Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think

by John L. Esposito, Dalia Mogahed

From the publisher:
In a post-9/11 world, many Americans conflate the mainstream Muslim majority with the beliefs and actions of an extremist minority. But what do the world’s Muslims think about the West, or about democracy, or about extremism itself?

Who Speaks for Islam? spotlights this silenced majority. The book is the product of a mammoth six-year study in which the Gallup Organization conducted tens of thousands of hour-long, face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 predominantly Muslim nations — urban and rural, young and old, men and women, educated and illiterate. It asks the questions everyone is curious about: Why is the Muslim world so anti-American? Who are the extremists? Is democracy something Muslims really want? What do Muslim women want? The answers to these and other pertinent, provocative questions are provided not by experts, extremists, or talking heads, but by empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims.

Wahhabi Islam From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad

by Natana DeLong-Bas

From the publisher:
Until September 11, 2001 few Westerners had ever heard of "Wahhabism." Now most of us recognize the word as describing an austere and puritanical type of Islam, mentioned frequently in connection with Osama bin Laden and Saudi Arabia and often named as the inspiration behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

The word "Wahhabi" stems from the name of the founder of this system of thought, Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1702-1791), companion and religious adviser to Muhammad Ibn Saud, founder of the House of Saud. In this book Natana DeLong-Bas offers an in-depth study of the written works of al-Wahhab. She focuses on four areas: theology, legal theory, proselytizing through education and jihad, and law on women. Through a close reading of al-Wahhab's texts she demonstrates that many aspects of 20th- and 21st-century Wahhabi extremism do not have their origins in his writings. Examples of this extremism include the emphasis on jihad, martyrdom and militancy, and misogyny. The strict division of the world into dar al-Islam and dar al-kufr, according to which only Wahhabi adherents are considered to be true Muslims and all others are non-Muslims who must be fought, is entirely absent from al-Wahhab's work. Instead, argues DeLong-Bas, all of these themes were only added to Wahhabi teachings in the 19th century following armed engagement with the Ottoman Empire.

DeLong-Bas's study fills an enormous gap in the literature about Wahhabism by returning to the original writings of the founder of the movement. She debunks the common journalistic portrayal of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as an illiterate, rural bumpkin with no scholarly formation. Her revisionist reading of al-Wahhab's thought will be controversial but impossible to ignore. The book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Islam as well as for those interested in the background of this dangerous modern ideology.

For Love of a Soldier: Interviews with Military Families Taking Action Against the Iraq War

by Jane Collins

From the publisher:
For Love of a Soldier contains the stories of 29 people whose family membersspouses, siblings, childrenare serving or have served in the American military during the Iraq War. The families tell their stories and explain why they believe that taking action to end American military involvement in Iraq is the best possible way to support the troops who are so dear to them.

Undoing Saddam: From Occupation to Sovereignty in Northern Iraq

by Wayne H. Bowen

From the publisher:
Undoing Saddam tells the story of northern Iraq during the transition from U.S. occupation to local sovereignty. During 2004, U.S. and Iraqi government forces faced numerous challenges: insurrection, reconstruction, the creation of a new government, and how to portray the nation, its people, and the governments actions accurately.

Wayne H. Bowen was a U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs officer in charge of higher education and antiquities in the provinces of Nineveh, Dohuk, and Erbil, where he played a critical role in promoting peace and stability. He managed reconstruction projects, served as a key intermediary between Iraqi educational leaders and U.S. forces, and assisted in the search for weapons of mass destruction.

Undoing Saddam goes beyond the attacks and violence to detail the day-to-day problems of rebuilding a nation, including constructing schools, digging wells, completing roads, and building new power plants. Bowen also examines functioning village, city, and provincial councils as they endeavor to practice democracy. Based on Bowens diary, this book presents the daily fight to build a new Iraq despite terrorist attacks, ethnic conflict, and missteps by the Coalition Provisional Authority and U.S. forces. Undoing Saddam will be of interest to everyone interested in the Iraqi occupation and reconstruction efforts.

Military Transformation and Modern Warfare: A Reference Handbook

by Elinor Sloan

From the publisher:
Military transformation can be understood as comprising three overlapping and sometimes competing "layers"--the conventional-force dominated revolution in military affairs, a more recent irregular warfare emphasis, and a wider dimension including homeland defense, space and nuclear policy.

The Western world is currently focusing its attention on transformation's middle layer, while China and Russia are focusing on the RMA and transformation's wider aspects. This dynamic indicates the United States and its allies should continue to prepare for the full range of conflicts.

This book establishes the meaning of "military transformation," assesses the manner in which certain countries are transforming their military forces, discusses the relevancy of transformation efforts to modern conflict and, in drawing out the key areas of emphasis on the part of various countries, provides a window on the future global security environment. It is divided into seven chapters, plus a conclusion. The first chapter focuses on the meaning of military transformation, establishing a framework through which national militaries can be examined. This comprises transformation's revolution in military affairs components, its newer special operations forces, counterinsurgency, and stabilization and reconstruction aspects, and its wider homeland defense, space and deterrence dimensions. The book devotes two chapters to the United States and one each to China, Russia, and NATO. It also has a chapter that looks individually at each of Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Germany. An assessment of the relevancy of force transformation to modern warfare is integrated into the discussion of what transformation means, how the United States is responding, and the concluding chapter.

The book contains a biographical sketch of Andrew Marshall, Andrew Krepinevich, William Owens, Arthur Cebrowski, Donald Rumsfeld, and Thomas Barnett, all of whom have been involved in some aspect of military transformation.

