America's Misadventures.

• Author: Quainton, Anthony C.E.
• Position: America's Misadventures in the Middle East - Book review

America's Misadventures

Review by Ambassador (ret.) Anthony C. E. Quainton

America's Misadventures in the Middle East, Chas W. Freeman Jr., Just World Books, 2010, ISBN 13: 978-1535982012, 230 pp., $22.98

It is a pity that jeremiads have gone out of fashion, as Chas Freeman's latest book is a splendid example of that biblical art form. Freeman writes with an effortless elegance, a sharp wit and an ability to reduce complex issues to clear and vivid images. This book is a series of essays and speeches given by Freeman over a twenty-year period for a variety of audiences, in some cases the general public, in others audiences composed of former or current officials. They reflect an extraordinary breadth of vision and knowledge of regional issues. This is all the more striking when one remembers that the most significant parts of his career were spent in China and Africa and that his only direct engagement with the Middle East from the State Department's perspective was as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s. This lack of regional expertise does not inhibit Freemen from trenchant and perceptive analyses or from a relentless critique of American policy in the Middle East.

Freeman repeatedly identifies and condemns the arrogance and fecklessness of American foreign policy. He describes the United States as constantly overreaching, seeking to impose a moral and political imperium on states less powerful than itself. He argues repeatedly that America has allowed itself to be led too often by Israeli analyses and interests with an increasingly damaging impact on our relations with the Arab and Muslim world. It is worth noting that his criticism of Israeli policies and the perception that he was too pro-Saudi led to his having to withdraw as a candidate to chair the President's National Intelligence Council (A fascinating essay in the book describes the process whereby he was attacked by the Israel lobby and the difficulty he faced in defending himself from attacks.)

In other essays he is an outspoken critic of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, which he insists were pursued with an entirely inadequate understanding of the societies into which we intervened. He is not an enthusiast for nation building and our efforts to reconstruct what we have so carelessly destroyed. He insists that our polices in the Arab world have resulted in alienation and a loss of trust in and admiration for the United States and a consequent reduction in our...