Quicksand'. America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East

Quicksand'. America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East by Geoffrey Wawro New York: The Penquin Press, 2010 612 pages $37.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Quicksand is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of America's involvement with the Middle East. Wawro's academic background in military history and practical experience teaching at the Naval War College come through with force in a style that will particularly appeal to military professionals. The first third of Quicksand is especially enlightening as Wawro offers a fresh historical perspective informed by his meticulous research of military and diplomatic archives in the United States and London. This compelling narrative begins with the Balfour Declaration in 1917, and it is perceptively written from the perspective of key American and British policymakers. This is the best part of the book and will prove beneficial to scholars, students, and foreign policy practitioners alike. These first five chapters effectively chart America's deepening relationship with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt--countries that have frequently occupied center stage in American regional strategies. The author's two chapters on Israel tell the tragic story of Britain's ultimately irreconcilable promises to the Jewish and Arab communities in Palestine. Wawro casts blame directly on British and American leaders for pursuing shortsighted strategies that left the problem of Palestine "insoluble" while providing "no practical means to intervene in Palestine and keep the peace between Jews and Arabs." At the same time, Wawro does not shy away from criticizing both Jewish and Arab leaders for their unwillingness to accept compromise, their failure to advocate mutual understanding, and their complicity in violence. His chapter on Saudi Arabia identifies the centrality of oil to US regional interests and vividly illustrates America's transformation from one of relative energy autonomy to one of strategic dependence on oil production from the Gulf. Faithful to his roots as a military historian, Wawro captures the essence of Saudi Arabia's importance to American strategy by describing the Kingdom in Clausewitzian terms as "The Center of Gravity of World Oil Production." Protecting these energy resources from outside intervention has been America's strategic obsession. Wawro identifies two other key American military and economic interests in the region that derive directly from this emerging dependence: namely, the expanding network of US military bases throughout the region; and the growing economic importance of "foreign sales of American weapons" to regional clients. This insightful narrative of America's evolving strategy is laced with colorful prose from such historical figures as Lawrence of Arabia who described the harshness of the Saudi desert as "Death in life." Wawro also successfully conveys the deeply seeded emotions inhibiting a solution to Arab-Israeli tensions by quoting King Ibn Saud who in 1945 responded to British Prime Minister Churchill's plea for help in "effecting a compromise" in Palestine by saying that "I will help the Allied cause, but I cannot destroy my soul and honor as a Muslim by compromising with Zionism." For anyone seeking to understand the palpable mistrust between present-day American and Iranian leaders, Wawro's chapter "Ajax" will provide much needed historical perspective. …