ELINOR SLOAN is Associate Professor of International Relations at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where she teaches international security studies. A former Captain in the Canadian Armed Forces, she is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada and received her PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1997. From 1996 to 2002 she was a defense analyst in Canada's Department of National Defense where she focused on U.S. defense policy. She is the author of Bosnia and the New Collective Security (1998), The Revolution in Military Affairs (2002), and Security and Defence in the Terrorist Era (2005).

Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness

by Philip Keefer and Norman Loayza (editors)

From the publisher:
To what extent are terrorism and development related? What are the relative weights of the economic, political, and social aspects of development? What is the development impact of different responses to terrorism?

This volume addresses these crucial questions, synthesizing what we know about the development links with terrorism and pointing out what we do not. Contributors to this volume examine the economic and fiscal costs of terrorism and the response to terrorism. They conclude that the economic costs of terrorism in rich countries are low, relative to the economic costs of combating terrorism; both are likely high in poor countries. They also report evidence on how development affects terrorism. This work supports the hypothesis that political development - political openness and the quality of government - is inversely associated with the emergence of terrorist organizations, but not that poverty per se is directly responsible for terrorism.

The Five Dimensions of Global Security

by Nayef Al-Rodhan

From the publisher:
This book sets out a new and innovative security principle that is highly pertinent to our times: The Multisum Security Principle.

This principle aims not only to promote cooperative interaction between states, but also peaceful coexistence between cultural groups and civilizations. It combines a proposed new classification of global security that comprises five dimensions of security human, environmental, national, transnational, and transcultural security and the idea that justice is a prerequisite for security. Specifically, the multisum security principle states that: "In a globalized world, security can no longer be thought of as a zerosum game involving states alone.Global security, instead, has five dimensions that include human, environmental, national, transnational, and transcultural security, and, therefore, global security and the security of any state or culture cannot be achieved without good governance at all levels that guarantees security through justice for all individuals, states, and cultures."The Five Dimensions of Global Security" takes a fresh look on the frontiers of international security.

It innovatively expands the sectoral approach, broadening the scope way beyond military matters. Its most important novelty is the introduction of justice in the international security discourse. With this it represents a new point of departure and will contribute to re launching the debate." - Pal Dunay, Director, Hungarian Institute of International Affairs.

Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent

by Mike German

From the publisher:
As the fifth full year of Americas global war on terrorism continues, statistics concerning terrorist attacks show a disturbing trend: from a twenty-one-year high in 2003, attacks tripled in 2004 and then doubled in 2005. And as the incidence of terrorist attacks increased, so has the number of terrorists. While the primary leaders of the Taliban, al Qaeda, and al Qaeda in Iraq remain at large, a 2006 Department of Defense study reportedly identified thirty new al Qaedaaffiliated terrorist groups that have been created since September 11, 2001. We may not have metrics that measure our success in the war on terrorism, but these realities certainly illuminate our failures.

In Thinking Like a Terrorist, former FBI counterterrorism agent Mike German contends that the overarching problem is a fundamental failure to understand the terroristsnamely, what they want and how they intend to get it. When our counterterrorism policies are driven by misunderstanding and misperception, we shouldnt be surprised at the results. Todays terrorists have a real plana blueprint that has brought them victory in the pastthat they are executing to perfection; moreover, their plan is published and available to anyone who bothers to read it. Once the terrorists plan is understood, we can develop and implement more effective counterterrorism strategies.

A former undercover agent who infiltrated neo-Nazi terrorist groups in the United States, German explains the terrorists point of view and discusses ways to counter the terrorism threat. Based on his unusual experience in the field, Thinking Like a Terrorist provides unique insights into why terrorism is such a persistent and difficult problem and why the U.S. approach to counterterrorism isnt working.

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

by Robert D. Crews and Amin Tarzi (editors)

From the critics:
Historian Crews and reporter Tarzi have assembled eight revealing essays on this widely reviled movement. The Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns who make up perhaps half the country's population and whose elite have traditionally ruled the country. This ragtag army of Islamic clerics and religious students presented itself as a superior alternative to ruling Pashtun elites and successfully manipulated tribal politics. Despite accusations of being a medieval throwback, the Taliban are Islamic counter modernists. Their use of mass spectacle, surveillance, the media and even their strict regulation of gender roles is consistent with other modern totalitarian movements. The authors' 58-page introduction adds additional clarity and context to Afghanistan's tortured history, making for an engrossing read that is more accessible than most academic collections.

Managing the Private Spies: The Use of Commercial Augmentation for Intelligence Operations

by Glenn J. Voelz

From the publisher:
The extensive use of contractor personnel to augment military intelligence operations is now an established fact of life and, occasional contracting scandals notwithstanding, any effective and efficient design for intelligence support to operating forces must provide for their use. In this study, the author suggests evaluation standards for the use of contractors and possible long-term initiatives to reduce dependence on traditional outside contractors.
From LWBN:
This is the first commercial hardcopy edition of a work previously available to the general public in electronic format only. The date of publication shown on Amazon represents the original publication date.

Educing Information: Interrogation, Science and Art

by the Intelligence Science Board

From the publisher:
"Educing Information is a profoundly important book because it offers both professionals and ordinary citizens a primer on the 'science and art' of both interrogation and intelligence gathering." - from the foreword.

This is a compilation presenting papers by 13 experts on the subject of interrogation. While not a textbook on interrogation, this is a review of the present state of the practice with an analysis of what works and fails and with recommendations for new directions. It was developed for and presented to the National Defense Intelligence College whose Press published it in 2006. The National Defense Intelligence College Press has made it available to the general public as a free electronic download (only). This is the first commercially available hardcopy edition of a work critical to understanding what interrogation is and where it is going in the years ahead.

