Customer Reviews

SACRED RAGE: The Wrath of Militant Islam

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Middle Eastern terrorism almost became white noise after hostage taking, embassy bombings, hijackings, and other violent acts lost their novelty. That changed, of course, when the volume was cranked way up on September 11, 2001.

There were those who anticipated the crescendo long before it sounded. Los Angeles Times correspondent Robin Wright covered the Iranian revolution, the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, and other regional violence and issues in the Eighties. She eloquently documented these events and their larger meaning in her seminal work, Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, in 1985. Yet in attention span-challenged United States--even among those who read Sacred Rage--the spectacular attacks 16 years later still seemed to come as a complete shock.

Many books on Islamism were updated after September 11. The revised editions often consisted of rehashed material with new introductions and a few topical chapters tacked onto the end.

This is not the case with the trade paperback version of Sacred Rage. In fact, a very good book has achieved near greatness. Author Robin Wright's groundbreaking exploration of the rise and spread of Islamic fundamentalism does more than give tremendous context to what happened years later in Washington and New York. In a sense, the diverse material now coalesces as Wright explores the recent trend towards democracy among the same militants whose terror she covered in the Eighties. The recent edition even offers plausible solutions to conflicts between the West and the Middle East; glimmers of hope even manage to appear now and again, which should be counterintuitive.

The new chapters that involve Osama bin Laden and his view of the future are striking and fit in naturally with the other material. Wright contrasts al-Qaeda's reactionary attempts to turn the clock back to 700 with the yearning among many Iranians and Lebanese for true democracy. This different world view is, to a large degree, the product of the repression of the Shia. This suffering helped give birth to the rage and wrath Wright chronicles, and in an ironic twist the author seems to think these Muslims might be the ones to embrace a democratic and pluralistic Middle East.

There are a few problems with the new version. Wright defines the terms "fundamentalism" and "Islamist" differently from some other authors. She uses the former in an almost negative sense, and the latter favorably. Of greater concern, Wright doesn't adequately explain why an Islamist Lebanon would be so radically different from the Sudan or Saudi Arabia. Also, her comparisons between America's Religious Right and Islamic fundamentalists are way over the top in 2003.

These are only minor gripes, though. Sacred Rage is more relevant today than it was when first published. Also, Wright has softened her near-apologies for the more extreme behavior she documented. This version sheds light on the struggle between those Muslims who want both democracy and Islam, and those who only want theocracy. That struggle inevitably involves the United States and the West. Sacred Rage suggests the West's interaction with the Muslim world can be constructive. This is preferable to the suggestion of an inevitable clash of civilizations. That gloom and doom scenario usually is offered by those whose knowledge of the region pales in comparison with others who always heard the background noise of potential violence and reported it years before the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center.

At first glance, I figured that this would be just some anti-Islamic ranting by some silly Western infidel. (What would you expect with such a title and cover photo?) Frankly, I was surprised and impressed with what I read.

The tone seemed very inviting to me, and probably to all others interested. Page by page, Robin puts forth great detail with seemingly no pressure to please any point of view.

However, she did maybe commit an overkill on the "fundamentalist extremist militant fanatic" vocabulary. But still, her tone forces the reader to accept the terms literally, and not with the hate-filled spirit as seen in other publications.

I recommend those interested in the topic to check this one out.

God bless, and strive for peace and justice.

Sacred Rage covers mostly recent history in the Middle east, from the 1980s forward. But this is the time period of the rise of militant Islam which this book seeks to address. It covers most of the Islamic countries, their leaders and their dissidents.

The book talks of the many terrorists attacks and their reasons, the perpetrators and the affects. Has the U.S. position in the Middle East hurt our standing? What has our military done in the Middle East in the last 20 years? How did the U.S. Governments miscalculations hurt us in Islamic eyes? What has Iran's role in world terrorism been? What are the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims? Why do the Middle Eastern countries and people hate the west so much? For some insights and answers to these and many more questions, read this book.

This book goes a long way to explaining the many questions just asked. It explores the sometimes strained relations among the countries of the Middle East with each other. How do Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia get along? This book is insightful and provocative. I recommend it as a start to understanding what has been happening in our world in the last quarter of a century.

