BOOKS: Deadly Embrace -- Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad. (Jim Miles)

Deadly Embrace - Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad. Bruce Riedel. Brookings Institute Press, Washington, D.C. 2011

Mar. 28, 2011 (Palestine Chronicle) -- Given the nature of events reported in the regular media, this work is a timely and informative history about the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.

It is written by Bruce Riedel, one of the players involved in the ongoing negotiations between the two countries as they balance the various needs and wants of an off-balance nuclear-armed Muslim country with the needs and wants of a country protecting the world from the terror of Islamic jihadis. At least that is the overall perspective of the work as should be expected from someone inside the Washington establishment, a former CIA officer, and now a political consultant, whose perspective is that narrowly seen by those steeped in the belief of U.S. infallibility and goodness of deed. To Riedel’s credit he admits the U.S. role as having had “a large hand in creating this monster ... a fickle friend,” contributing “to its instability and radicalization” creating “fertile ground for global jihad. How and why this happened is the subject of this book.”

For the historical record, the book is well written and historically accurate although a good deal of information seems to have been held back that could have truly made the book interesting and challenging. It is a self-censored work, with the author claiming as usual that the ideas expressed are entirely his own and not reflective of “the official positions or views of the or any other office of the U.S. government” nor do they imply “that any branch of government has authenticated the information or endorsed the author’s view.” Further the material was vetted by the CIA “to prevent the disclosure of classified information.”

For all those disclaimers two thoughts rise. First, there is a lot of material and ideas that are not presented in this work. Secondly, when reading the book, it comes across as standard U.S. interpretative historical fare -- that is, narrow focus, little context beyond the confines of the U.S.-Pakistani dialogue, and we, the United States, are the victims of a global terror jihad for some unspecified reasons other than the standard offerings of poverty and lack of democracy. The latter may well be true, but given the lack of context of the U.S. global reach and interests, and the double standards by which they operate in all regions (witness the application of the “no fly zone” in Libya to protect the "revolutionaries," when other regions -- Bahrain, Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon -- receive none) the author’s reasoning is not sustainable.

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