From LWBN:
Strongly recommended. These white papers are highly readable and contain interesting and surprising general information about the past, present, and future of interrogation and debriefing as well as what we know or don't know about the effectiveness of polygraphs, torture, and body language. Note: The date of publication shown on Amazon represents the original punlication date.

War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror

by Robert "Buzz" Patterson

From the publisher:
In War Crimes, Lieutenant Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson (USAF, Ret.) lays bare the Left’s campaign against their own nation’s armed forces—in the media, on campuses, in popular culture, in Washington, and elsewhere, revealing:

·The roots of liberal enmity toward our military
·The five liberal lies about the war on terror
·How the mainstream media, Hollywood, and academia perpetuate these myths
·How liberal politicians engage in seditious acts for political gain, and what the costs of these acts are
·How America can and must defeat the liberal assault on America’s ability to defend itself against its enemies

Interviews with hundreds of soldiers, sailors, and airmen—including many on the ground in Iraq—reveal the alarming degree to which their burden is increased by second-guessing, pessimism, and outright revulsion for their mission on the part of the people they are fighting for. Studded with shocking quotations and astonishing actions from members of the Left, War Crimes is an eye-opening indictment of the true motivations and agenda of the American Left.

A former military aide to President Clinton, Lt. Col. ROBERT “BUZZ” PATTERSON, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) lives near Atlanta.

All American: Why I Believe in Football, God, and the War in Iraq: One Man's Journey from the NFL to 9/11 to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Back

by Robert Mcgovern

From the publisher:
Imagine what it's like to come face-to-face with a terrorist in a foreign courtroom—and you're the lawyer looking to put him away.

Imagine what it's like to see happy children in Iraq and Afghanistan smiling and waving at U.S. military helicopters.

Imagine what it's like to be an undersized linebacker in the National Football League, where most of the players you're supposed to tackle weigh more than you.

Imagine what it's like to be the seventh of nine kids growing up in an Irish Catholic family in the 1970s.

Imagine what it's like to be Robert McGovern, current captain in the U.S. Army, National Football League veteran, and proud member of a loving New Jersey family.

Robert McGovern has a story to tell—not about himself, although he's a part of it—but about the men and women he has called friends, mentors, and heroes. From his days in Catholic school to his years as a college and professional football player to his current career as an army judge advocate general, McGovern knows an all-American when he sees one. And in this book he introduces you to the ones he's met from all walks of life.

McGovern traded his shoulder pads for legal briefs more than a decade ago. He prosecuted drug dealers while working in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. On September 11, 2001, he was in lower Manhattan when the Twin Towers fell. After working the pile at Ground Zero, McGovern asked to be mobilized from his Army Reserve duty to active duty. He was first sent to Afghanistan, where he advised battlefield commanders on legal rules of engagement. He then went to Iraq to prosecute terrorist suspects. He returned from both tours convinced that Americans needed to hear another side of the war on terrorism—the side he saw firsthand.

From LWBN:
This is the first paperback edition of a hardcover book.

On the Hunt: How to Wake Up Washington and Win the War on Terror

by Colonel David Hunt

From the publisher:
So says Fox News military analyst Colonel David Hunt in a book that cuts like a buzz saw through the half-measures and half-truths, the dangerous timidity, and the outright stupidity that—if left unchecked—will lead America to lose the War on Terror.

In the hard-hitting On the Hunt, Colonel Hunt draws on his twenty-nine years of active military service and his high-level military and intelligence contacts to give an inside perspective on this global struggle, setting him far apart from the usual pundits and talking heads. Here he presents fifty pages of previously unpublished documents that reveal the chillingly detailed plans of the terrorists and insurgents who target Americans, as well as U.S. tactics to stop our enemies.

From the Department of Homeland Security (“Get rid of it. Scrap it.”) to military leaders who have almost zero combat experience to risk-averse, politically correct strategic decision-making, Colonel Hunt pinpoints dire problems that need to be fixed before it’s too late (which it nearly is). Offering real solutions that most politicians and pundits are too timid to talk about, On the Hunt lays out specific steps to:

• Win the war in Iraq by changing the way we fight—by taking the gloves off and, in doing so, honoring the sacrifices our soldiers are making
• Deal with Iran, North Korea, and other dangerous threats
• Solve the illegal immigration crisis and keep America’s enemies from breaching our borders (both of them)
• Make our towns and cities more secure—not by looking to the federal bureaucracy but by taking responsibility ourselves
•Protect the liberties of American citizens at home
• Ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to fight today’s and tomorrow’s wars

As Colonel Hunt’s millions of viewers on Fox News and all the readers of his bestselling book They Just Don’t Get It will expect, he pulls no punches while incisively analyzing a war unlike any other. In On the Hunt, Colonel Hunt reveals exactly how high the stakes really are in the War on Terror. He condemns failed policies and the people who made them (and, yes, he names names). And most important, he clearly identifies the strategies, tactics, and qualities of leadership that we must bring to bear to ensure the survival of the proud and free nation we love.

Colonel David Hunt, U.S. Army (Ret.), author of the New York Times bestseller They Just Don’t Get It, has extensive operational experience in counterterrorism, special operations, and intelligence operations. He has trained the FBI and Special Forces in counterterrorism tactics, served as the security adviser to six different Olympic Games, testified as an expert at many major terrorist trials, and lectured at the CIA, the FBI, and the National Security Agency. A military analyst for the Fox News Channel and a former senior research fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Colonel Hunt lives in Maine with his family.

From LWBN:
This is the first paperback edition of a hardcover book.

