The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism [Hardcover]

Yossef Bodansky (Author), Jim Saxton (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Since the Gulf War, three U.S. administrations have tried desperately to negotiate peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Crafted through a series of policy missteps, the tenuous accords have done little except leave Israel compromised and vulnerable while drawing the ire of militant Islamists—culminating in the catastrophic show of force against the West via terrorist attacks on American soil and renewed violence in the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East.
In The High Cost of Peace, terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky uncovers the bitter legacy of a peace process that has cost tens of thousands of lives, emboldened such outlaw countries as Iran and Iraq, enriched Arab militaries with billions of U.S. dollars, and mobilized an underground network of terror cells around the globe. He reveals in engrossing detail the political undercurrents and secret deals that have shaped and destabilized the region, the confluence of events leading up to September 11, and the inside story of a dangerous quest for peace that has led to a war unlike any the Middle East has seen before—the details of which rarely make the anti-Israeli-tinged evening news. You will discover:
·Why Arafat said in 1972 of the Palestinian aggression against Israel, "Peace for us means the destruction of Israel and nothing else"
·How President Clinton's zeal for peace was motivated by his desire to divert national attention away from his domestic scandals, and why his administration completely ignored the growing threat of militant Islamism
·What secret preparations and military build-up Saddam Hussein ordered for the next war with, and terrorist strikes against, the United States and Israel
·And many more shocking revelations
At the heart of the failed peace negotiations is the utopian notion that Israel's militant enemies even want peace. This book proves once and for all how the United States is put in perpetual danger of terrorist attack because of its repeated blunders in dealing with the Arab world and the vital contributions of Israel—America's staunchest ally in this turbulent region—to U.S. security interests. Meanwhile, as many Arab leaders play to American and European news cameras with empty promises of peace, they are secretly conspiring with terrorists to fulfill their ultimate goal: the complete annihilation of the Israeli state.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of an early book on Osama bin Laden and director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, Bodansky turns his attention to the Middle East, painting a nightmarish picture of a region that has been teetering on the brink of war for several years. The United States, which he says "seduced" Israel into the Oslo peace process, is partially to blame, as are Israeli politicians, who until recently have ignored intelligence reports of the Arab world's complicity in terrorism and military buildup. He details his evidence for Yasser Arafat's involvement in terrorism which, he says, has been calculated to draw Israel into an on-again, off-again war that it cannot win. Arafat's goal, he believes, is to destroy Israel in a phased plan. Arab and Muslim nations from "rogue" states like Iraq and Iran to more moderate ones like Egypt have been engaged in the plan as well, but fear of an Israeli military response, among other factors, has prevented all-out war. Many will find it hard to believe that American and Israeli governments are as na‹ve as Bodansky claims about the level of unity in the Arab and Muslim world which he paints as very high. And while Bodansky marshals a prodigious amount of detail to support his case such as specific calls from Arafat for terrorist acts his language betrays a point of view some will find problematic, as when he says that Anwar Sadat "manipulated" the U.S. "into getting him the Sinai interim agreements with Israel." A book that might serve as a clarion call is less convincing than it could be.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for Yossef Bodansky and The High Cost of Peace:
"Read Bodansky and one can begin to appreciate what President Bush really meant when he said, 'This will be a monumental struggle between good and evil.'" — Indianapolis Star
"The expertise of Yossef Bodansky is in sudden demand." — Los Angeles Times
"Bodansky, the man who put us wise to Osama bin Laden before anyone else, has done it again. He has set forth a brilliant snapshot of the convoluted history of the Middle East from Israel's emergence to the current crisis. Bodansky's analysis shows clearly how Washington's short-sightedness helped precipitate the current terror campaign." — Walter J. Boyne, author of The Two O'Clock War
"I always suspected that Arafat was a terrorist and a corrupt leader. Now, Bodansky's exhaustive and damning investigation proves just that beyond a shadow of doubt. The High Cost of Peace should be required reading in the White House and Congress." — Congressman Eric Cantor, chairman, Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare
"To truly comprehend why peace in the Middle East—an end coveted for so long by so many—is becoming more and more illusive, you must read Yossef Bodansky's excellent book. An engrossing account of Israel's quest for security and peace, as well as the United States' struggle to secure its vital interests in a turbulent region, The High Cost of Peace provides an adamantly hopeful prognosis against dire and tragic odds. I strongly recommend it." — Brigadier General (Reserve) Yigal Pressler, deputy adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel
"Bodansky has written the story that the evening news has ignored. While they've been busy blaming Israel and the United States for the violence and terrorism in the Middle East, he's been busy unearthing and documenting the intricacies of Middle Eastern terrorism." — Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 652 pages
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles; 1 edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761535799
• ISBN-13: 978-0761535799
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,277,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bodansky is unusually good, October 17, 2002

