> Chris Kromm asked:
>
>
>
> Sorry if this is a repeat, but: can people give me their nominations for
> the
> top recent books on the war? Especially interested in books that have come
> out in last 1-2 years, and are focused on historical roots of current
> crisis. (e.g., "Taliban," "The New Intifada," etc.)
>
>
I really like John Cooley's Unholy War, for reason I explained in the
current issue of Left History....
> John K. Cooley, Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International
> Terrorism, second edition (London: Pluto Press, 2000)
>
>
>
> The very best book on the tragedy of Sept. 11th, 2001 is more than two
> years old. First published in 1999 and re-issued in an expanded second
> edition a year later, John K. Cooley's Unholy Wars is a remarkably
> prescient guide to the foreign policy machinations that led to the attacks
> on the United States by Islamic extremists. Although Cooley is a veteran
> journalist with many years of experience at ABC News, he does not suffer
> from the chronic forgetfulness of his professions. Unlike other reporters,
> he remembers well a time when the United States found it useful to ally
> itself with "some of the most conservative and fanatical followers of
> Islam." His book is a measured assessment of the terrible price this
> alliance inflicted on innocent civilians all over the world.
>
> The story begins in the late 1970s when the United States government was
> worried about its diminishing international power in the wake of the
> Vietnam War. In response to this perceived failure, the U.S. started to
> shore up its position in the Middle East by closely allying itself with
> Islamic religious conservatives. The main partners of this alliance were
> Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. The governments of these nations were
> seen as reliable bulwarks against communist aggression. The fall of the
> Shaw in Iran and increasing Soviet activity in Afghanistan worried all
> these nations and drew them together in a very tight network, similar to
> the anti-communist alliance that also emerged in South America in the
> 1970s.
>
> As Cooley notes, one of the main instigators of this Islamic
> anti-communist alliance was Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was then serving as
> United States National Security Advisor under President Jimmy Carter. In
> 1979, Brzezinski became interested in Afghanistan as a possible
> battleground for deploying the forces of Islamic religious conservatives
> against the Soviet Union. As Brzezinski admitted in 1997 in an interview
> in Le Nouvel Observateur, the United States allied itself to anti-Soviet
> forces in Afghanistan, notably the famous holy warriors known as the
> Mujahadeen, even prior to the Soviet invasion of December 1979.
>
> "According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen
> began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded
> Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979," Brzezinski told the French newspaper. "But the
> reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it
> was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for
> secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that
> very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that
> in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention
>
We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the
> probability that they would."
>
> Jimmy Carter's successor Ronald Reagan greatly expanded the policy begun
> by Brzezinski. During the 1980s, the United States government, working
> closely with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, supplied more
> than three billion dollars of assistance to the Mujahadeen. During the
> 1980s, independent journalists such as Alexander Cockburn and Robert Fisk
> accurately described the Mujahadeen as dangerous religious fanatics,
> notable for their cruel misogynist treatment of women. These reports were
> ignored in the mainstream media, which preferred to lionize the Mujahadeen
> as brave "freedom fighters."
>
> Cooley astutely notes that the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s was truly
> an international struggle. The call for a holy war against communism
> attracted young men from all over the Islamic world, notably the Saudi
> billionaire Usama bin Laden. Having ample funds of his own, bin Laden was
> not directly financed by the United States. However, bin Laden was
> nurtured and supported by the web of alliances the United States created.
>
> This web of alliances, held together by anti-communism, was global in
> scope. Hence Saudi money helped arm the Contras fighting in Nicaragua.
> Rogue financial institutions such as the Bank of Credit and Commerce
> International (BCCI) provided cover for the numerous money laundering
> operations required by this alliance. The Iran-Contra scandal was a
> by-product of this alliance system.
>
> As a key player in Afghanistan in the 1980s, bin Laden learned to how to
> organize an illicit international organization, how to transfer and
> launder money, and how to think in global terms. In a very real way, bin
> Laden's Al-Quida organization, which is being blamed for many terrorists
> attacks in addition to the Sept. 11 atrocities, was born in Afghanistan in
> the 1980s.
>
> The rest of the story is well known. The Soviet's withdrew from
> Afghanistan in 1989. In the wake of their departure, the country fell into
> civil war and chaos, eventually leading to the triumph of the Taliban.
> Seizing power in Afghanistan in 1996, the Taliban enforced a regime
> notably for its extreme religious fanaticism and suppression of women. The
> Taliban would also, of course, provide sanctuary to bin Laden, setting the
> stage for more tragedy both in Afghanistan and the United States.
>
> In general, the architects of U.S. foreign policy remain proud of what
> they have wrought. In 1997 Brzezinski said there was no grounds for
> regrets. "What is most important to the history of the world?" Brzezinski
> asked "The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up
> Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?"
> These were meant to be rhetorical questions but not everyone will find the
> answers to be self-evident. The skeptically inclined might wonder if it
> was not possible that decrepit Soviet Union of the 1970s and 1980s could
> have been challenged without stirring up a brutal religious war.
>
> In any case, Cooley's book usefully reminds us that religious extremism is
> not an inherent product of Islamic society. Indeed, historically,
> religious fanaticism has often been nurtured by state agencies with their
> own agenda. Of course, there are also social forces behind the world wide
> rise of religious extremism. Cooley's book, focusing as it does on
> politics and foreign policy, glides over these sociological forces. Hence
> his book needs to be supplemented by other books on the Middle East that
> are provide a thicker description of every-day life. Despite this flaw,
> his book is clearly written and extremely valuable guide to the diplomatic
> history of the Middle East over the last thirty years. Anyone seeking to
> get their bearings on the events of Sept. 11th should turn to Cooley for
> guidance.
>
> Jeet Heer
> York University
>
>
>
>