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The High Cost of Peace:
How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America
Vulnerable to Terrorism
by Yossef Bodansky
From Publishers Weekly
The author of an early book on Osama bin Laden and director of the Congressional
Task Force on Terrorism, Bodansky turns his attention to the Middle
East, painting a nightmarish picture of a region that has been teetering
on the brink of war for several years. The United States, which he says
"seduced" Israel into the Oslo peace process, is partially to blame,
as are Israeli politicians, who until recently have ignored intelligence
reports of the Arab world's complicity in terrorism and military buildup.
He details his evidence for Yasser Arafat's involvement in terrorism
which, he says, has been calculated to draw Israel into an on-again,
off-again war that it cannot win. Arafat's goal, he believes, is to
destroy Israel in a phased plan. Arab and Muslim nations from "rogue"
states like Iraq and Iran to more moderate ones like Egypt have been
engaged in the plan as well, but fear of an Israeli military response,
among other factors, has prevented all-out war. Many will find it hard
to believe that American and Israeli governments are as na‹ve as Bodansky
claims about the level of unity in the Arab and Muslim world which he
paints as very high. And while Bodansky marshals a prodigious amount
of detail to support his case such as specific calls from Arafat for
terrorist acts his language betrays a point of view some will find problematic,
as when he says that Anwar Sadat "manipulated" the U.S. "into getting
him the Sinai interim agreements with Israel." A book that might serve
as a clarion call is less convincing than it could be.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book
Description
Since the Gulf War, three U.S. administrations have tried desperately
to negotiate peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Crafted
through a series of policy missteps, the tenuous accords have done little
except leave Israel compromised and vulnerable while drawing the ire of
militant Islamists—culminating in the catastrophic show of force against
the West via terrorist attacks on American soil and renewed violence in
the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East.
In
The High Cost of Peace, terrorism expert Yossef
Bodansky uncovers the bitter legacy of a peace process that has cost tens
of thousands of lives, emboldened such outlaw countries as Iran and Iraq,
enriched Arab militaries with billions of U.S. dollars, and mobilized
an underground network of terror cells around the globe. He reveals in
engrossing detail the political undercurrents and secret deals that have
shaped and destabilized the region, the confluence of events leading up
to September 11, and the inside story of a dangerous quest for peace that
has led to a war unlike any the Middle East has seen before—the details
of which rarely make the anti-Israeli-tinged evening news. You will discover:
-
Why Arafat said in 1972 of the Palestinian aggression against Israel,
"Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else"
-
How President Clinton's zeal for peace was motivated by his desire to
divert national attention away from his domestic scandals, and why his
administration completely ignored the growing threat of militant Islamism
- What
secret preparations and military build-up Saddam Hussein ordered for
the next war with, and terrorist strikes against, the United States
and Israel
-
And many more shocking revelations
At
the heart of the failed peace negotiations is the utopian notion that
Israel's militant enemies even want peace. This book proves once and for
all how the United States is put in perpetual danger of terrorist attack
because of its repeated blunders in dealing with the Arab world and the
vital contributions of Israel—America's staunchest ally in this turbulent
region—to U.S. security interests. Meanwhile, as many Arab leaders play
to American and European news cameras with empty promises of peace, they
are secretly conspiring with terrorists to fulfill their ultimate goal:
the complete annihilation of the Israeli state.
About
the Author
Yossef Bodansky, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller bin
Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, is the director
of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.
In addition, he is the director of research at the International Strategic
Studies Association and a senior editor for the Defense and Foreign Affairs
group of publications. The author of eight books on international terrorism
and global crises, he is a former senior consultant for the U.S. Departments
of Defense and State. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.
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