By 

Nagi N. Najjar (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism (Hardcover)

As an Lebanese expatriate, I was deeply impressed at the depth of knowledge and detail displayed by Bodansky in this wonderful book. To understand why Lebanon is the key to peace in the Middle East, one must be aware of the many regional dynamics that involve Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon, in their attempt to impose a new anti-West, Islamic empire for the region and one that displaces Israel as a participant in the Levant.
These issues are salient and necessary to understand the debates raging today in the United Nations and the United States Congress as to a possible war with Iraq. Bodansky's knowledge and writing skills foreshadowed these existential events perfectly and will certainly provoke a reaction from the participants in this political drama as well as from all the readers who will find this book a necessary primer of in-depth Middle East politics, strategy, and tactics.
Bodansky has the uncanny ability to explore these issues in detail while concisely examining other topics of the Middle East, as well as their relationship with Washington politics, and separating substance from political expediency. No one walks away unscathed.

Nagi N. Najjar
Executive Director
Lebanese Foundation for Peace

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another home run!, October 3, 2002

By 

Murray Kahl (Boynton Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism (Hardcover)

Displaying his multiple talents as a word smith and an accomplished political analyst, Bodansky again stitches together a tapestry of political revelations and historical documentation that results in clearly revealing the inner workings of the radical, Islamic mind that threatens the stability and future of Western style democracies.
There are no sacred icons when Bodansky starts his exploration and he enthralls the reader with a common journey into the darkness of radical Islam, a journey of discovery that involves the reader with personal insights, personal discoveries, and personal intuition, that reveals even more of this ubiquitous enemy.
All venues are explored in depth, including the political structure in the United States that allowed temporal priorities to take precedence over issues of existential import and myopically ignore the future. Yet, this appears to be the scenario played out by the Clinton Administration as they assumed control, actually over most of the world, in 1992.
Bodansky's analysis for the security of the West is a must read as we all face the threat of Islamic radicalism that threatens to destroy the fabric of our society and requiring a new and meaningful rubric to deal with this unprecedented threat.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lighting up a dark world, October 27, 2002

By 

Moshe Zvi (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The High Cost of Peace: How Washington's Middle East Policy Left America Vulnerable to Terrorism (Hardcover)

As if someone lit a lightbulb in a darkened world was the effect upon me of Bodansky's new book "The High Cost of Peace."
I feel confident in saying that I represent the many people who walk away confused at the conflicting and difficult news we read daily and yet has that aura of uncertainty surrounding it. Bodansky clears away the fog of confusion and replaces it with a clear and cogent view of events that in his clarity of style explains the details and brings them together in a meaningful and authenticated fashion.
For example, the mystery of the Camp David Accords are explained, the first time to my knowledge, and the participants come to life with all their imperfections.
It was Oliver Cromwell who said, "Paint me with all my Pimples," and Bodansky uses his objective eye to do that exactly with all these players in a global drama that foreshadow Armegeddon if we don't tred lightly and carry a strong stick.
We owe Bodansky a debt of gratitude for his effort.