Shari'ah Law: An Introduction

by Mohammad Hashim Kamali

From the publisher:
Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari'ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features and various schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. Complete with a bibliography, glossary, and extensive index of Arabic quotations, this wide-ranging resource will prove an indispensable resource for Islamic students, and an informative guide to a complex topic for the general reader.

God Willing: My Wild Ride with the New Iraqi Army

by Capt. Eric Navarro, USMCR

From the publisher:
Ten U.S. Marines are assigned to live, train, and go into battle with more than five hundred raw and undisciplined Iraqi soldiers. A member of this Adviser Support Team, Capt. Eric Navarro, recounts their tour in vivid and brutally honest detail.

Their deployment comes at a particularly important time in the war. The Battle of Fallujah is raging, and President Bush has proclaimed training the Iraqi forces is the key to winning the war. Once they stand up, we can stand down, or so the theory goes. Navarro's team, nicknamed The Drifters, faces countless roadblocks - no interpreters initially, limited supplies, little contact with other U.S. forces, and a vast cultural gulf with the Iraqis. One hackneyed and fatalistic Arabic phrase seems to sum up the mission, Insha Allah, which translates as God willing or if God wills it.

Whether riding into downtown Fallujah in an unarmored Nissan pick-up truck, living in squalor in abandoned buildings, dodging trigger-happy troops, sharing FHM magazine with Iraqi soldiers to boost morale, or getting attacked by insurgent rockets less than an hour after arriving, life is never easy and more often surreal. The Drifters trials and tribulations help shed light on this most under-reported aspect of the war: What is wrong with the new Iraqi Army? The answer is not as pretty as the politicians would like.

Capt. Eric Navarro was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1975, and received a bachelors degree in liberal arts with a specialty in writing at The New School University. He was living in Manhattan during the events of September 11th and set out to join the Marines the next day. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Dorothy, and remains in the reserves. Following his most recent tour in Iraq, Navarro will attend the NYU Stern Business School.

Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror

by Ian Shapiro

From the publisher:
In this powerfully argued book, Ian Shapiro shows that the idea of containment offers the best hope for protecting Americans and their democracy into the future. His bold vision for American security in the post-September 11 world is reminiscent of George Kennan's historic "Long Telegram," in which the containment strategy that won the Cold War was first developed.

The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war and unilateral action has been marked by incompetence--missed opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden, failures of postwar planning for Iraq, and lack of an exit strategy. But Shapiro contends that the problems run deeper. He explains how the Bush Doctrine departs from the best traditions of American national-security policy and accepted international norms, and renders Americans and democratic values less safe. He debunks the belief that containment is obsolete. Terror networks might be elusive, but the enabling states that make them dangerous can be contained. Shapiro defends containment against charges of appeasement, arguing that force against a direct threat will be needed. He outlines new approaches to intelligence, finance, allies, diplomacy, and international institutions. He explains why containment is the best alternative to a misguided agenda that naively assumes democratic regime change is possible from the barrel of an American gun.

President Bush has defined the War on Terror as the decisive ideological struggle of our time. Shapiro shows what a self-defeating mistake that is. He sets out a viable alternative that offers real security to Americans, reclaims America's international stature, and promotes democracy around the world.

Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science and Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. His many books include The Flight from Reality in the Human Sciences and, with Michael J. Graetz, Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth (both Princeton).

Reviews:

"Had President Bush adopted Shapiro's approach on Sept. 12, 2001, it is quite likely that he would have had more success in marginalizing adversaries."--Samantha Power, New York Times Book Review

"The Bush administration's post-9/11 national security strategy has come in for tremendous criticism, but opponents have had difficulty articulating a coherent alternative. Here is one. Shapiro . . . offers a brilliant sketch of a new strategic vision that draws on Cold War-era containment ideas."--G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"It's to be hoped that Shapiro is not done--his ideas here deserve extended discussion. And as the post-Bush world starts to take form, there will be a continued need for creative thinking and the rediscovery of intellectual resources we have unwisely abandoned."--Aziz Huq, American Prospect

"Shapiro makes a convincing case that so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran can be deterred and contained even if they develop nuclear weapons."--Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Chronicle of Higher Education

"Americans who want more than garage logic and uninformed rhetoric should read [this] book. Bush administration officials should read [this] book."--Roger Buoen, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Containment is both a forceful critique of current foreign policy and a prescriptive response to it. . . . Shapiro offers a series of complicated and detailed strategies to confront global terror, including greater investment in human intelligence to methodically track and stop weapons proliferation, and to his credit, he avoids oversimplification and instead offers thorough analyses of individual situations. . . . If only such a clear and thorough analysis existed before the last election."--Joshua J. Kearney, The Harvard Crimson

The Absence of Grand Strategy: The United States in the Persian Gulf, 1972--2005

by Steve A. Yetiv

From the publisher:
"This book makes an original contribution and is a welcome relief from much of the polemical writing on the subject of American foreign policy. The scholarship is excellent. It will be essential reading for those in securities studies and international relations." -- Patrick James, Director, Center for International Studies, University of Southern California

Great powers and grand strategies. It is easy to assume that the most powerful nations pursue and employ consistent, cohesive, and decisive policies in trying to promote their interests in regions of the world. Popular theory emphasizes two such grand strategies that great powers may pursue: balance of power policy or hegemonic domination. But, as Steve A. Yetiv contends, things may not always be that cut and dried.

Analyzing the evolution of the United States' foreign policy in the Persian Gulf from 1972 to 2005, Yetiv offers a provocative and panoramic view of American strategies in a region critical to the functioning of the entire global economy. Ten cases -- from the policies of the Nixon administration to George W. Bush's war in Iraq -- reveal shifting, improvised, and reactive policies that were responses to unanticipated and unpredictable events and threats. In fact, the distinguishing feature of the U.S. experience in the Gulf has been the absence of grand strategy.

