Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East

Rashid Khalidi begins Resurrecting Empire with a brief discussion about why he wrote the book. He describes the public speeches he gave during the process and found, believe it or not, that everyone who came to hear him agreed with what he had to say. He wonders if these people are just a marginalized group of malcontents, but he quickly brushes that notion aside. Surely he, and his audience, must be right. This type of arrogant approach sums up the rest of the book. The supreme irony here is that Khalidi is guilty of nearly everything he blames others for. At the end of his introduction, he has faith that his book will "initiate a more informed and more rational debate," but he has unfortunately produced little more than a rant that preaches to the choir. According to Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire's purpose is to shed light on how America is viewed in the Middle East. This is a worthy goal, certainly deserving of much analysis and debate. Instead of actually doing this, Khalidi presents a hodgepodge of watered-down chapters that do not do the subjects justice.The 2003 war against Iraq is primarily what inspired the book, but there is not much discussion of the war itself. Khalidi does not completely butcher the analysis of foreign policy under the Bush administration, but there is a serious misreading of the motives behind the invasion. He puts way too much emphasis on the neocon conspiracy theories without bothering to go beyond what was an oversimplified and lazy set of arguments so many others were making. Khalidi uses language like "the war party" when referring to people like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, not the type of language that inspires "informed and rational" debate. Also included in this discussion is the hypocrisy of the U.S. when it comes to democracy promotion. He accurately points out that the U.S. still gives support to the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but demonstrates a double standard when dealing with countries like Iraq and Syria. He acts as though democracy promotion for the U.S. only includes overthrowing people like Hussein, when in fact there is much more to this policy than Khalidi admits. An excellent overview of these policies can be found in a book edited by Thomas Carothers and Marina Ottaway called Uncharted Journey: Promoting Democracy in the Middle East.Khalidi presents a very selective and misleading set of arguments. Others are certainly guilty of the same thing, but Khalidi acts as if he's setting the record straight here. To take one example, he grossly misrepresents America's role in Iraq during the 60s. He makes it seem as if the U.S. were allied with Hussein and the Baath party all along. He even states that the U.S. was involved with the Baath takeover in 1968, but the footnote he provides mentions nothing about that particular coup. On top of that, no other Iraqi scholar implicates the U.S. in this coup. Khalidi is presenting what he wants his audience to believe, not what actually happened. These types of problems of selectivity run rampant through the book. The other main chapters deal with Oil and the Arab/Israeli dispute. While he makes a convincing argument in some respects, Khalidi does nothing more than tell a partisan and one-sided story.What is most disappointing here is that Khalidi should be capable of producing rational and thoughtful debate. Resurrecting Empire does not even begin to reach that threshold. He teaches at Columbia University and has impressive academic credentials, this is not the type of person that should be in the business of producing rants. The book only makes sense if one takes the view that the real goal was to merely produce a book that Khalidi knew would sell, not something that really contributed to the debate over current Middle Eastern events.

Rashid Khalidi warned in his latest book of the transformation of the United States into an empire, following in the footsteps of former Western empires whose fate was colonial failure after a bitter and failing confrontation with the colonies'natives.Published in 2004 slightly after the American liberation of Baghdad, Khalidi's book, Empire, can be divided into five main parts. The first part criticizes the American war on Iraq saying that it was uncalled for and waged by people driven by their personal interests more than their claims of defendingAmerica against the danger of terrorism. In the second part, Khalidi highlighted the failure of British and France to colonize most of the Arab world saying that behind this failure, there was popular determination to win independence.In this part, historian Khalidi committed a lot of anachronisms. He failed to put what he termed the national struggle in its greater regional and international context. Was the Palestinian revolution against the British out of national motives or was it instigated by the growing power of the axis countries that were trying to win back colonies they had lost toBritain and France in WWI?Khalidi's emotional description of what he sees as struggle for national sovereignty is perhaps the only drawback in his book. Khalidi then moves to describe the growth of relations between the United States and the Arab world ever since the 1919 post WWI Versailles Conference delegated what came to be known as the King-Crane Commission to learn about the Arab peoplesÕ whishes.The committee astoundingly founded that Arabs thought, if mandate was their only option, they would go for American mandate. The Arab perspective of America changed drastically, however, especially with the growing interest of American oil firms in the region.The anti-American Arab sentiment grew even further with America heavily interfering in favor of the Israelis in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.According to Khalidi, the United States failed to deliver all the promises that it would pressure Israel to stop its aggressive policy of settlement of Palestinian land during Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations.Khalidi also fell heavily on late Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat accusing him of sabotaging the peace process in favor of his personal interests and the interests of his corrupt entourage.

Five stars for predicting the failure of US policies that have repeatedly failed in the past. "Things are even more complicated than they seem to be"- words of one Rabbi seeking a peaceful solution to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Khalidi provides systematic historical, cultural and political background from the Palestinian perspective, a perspective and history we as citizens should know better if we are to contribute intelligently to the national debate about US policy and it's pivotal role in making peace or prolonging conflict.Well documented yet very readable, reinforced by Khalidi's personal role as a US advisor to various US "peace initiatives," his is a valuable perspective we need to understand better.

You can read this book in a single evening. You will then know more about the Middle East and the Iraq War than anybody in a position of authority in the Bush Administration, with the possible exception of Secretary of State Colin Powell, who does not seem to have much influence on what happens.At the end of the book, Professor Khalidi has this to say about the "exorbitant price" of imperial adventures in the Middle East, such as those of Britain, France and now the United States of America: "This is a price -- in lives, in treasure, and in reputation -- that we as Americans should think very carefully about, before submitting to the siren song of those who tell us that empire is easy and cheap, and that in any case the price is worth paying."