This book is a good starting place.

In todays geo-political climate , its hard to get balanced views on an issue that has touched us all deeply in the past year . Passions run high and impassioned and reactionary responses from many quarters make the subject matter difficult to dissect , let alone understand and digest .

While written in the 80's and covering mainly events occuring from the birth of Islam to the 80's , I think the book is still very much applicable in the present day context . It will shed light on why we are seeing a virtual groundswell of antagonism toward the West and all things Western from our Middle east bretheren . Additional chapters on recent events were also helpful in updating the information up to present day .

You never get the feeling that the author has taken sides but this in no way translates into an academic lack of passion she feels for her subject . The book basically approaches the subject matter from the standpoint of trying to understand the roots of this groundswell but leaves the reader with ample room to formulate their own conclusions .

For the armchair political scientist interested in current affairs .

This new edition chronicles many of the militant Islam uprisings during the 1980s and more recently focuses on bin Laden. The major characters, victims and militants are well descibed. The author states right off that she is neither historian nor foreign policy expert, but rather uses narrative and interview. Unfortunately the motivations of the militant groups are often glossed over. The heinous actions of terrorist groups and their hatred of the US requires more analysis of the American behaviors and foreign policies that are anathema to so many. The growth of such groups in the Occupied territories, together with US complicity in Israeli violations of human rights and international law is a glaring omission for such an important issue.

Robin Wright's book titled SACRED RAGE should have been read and taken seriously by U.S. "experts." As Miss Wright stated, American policy makers have been their own worst enemy in assessing and responding to Islamic Revolution and resentment toward the West and U.S. intervention.

The beginning chapters of this book effectively argued that the Iranian Revolution and Islamic rebellions thereafter were actual revolutions rivaled the major revolutions in Modern European History such as the French Revolution and the Bolshevik/Communist Revolution. The attitude of U.S. policy makers that events in Iran beginning in 1979 and Islamic resistence to the West and the U.S. after 1979 were sporadic events that were not to be taken too seriously have continued to prove how wrong policy makers have been. Robin Wright was clear that the Islamic revolution(s)were/are serious political events that should have been carefully evaluated with an intelligent response. The U.S. attitude was to use threats of military force and violence which only galvanized Islamic resistence. For example, Islamic militants see their revolution as a religious as well as a political cause. The religous aspect cannot be underestimated. Many of the Islamic militants welcome U.S. military intervention for two reasons. These militants see U.S. military personel as more targets, and the Islamic militants see themselves as martyrs who see confrontation with the U.S. and Israel as a race to meet God. U.S. policy makers seem to have completely misunderstood this motivation.

Readers may ask why militant Islam has been popular in Western Asia and the Middle East. While many of the rulers pose as devout Muslims, they are seen by actual devout Muslims as hypocrties and collaborators with the West. Massive Western foreign aid, especially from the U.S., has been often viewed as political and economic intervention which has led to corruption and a distortion of Islam. When the plutocratic rich live in lavish estates with extravgant building projects which are closed to the multitude of the poor, resentment is created. Many poor Muslims view such economic and political intervention as an insult to Islam and an effort to keep poor Muslims "in their place." As Robin stated, militant Islam has given poor Muslims a sense of self respect and avenue of turning on what these poor people see as their oppressors.

Some examples of the disparity between the rich and poor in Islamic countries occured in North Africa. When the authorities arbitralily raised food prices to further ecnomically deprive the poor, many of the North African Islamic militants had fertile ground for recruits and rebellion. The resentment was further enhanced when the very wealthy in North Africa continued to live lavish life styles while the poor were made poorer.

Many U.S. policy makers and poltical ignoramuses completely miscalculated the Iranian Revoluion in 1979. The mistaken notion that this was a political fluke has been refuted by subsequent history. Threats of war and violent intervention were welcomed by Iranian militants who were not the least intimidated and were/are not afraid of death which they welcome as martydom.

