Ebook: A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East--from the Cold War to the War on Terror
Author: Patrick Tyler
''An authoritative, richly detailed account of American policy in the Middle East . . . [Tyler] writes vividly, allowing the reader access to White House meetings, huddles in the corridors of power, seats at international summits.''—Adam LeBor, The New York Times ''Patrick Tyler . . . has written an engaging but idiosyncratic account of U.S. interactions with the Middle East from 1956 onward.''—Steven Simon, The Washington Post
''If you are going to read just one book about US policy toward the Middle East, Patrick Tyler's new tome should not be it. But if you read about it regularly, out of fascination with its history and religious significance or fear of its terrorists and oilmen, A World of Trouble ought to be on your list. Tyler starts out with a near-overdose of opinions . . . But before this becomes fatal Tyler reverts from policy wonk to what he really is—a fine, deep newspaper reporter. Tyler documents not the interest of Israel but the cost in treasure and blood that the United States and the Middle East peoples have paid during decades without a coherent US policy in the region. He shows vividly the damage done by Israeli and Arab leaders alike in persistently bringing too little, too late, to the peace process.''—Charles A. Radin, The Boston Globe
''In the rush to get books on to the president's bedside table, Tyler's account of how Obama's predecessors and their advisers not only missed their chances but made things worse by an increasing partiality for Israel, a vendetta with Iran and a bungled invasion of Iraq deserves to be on the top of the pile. It is an anthology of cautionary tales for a new president—a compendium of how not to do it, and, if only obliquely, a guide to how to do better in the future. If Obama ends his first term without registering some considerable success in the Middle East, the last chance for a moderate order in that region may pass. It falls to him, in other words, to turn round the long record of American failure. Success may in many areas come from doing less, from more modest aims, and from retreating from the attempt to control the affairs of others. But if more modesty is the general prescription, the exception is the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, where both sides need American mediation, and where one side, Israel, needs to face the reality that it cannot indefinitely dominate its neighbours by drawing on American weaponry and resources. The great virtue of Tyler's book is that it is so relentlessly personal. It may be criticised by some for the limited attention it pays to underlying causes, such as America's determination to secure oil resources and the constraints of the cold war, or to cultural factors, such as the west's early infatuation with Israel's military successes, and, more recently, the Christian right's beliefs about the end of the world. But Tyler is a reporter, not an academic. He is interested in moments—moments when confused and angry leaders and their counsellors swear at one another, weep, get drunk, or tell outrageous lies . . . The book is studded with such choice anecdotes, some of them the product of Tyler's research into recently declassified material, some of them culled from his reporting over the years in the Middle East for the Washington Post and the New York Times. Many originate with Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, who has clearly been a close contact for Tyler. If there are no massive revelations, there is a lot of vivid and sometimes astounding new detail