The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism - Hardcover

Bodansky, Yossef

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761535799 ISBN 13: 9780761535799

Publisher: Prima Lifestyles, 2002

Synopsis

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 this title

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.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Yossef Bodansky and The High Cost of Peace:
"Read Bodansky and one can begin to appreciate what President Bush really meant when he said, 'This will be a monumental struggle between good and evil.'" — Indianapolis Star
"The expertise of Yossef Bodansky is in sudden demand." — Los Angeles Times
"Bodansky, the man who put us wise to Osama bin Laden before anyone else, has done it again. He has set forth a brilliant snapshot of the convoluted history of the Middle East from Israel's emergence to the current crisis. Bodansky's analysis shows clearly how Washington's short-sightedness helped precipitate the current terror campaign." — Walter J. Boyne, author of The Two O'Clock War
"I always suspected that Arafat was a terrorist and a corrupt leader. Now, Bodansky's exhaustive and damning investigation proves just that beyond a shadow of doubt. The High Cost of Peace should be required reading in the White House and Congress." — Congressman Eric Cantor, chairman, Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare
"To truly comprehend why peace in the Middle East—an end coveted for so long by so many—is becoming more and more illusive, you must read Yossef Bodansky's excellent book. An engrossing account of Israel's quest for security and peace, as well as the United States' struggle to secure its vital interests in a turbulent region, The High Cost of Peace provides an adamantly hopeful prognosis against dire and tragic odds. I strongly recommend it." — Brigadier General (Reserve) Yigal Pressler, deputy adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel
"Bodansky has written the story that the evening news has ignored. While they've been busy blaming Israel and the United States for the violence and terrorism in the Middle East, he's been busy unearthing and documenting the intricacies of Middle Eastern terrorism." — Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley

Reviews

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 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761535799
• ISBN 13: 9780761535799
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 652