Yetiv introduces the concept of "reactive engagement" as an alternative and superior approach to understanding the behavior of great powers in unstable regions. At a time when the effects of U.S. foreign policy are rippling across the globe, The Absence of Grand Strategy offers key insight into the nature and evolution of American foreign policy in the Gulf.

After Iraq: Anarchy and Renewal in the Middle East

by Gwynne Dyer

From the publisher:
“The Iraqi state that was formed in the aftermath of the First World War has come to an end. Its successor state is struggling to be born in an environment of crises and chaos.” - Ali Allawi, Iraq’s former Minister of Defense

Allawi is not exaggerating. The disastrous American invasion of Iraq that has led to the destruction of the Iraqi state and the subsequent defeat of U.S. military power has finally destabilized the entire Middle East--a region that has been tightly controlled by European and American powers and that has changed little, politically, in forty years. But, in losing the war in Iraq, the United States has lost the will to maintain the status quo in the Middle East, and the forces unleashed by the destruction of Iraq will go on to shape the future of the region in a way that no one can predict.

As Gwynne Dyer argues in After Iraq, the Middle East is about to change fundamentally, and everything is now up for grabs: regimes, ethnic pecking orders within states, even national borders themselves are liable to change without notice. Five years from now there could be an Islamic Republic of Arabia, an independent Kurdistan, a Muslim cold war between Sunnis and Shias, almost anything you care to imagine.

Written with clarity, intelligence, and Dyer’s trademark dark humor, After Iraq is essential reading for anyone wanting an informed historical perspective on the future of one of the most important and volatile regions in the world.

The Politics of Intelligence and American Wars with Iraq

by Ofira Seliktar

From the publisher:
This book offers an integrative and longitudinal, time-line based analysis of the highly complex process of transforming abstract political paradigms to applied policy on Iraq.To accomplish this task it demonstrates how scholars have conceptualized political change and applied it to the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular, how public intellectuals and other players have used these assumptions to advocate an array of applied policies, and how such discourse informed the four American administrations that have dealt with Iraq and the intelligence community that have advised them.

Iran's Foreign Policy: From Khatami to Ahmadinejad

by Anoush Ehteshami and Mahjoob Zweiri (Editors)

From the publisher:
This timely collection of papers by leading academics and prominent government officials sheds new light on the foreign policy of Iran under President Khatami and into the period of President Ahmadinejad.

Iran’s foreign policy during this period was based on four fundamental principles: the rejection of all forms of foreign domination; the preservation of the independence of the country and its territorial integrity; the defence of the rights of all Muslims; and the maintenance of mutually peaceful relations with all non-belligerent states.

This book examines the implications of these principles, and provides analysis of Iran’s diplomacy with regard to ongoing developments such the War on Terror, the continuing conflict in Iraq, American–Iranian relations, British–Iranian Relations, European–Iranian Relations and Arab-Iranian Relations.

Professor Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Head of the School of Government and International Affairs and Professor of International Relations at the University of Durham. Dr Mahjoob Zweiri is the Director of the Centre for Iranian Studies at the University of Durham and a Senior Researcher in Middle East Politics and Iran at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.

Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War

by Robert Cassidy

From the publisher:
Since September 2001, the United States has waged what the government initially called the "global war on terrorism (GWOT)." Beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, the term Long War began to appear in U.S. security documents such as the National Security Council's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq and in statements by the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the JCS. The description Long War—unlimited in time and space and continuing for decades—is closer to reality and more useful than GWOT.

Colonel Robert Cassidy argues that this protracted struggle is more correctly viewed as a global insurgency and counterinsurgency. Al Qaeda and its affiliates, he maintains, comprise a novel and evolving form of networked insurgents who operate globally, harnessing the advantages of globalization and the information age. They employ terrorism as a tactic, subsuming terror within their overarching aim of undermining the Western-dominated system of states. Placing the war against al Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency has vital implications for doctrine, interagency coordination, and military cultural change—all reviewed in this important work.

He first offers a distilled analysis of al Qaeda and its associated networks, with a particular focus on ideology and culture. In subsequent chapters, he elucidates the challenges big powers face when they prosecute counterinsurgencies, using historical examples from Russian, American, British, and French counterinsurgent wars before 2001. The book concludes with recommendations for the integration and command and control of indigenous forces and other agencies.

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

by Robert Crews and Amin Tarzi (editors)

From the publisher:
The Taliban remain one of the most elusive forces in modern history. A ragtag collection of clerics and madrasa students, this obscure movement emerged out of the rubble of the Cold War to shock the world with their draconian Islamic order. The Taliban refused to surrender their vision even when confronted by the United States after September 11, 2001. Reinventing themselves as part of a broad insurgency that destabilized Afghanistan, they pledged to drive out the Americans, NATO, and their allies and restore their "Islamic Emirate."

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan explores the paradox at the center of this challenging phenomenon: how has a seemingly anachronistic band of religious zealots managed to retain a tenacious foothold in the struggle for Afghanistan's future? Grounding their analysis in a deep understanding of the country's past, leading scholars of Afghan history, politics, society, and culture show how the Taliban was less an attempt to revive a medieval theocracy than a dynamic, complex, and adaptive force rooted in the history of Afghanistan and shaped by modern international politics. Shunning journalistic accounts of its conspiratorial origins, the essays investigate broader questions relating to the character of the Taliban, its evolution over time, and its capacity to affect the future of the region.

Offering an invaluable guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan, this book accounts for the persistence of a powerful and enigmatic movement while simultaneously mapping Afghanistan's enduring political crisis.

Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World

by Samantha Power

From the publisher:
From Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, an epic tale-part thriller, part tragedy-for our age, the political career and tragic death of the incomparable humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello

If there is a single individual who can be said to have been at center stage through all of the most significant humanitarian and geopolitical crises of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, it was Sergio Vieira de Mello. Vieira de Mello was born in 1948 just as the post-World War II order was taking shape. He died in a terrorist attack on UN Headquarters in Iraq in 2003 as the battle lines in the twenty-first-century's first great power struggle were being drawn. In nearly four decades of work for the United Nations, Sergio distinguished himself as the consummate humanitarian, able to negotiate with-and often charm-cold war military dictators, Marxist jungle radicals, reckless warlords, and nationalist and sectarian militia leaders. By taking the measure of this remarkable man's life and career, Power offers a fascinating answer to the question: Who possesses the moral authority, the political sense, and the military and economic heft to protect human life and bring peace to the unruly new world order?

Chasing the Flame brings us deep into the thorniest, least well-understood episodes of recent world history-the conflagration in the Middle East, through Vieira de Mello's troubleshooting in Lebanon in the aftermath of Israel's 1982invasion; the clean-up of the cold war's residue, through Vieira de Mello's taming of the Khmer Rouge and his repatriation of four-hundred-thousand Cambodian refugees in the early nineties; the explosion of sectarian and ethnic militancy, through his efforts to negotiate an end to the slaughter in Bosnia; the struggle to nation-build in war-torn societies, through his quasi-colonial governorships of Kosovo and East Timor; and the engulfing of Iraq in civil war and terror, through his tragic final posting as the UN representative in Baghdad, where he became the victim of the country's first-ever suicide bomb.

Readers of Chasing the Flame will recognize the particular mixture of deep reporting and incisive analysis that Power uses to imbue Sergio's life with significance, and lessons, for our own. In this exquisitely reasoned and imagined book, Samantha Power reveals Sergio Vieira de Mello's powerful legacy of humanity and ideological strength in an age sorely in need of both.

"The best way to understand today's messy world is to appreciate the inspiring life and diplomatic genius of Vieira de Mello. Samantha Powers has done a brilliant job. This is a compelling biography of a fascinating man but also more: through his life and tragic death we get a better feel for how to deal with the challenges of religious extremism, refugees, terrorism, and ethnic struggle. If only he were still alive! Read this book and weep, read it and understand, read it and cheer." -- Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute and author of Einstein: His Life and Universe

Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon

by A. J. Rossmiller

From the publisher:
After 9/11, billions of dollars were spent to overhaul America’s dysfunctional intelligence services, which were mired in bureaucracy, turf wars, and dated technology. But in this astonishing new book, A. J. Rossmiller, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst honored for his efforts here and in Iraq, reveals firsthand evidence that the intelligence system remains in disrepair. Still Broken is a blistering account of the ideology and incompetence that cripple our efforts to confront our enemies and fight our wars.

Like many Americans, Rossmiller was moved to action by the attacks on 9/11. Freshly graduated from Middlebury College, he went to work for the U.S. government in 2004. But his enthusiasm slowly turned to disillusion as he began to fulfill his duties for DIA, the spy arm of the Department of Defense. There he found the Cold War and 9/11 generations at odds, the cause of fighting terrorism superseded by the need to contain a dismally managed war in Iraq, the Bush administration widely mocked and distrusted, and the intelligence process crippled from top to bottom.

Rather than give up, Rossmiller instead went further, volunteering to go to Iraq to aid the troops on the ground, contribute to tactical intelligence, and, he hoped, help bring about an end to a fatally mismanaged war. For six months in that besieged country, he worked for the Direct Action Cell, the “track ’em and whack ’em” unit devoted to unmasking and targeting insurgents. He learned that, to put it mildly, the intelligence process bears no resemblance to the streamlined, well-resourced, and timely operation in a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie. He also experienced the disastrous counterterrorism and detainee strategies for which mass imprisonment–with little interest in guilt or innocence–is standard operating procedure.

Back at the Pentagon as a strategic issues expert in the Office of Iraq Analysis, Rossmiller saw the administration’s heavy hand in determining how information is processed. In a dysfunctional office filled with outsize personalities and the constant drone of Fox News, he filed reports on the ever-worsening situation in Iraq. These assessments, ultimately proven accurate, were consistently rejected as “too pessimistic” and “off message” and repeatedly changed to be more in line with delusional White House projections.

Written with passion, intensity, and self-deprecating humor, Still Broken is a riveting and sobering portrait of Bush-era intelligence failures and manipulations, laid out by someone who witnessed them up close and personal. It also offers a sincere, thoughtful prescription for healing the system so that a new and motivated generation won’t disengage completely from its government.

A. J. Rossmiller, a fellow at the National Security Network, served with the Defense Intelligence Agency for nearly two years. For his work in Iraq, he was awarded the Joint Civilian Service Achievement Award and the DIA Expeditionary Medal for valorous and meritorious service. He is a contributing editor at Americablog.com, and his writing has been featured or cited in a wide variety of news and commentary outlets. Rossmiller is currently an adviser and consultant for various nonprofit and foreign policy and defense organizations, and is a member of the Truman National Security Project. He is a regular commentator on the Alhurra television network, a U.S. government-run channel that broadcasts in Arabic to the Middle East.

Out of Iraq

by Lewis Alsamari

From the publisher:
Out of Iraq is the eloquent and moving story of Mahmoud Albayati, a worker in Saddam's weapons program, dramatically escaping to the West.