Yet, the Iranian Revolution struck at the "grass roots" level in other Islamic areas. Robin Wright cited events in South Lebanon which Israeli forces cleared South Lebanon of PLO guerrillas. The South Lebanonese initially welcomed the Israelis. However, when Israeli authorities forced these people off their land and started building Israeli settlements, the South Lebanonese joined militants to repel the Israeli invaders. Suicide bombers and guerrilla war forced the Israelis to retreat from South Lebanon. Israeli losses were too high, and Israeli Iron Fist raids only made more recruits and martyrs. In 1985, the late Israeli Prime Minister remarked that if the Israelis replace PLO resistence with Shi'ite suicide bombers, the Israelis made a major error in fighting their enemies (p. 233). As Robin Wright made clear, the Israelis faced a "Peoples' War" for the first time, and the Israelis lost.

Events in Lebanon and other Islamic areas are often blamed in the Iranians. This is exaggerated. Again, the rebellions and militant Islam are actual grass roots revoltion, and the non-Iranian Islamic militants only draw inspiration and example from the Iranians. The Islamic resistance in non-Iranian areas are local and not clearly defined. This has presented problems for Western and U.S. intelligence personel since there is difficulty in making an organizational chart or naming those responsible.

Events since 1979 have proven that tough talk and threats have no effect. For example,in 1985 the late Pres. Reagan had to rely on Iranian authorities to get airplane hostages released and earned the nickname Jimmy Reagan (Jimmy Carter). Some U.S. political ignoramuses have tried to use Cold War rhetoric to try to define Militant Islam. Foolish statements have been made that somehow the "Gremlins in the Kremlin" and militant Islam were politically connected. The Iranian Islamic leaders and other Islamic rulers have literally purged communists and have openly denounced Big Communism. The Afghan Islamic militants expelled the Soviets from their land by 1988. The association of militant Islam with Big Communism is a non sequitor.

Events in the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st. century have proven that intelligence and careful consideration are non-existent. The so-called "experts" still exhibit ignorance. For example, the recent former Pres. Bush and his advisors were told of serious differences between Sunnis and Shia. Bush & co.'s response was that they thought that Shia and Sunnis were unheard of and that Bush & co. actually did not know that Shia and Sunnis are two factions of Islam. Yet, these "experts" claim they know so much. As an aside, this is something the undersigned knew when he was in 6th. grade. The only intelligent response re the Iranian Revolution as made by Mr. Conservative at the time-Sen. Barry Goldwater. He openly admitted that U.S. policy re the Iranian Shah was bad and amends should be made. No one ever interviewed Barry Goldwater again.

This review is NOT an apology for Militant Islam. The review is an attempt to show some understanding of a good book that carefully indicates blunders and possible intelligent solutions. U.S. intervention has been a disaster. During the Russian Civil War between the Whites and Reds(1918-1922), a U.S. journalist asked a White commander why he was so angry with U.S. intervention when the Bolsheviks were a bunch of so-and-so's. The White commander said he knew what a bunch of so-and so's the Bolshevik Communists were, but, "They are least our so-and so's." During U.S. intervention in Haiti in the 1920s, a journalist asked a Haitian why he hated the U.S. His response was the U.S. "...will not let us make our own mistakes." Robin Wright's book echos these problems and suggests that intelligence and calm resolve are better concepts than arrogant stupidity and repeated failed policies.

James E. Egolf
October 21, 2009

I just started reading it, but it seems to contain much information on the subject. It is slow reading for me because she gives so many facts that you have to assimilate quickly in order to continue. The reason I bought this is because this culture is so very different than mine, I want to understand why these people think and do the things they do. I would recommend this book.

A well written book, full of information! Another must read for anyone serious about understanding terrorism.

The reason why I am writing this review is that this book brings to us what we could never understand unless we lived in the middle east for years. Years since there is in fact a division amongst the people concerning their sentiments towards Americans. This book brings that to light, and gives the reasons.
The fact that many hate Americans comes as no shock, but the many who have rage against Americans and their personal reasons is quite frightening. I have lived between Israel and the Arab nations for many years, this book does in fact relate the real life of these peoples.
I want to recommend a very good book that helps us understand more, why this select group attacked, what will be their next motivation, and even predicted the attack, SB 1 or God by Karl Mark Maddox

This book was just all over the place. You either have to have a terrific attention span or have read dozens of books in regards to Islamic fundamentalism.

I would recommend "Journey of the Jihad" instead.