville, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9781935982012
Subjects: Persian Gulf War, 1991; American Personal narratives; National security; Foreign relations
Description: America's Misadventures in the Middle East leads off with Freeman's detailed reflection on President George H.W. Bush's handling of Iraq-Kuwait crisis of 1990-91. He was U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time and was uniquely placed to see and understand what Washington and key allies were doing. Freeman reflects on "the American way of war", and in particular on Washington's failure in recent decades to plan for a stable and satisfactory political end-state for wars it wages. The rest of the book focuses on Washington's continued pursuit of "the American way of war" in the Middle East of the 2000's. Freeman reflects on the failures at many levels that pulled President George W. Bush into the disastrous decision to invade Iraq. And he stresses the deleterious impact that Washington's failure to hold Israel accountable for the violent policies it pursued toward its neighbors throughout the 2000's has had on Americans' interests in the Middle East. He assesses the impact that America's policy failings in the Middle East have had on its ability to continue leading the world in the same way it did in the half-century following the end of World War II. "Why not try diplomacy?" is the title of one chapter. Freeman gives us four deeply informed chapters about Saudi Arabia, placing the Kingdom's often misunderstood situation in its own historical context and in the context of its relationship with Western and other world powers. As Prof. William B. Quandt notes in his Foreword to the book: there is much to learn about "old-style" diplomacy here and much to regret that Freeman's views seem so "radical" from the perspective of today's politicized discourse. Readers of this volume will learn a great deal and will appreciate the style and the content of these essays--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.