A story of passion and determination, deprivation and triumph, this memoir tells first-hand about fighting in the Iraq-Iran war and of surviving the bombing of Baghdad during the Kuwaiti conflict.

We witness Saddam's summary executions and feel the miasma of fear when schoolmates "disappeared" overnight. We drive down "the highway of death" and overlook the bloodbath Saudi Arabian refugee camps as the guards shoot rebelling refugees. We return to Baghdad in the immediate aftermath of the liberation, where Albayati foils an attempt by insurgents to kidnap him: Albayati did not come from a privileged background, but made his way to a high position through hard work and merit. This is not a middle-class memoir of life under Saddam, but the truth from someone existing in a large family in near-poverty.

Now a US citizen, Albayati has provocative and fascinatingly unvarnished views of the UN, George Bush (senior), Al-Qaeda, and 9/11-and, most of all, what Iraq needs now. This is a fearlessly honest book from someone who has (literally) come through the wars. Albayati has the courage to speak for the millions of moderate Arab Muslims who have been cowed into silence by fundamentalists. This book will change your mind about the Middle East forever. Read it, believe it, live it.

Radical Islam and International Security: Challenges and Responses

by Efraim Inbar

From the publisher:
Radical Islam poses a political challenge in the modern world which is like that of no other radical religious movement. Ideologically, it is perceived by Western policy makers as threatening the liberal-democratic ideology by which most states in the West abide and which most other states rhetorically espouse.

This book serves as a welcome addition to the intellectual and policy debate on the nature of the radical Islam phenomenon and how to respond to it. The collection is divided into three parts: the first part seeks to understand the Islamic challenge in broad comparative and historical terms, while the second part deals with specific regional case studies, which seek to identify patterns of uniformity and variation in radical Islam across a wide swath of terrain. The third part is policy-oriented, suggesting possible responses to the Islamic challenge. The contributors include distinguished researchers from Europe, North America and the Middle East.

This book will be of much interest to students of Islamism, political violence, international security and Middle Eastern politics.

British War on Terror: Terrorism and Counter-terrorism on the Home Front Since 9-11

by Steve Hewitt

From the publisher:
Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, the topic of terrorism has been almost continually front-page news in the United Kingdom. The subsequent ‘war on terror’, including the invasion of Iraq, has only heightened interest in the matter.

With the London bombings of 7 July 2005, Britain became a frontline in international terrorism and counter-terrorism. This reality has only been heightened by failed attacks in London on 21 July 2005, and through a series of high profile arrests in Forest Hill, in Birmingham in connection to a beheading plot, the arrests of NHS staff in connection to failed attacks in London and Glasgow, and the attempted arrest of Jean Charles de Menezes, which had tragic consequences.

In this illuminating and fascinating look at an often misunderstood world Steve Hewitt offers a balanced, measured, and informed examination of recent events and offers a historical and contemporary context to this new threat, and how we are dealing with it.

From LWBN:
A reader writes to object to the charaterization of "attempted arrest."

Please note, there was no attempt to "arrest" Jean Charles de Menezes,he was
unaware that police were following him before being shot incold blood without
the least possible chance of surrender.

The publisher's website shows this title as released on December 12 while Amazon lists its release date as February 6.

Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond

by Abdulkader H. Sinno

From the publisher:
“After we had exchanged the requisite formalities over tea in his camp on the southern edge of Kabul's outer defense perimeter, the Afghan field commander told me that two of his bravest mujahideen were martyred because he did not have a pickup truck to take them to a Peshawar hospital. They had succumbed to their battle wounds. He asked me to tell his party's bureaucrats across the border that he needed such a vehicle desperately. I double-checked with my interpreter that he was indeed making this request. I wasn't puzzled because the request appeared unreasonable but because he was asking me, a twenty-year-old employee of a humanitarian organization, to intercede on his behalf with his own organization's bureaucracy. I understood on this dry summer day in Khurd Kabul that not all militant and political organizations are alike.” — from Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond

While popular accounts of warfare, particularly of nontraditional conflicts such as guerrilla wars and insurgencies, favor the roles of leaders or ideology, social-scientific analyses of these wars focus on aggregate categories such as ethnic groups, religious affiliations, socioeconomic classes, or civilizations. Challenging these constructions, Abdulkader H. Sinno closely examines the fortunes of the various factions in Afghanistan, including the mujahideen and the Taliban, that have been fighting each other and foreign armies since the 1979 Soviet invasion. Focusing on the organization of the combatants, Sinno offers a new understanding of the course and outcome of such conflicts.

Employing a wide range of sources, including his own fieldwork in Afghanistan and statistical data on conflicts across the region, Sinno contends that in Afghanistan, the groups that have outperformed and outlasted their opponents have done so because of their successful organization. Each organization's ability to mobilize effectively, execute strategy, coordinate efforts, manage disunity, and process information depends on how well its structure matches its ability to keep its rivals at bay. Centralized organizations, Sinno finds, are generally more effective than noncentralized ones, but noncentralized ones are more resilient absent a safe haven.

Sinno's organizational theory explains otherwise puzzling behavior found in group conflicts: the longevity of unpopular regimes, the demise of popular movements, and efforts of those who share a common cause to undermine their ideological or ethnic kin. The author argues that the organizational theory applies not only to Afghanistan-where he doubts the effectiveness of American state-building efforts—but also to other ethnic, revolutionary, independence, and secessionist conflicts in North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.

“Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond is an original, penetrating, and important book; Abdulkader H. Sinno marries organizational theory to analysis of nonstate actors in situations of civil war or state disruption. This is strikingly innovative not only in respect to Afghanistan (where nothing like this has been attempted previously) but also in respect to complex transitions more generally. This is a book that no serious student of transitions from conflict can afford to ignore.” — William Maley, Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, The Australian National University

“In Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond, Abdulkader H. Sinno makes an original contribution to the study of civil war. He takes a specific case—that of Afghanistan—and uses organizational structure as a basis for explaining how events unfolded. Readers will be especially fascinated by the narrative of what occurred in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban's rise to power. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in either international politics or the study of organizations.” — Patrick James, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies, University of Southern California

Abdulkader H. Sinno is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University.

From LWBN:
The exact day of release for this February title is unknown.

Why We're Losing the War on Terror

by Paul Rogers

From the publisher:
The war on terror is a lost cause. As the war heads towards its second decade, American security policy is in disarray - the Iraq War is a disaster, Afghanistan is deeply insecure and the al-Qaida movement remains as potent as ever with new generations of leaders coming to the fore. Well over 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, many tens of thousands have been detained without trial, and torture, prisoner abuse and rendition have sullied the reputation of the United States and its coalition partners.

Why We're Losing the War on Terror examines the reasons for the failure, focusing on American political and military attitudes, the impact of 9/11, the fallacy of a New American Century, the role of oil and, above all, the consummate failure to go beyond a narrow western view of the world. More significantly, it argues that the disaster of the war may have a huge if unexpected bonus. Its very failure will make it possible to completely re-think western attitudes to global security, moving towards a sustainable policy that will be much more effective in addressing the real threats to global security - the widening socio-economic divide and climate change.

Web of Deceit: The History of Western complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush

by Barry Lando

From the publisher:
An investigative history of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein’s crimes reveals the story his trial never will.In February 1991, the Shia of southern Iraq rose against Saddam Hussein.

Barry M. Lando, a former investigative producer for 60 Minutes, argues compellingly that this ill-fated uprising represents one instance among many of Western complicity in Saddam Hussein’s crimes against humanity. The Shia were responding to the call for rebellion from President George H.W. Bush that was broadcast repeatedly across Iraq by clandestine CIA stations. But, just as the revolution was on the brink of success, the United States and its allies turned their backs. In the end, tens of thousands were massacred.

Because of restrictions imposed by the Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein, the extensive role of the U.S. and its allies in his crimes will never be explored at his trial. But as Web of Deceit demonstrates, the nations that now denounce Saddam most prominently secretly backed the dictator from his rise to power in the 1960s and ‘70s to his offensives in Iran and, despite warnings, took no action to stop his invasion of Kuwait. They also turned their backs when he used chemical weapons against the Iraqi people and persisted in international sanctions long after they had proved ineffective and, for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, lethal.

Web of Deceit draws on a wide range of journalism and scholarship to present a complete picture of what really happened in Iraq under Saddam, detailing – for the first time – the complicity of the West in its full and alarming extent.

Barry M. Lando spent over 25 years as an award-winning investigative producer with 60 Minutes. The author of numerous articles about Iraq, he produced a documentary about Saddam Hussein that has been shown around the world. A Canadian citizen, Lando was born in Vancouver and now lives in Paris.

From LWBN:
This is the first paperback edition of a hardcover book.

Liberalism and Islam: Practical Reconciliation between the Liberal State and Shiite Muslims

by Hamid Hadji Haidar

From the publisher:
This book examines the possibility of reconciliation between liberalism and Shiite Islam.

By examining two key liberal theories, this book shows that secular liberalism is not justifiable in the view of Shiite Islamic thought. Yet, since the liberal state is tolerant of Shiite Muslim citizens, at the practical level, there is no ground for conflict between liberal societies and Shiite Muslim minorities.

Therefore, whilst Shiite Muslims at home should refrain from constructing the basic structure of their societies in accordance with liberal theory, Shiite Muslim minorities of liberal societies should accept the basic structure of these societies in return for receiving freedoms, protections, and opportunities.

The Secret History of al Qaeda

by Abdel Bari Atwan

From the publisher:
Drawing on unparalleled access to Osama bin Laden and his key associates, journalist Abdel Bari Atwan gives an incisive and timely account, the clearest we have so far, of the rise of the notorious terrorist organization, al Qaeda.

In this lively narrative, the author establishes what al Qaeda is or has become, what it wants, what its capabilities are, and how the West can answer its complaints and challenges.

The only Western-based journalist to have spent time with Osama bin Laden, Atwan begins with an engrossing personal record of his 1996 trip to visit al Qaeda's founder and guide at his Tora Bora hideout. He takes an in-depth look at bin-Laden, presenting a nuanced portrait of the man and a description of his development as the prime exponent of jihad today. Atwan reveals how al Qaeda's radical departure from the classical terrorist/guerilla blueprint has enabled less adaptable efforts to neutralize it. The fanaticism of its fighters, and their willingness to kill and be killed, are matched by the leadership's opportunistic recruitment strategies and sophisticated understanding of psychology, media and new technology--including the use of the Internet for training, support and communications.

Atwan's outspoken London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, of which he is Editor-in-Chief, has been the vehicle of choice for the release of many al Qaeda electronic communiqués.

The Secret History of al Qaeda reveals events in Iraq and Saudi Arabia as watershed moments in the organization's evolution that are making it more dangerous by the day. Atwan efficiently charts how the concept of jihad is being refined and appropriated, how a new kind of leader has been made possible by al Qaeda's horizontal chain of command, the making of the suicide bomber as a permanent feature of a global holy war, al Qaeda's economic strategy, and how the war in Iraq has transformed that country into a breeding ground for the most ruthless and militant al Qaeda fighters to date.

"Deeply researched, well reported and full of interesting and surprising analyses. It demands to be read." -- Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama Bin Laden I Know