Iraq : Sanctions and Wars

On the banks of Tigris and Euphrates rivers famous ancient civilisations flourished. In this area, modern Iraq was created by Britain but was virtually kept in a land-locked position. Successive Iraqi rulers have staked their claims on Kuwaiti territory to be able to be free from Iranian hegemony. Soon after the 1958 revolution Qassem claimed Kuwait which led to Baghdad's isolation but was partly repaired by the Arif brothers. The Baathist regime, since 1968, revived Iraqi claims over Kuwait. The author examines the reasons why Kuwaiti rulers were so determined in rejecting Iraqi demands. The Iranian revolution and the eight year war brought Saddam Hussein none of the gains he was expecting. The author believes that just as there is a direct link between the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, the 1990-91 Kuwaiti crisis would not have erupted but for the same. Soon the UN sanctions began to slowly strangle Iraq. The author reasons that Saddam Hussein and his regime survived since 1991 due to his resourcefulness and his capacity for survival. Although many states began to normalise ties with Iraq, the US was determined to bring down Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime mainly to control the Iraqi oil. By 2003, the UN sanctions had reduced Iraq from a booming nation to a shadow of its former self. These and many other crucial issues are presented in an impassioned and penetrating analysis. This book has both historical relevance and contemporary significance.

Israel’s Nuclear Option : Behind the Scenes - Diplomacy Between Dimona and Washington

In the early 1950s, Israel secretly launched a project designed to achieve a nuclear option. Initially supported by France, this daring project stood to engineer a dramatic change in Israel’s strategic position vis-à-vis its neighboring Arab states and the wider international community. A nuclear program was driven by the firm conviction of David Ben-Gurion that Israel’s existence could be guaranteed only with the aid of such a deterrent. The ensuing nuclear defense strategy was upheld by successive Israeli governments. Adamantly opposed to America’s request to allow external supervision of its nuclear activity, Israel labored to avert a potentially disastrous rift with its one superpower ally. Israel's Nuclear Option recounts the dialogue and related diplomatic activity that took place during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and the Ben-Gurion and Eshkol premierships. The intense and often difficult discussions, which pitted Israel's security concerns against the United States’ determined goal to stem nuclear proliferation, eventually produced a set of formal and informal strategic understandings regarding Israel’s nuclear deterrence.

"Zaki Shalom recounts the US - Israel dialogue on Israel’s nuclear project, and delineates the limitations a superpower faces when trying to impose its security agenda on a regional ally. Shalom’s book is an important contribution to our understanding of the Israeli nuclear project, and the diplomacy of arms control." - Prof. Yair Evron, The School of Government and Policy, The Security Studies Program, Tel Aviv University. "In recent years much of the vaunted ‘opacity’ of Israel’s nuclear weapons status has been stripped away by scholars and critics. In this context, Zaki Shalom contributes a thorough, painstakingly documented blow-by-blow account of the diplomatic dimension of the process by which Israel, unbidden, penetrated the nuclear club. Shalom’s work is exemplary archival research, refreshingly old-fashioned in its assiduous attention to multiple primary sources, showing the strengths of a documentary focus even on such a ‘sensitive’ topic. As an established scholar of David Ben-Gurion he is particularly effective in underlining how Ben-Gurion's audacity was key to the decision to push ahead; put simply, there was nothing preordained or certain, in the 1950s and 1960s, about Israel's seemingly quixotic pursuit of nuclear capability." - Alan Dowty, Kahanoff Chair Professor of Israel Studies, University of Calgary.

My Men Are My Heroes

Follow legendary First Sergeant Brad Kasal on a courageous mission to rescue fallen comrades under intense enemy fire in the notorious Battle for Fallujah. In a riveting first-hand account, Kasal takes readers into the deadly din of war. This is warfare described by men who have known its pain before but who step forward to face it again. In face-to-face fighting, Kasal is shot seven times and uses his own body to shield a fellow marine from the blast of an enemy grenade - earning him nomination for the Medal of Honour, America's highest military award. More important to him than medals, Kasal's inspiring leadership has earned him the respectful nickname of 'Robo-Grunt' from his men, hard warriors who are not easily impressed. Readers of this compelling story will gain insights into modern warfare, an appreciation for the courage and sacrifice of Americans in uniform, and an awesome respect for the depth of their commitment to leave no one behind. In addition to tales of battlefield valour, this inspiring book includes details of Kasal's equally amazing fight to rebuild his broken body and recover his strength to resume his career in the United States Marine Corps. It is a book that is hard to put down and a story that's impossible to forget.

Middle East Strategic Balance, 2005-2006

Prepared annually by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, to provide an authoritative and indispensable guide to strategic developments and military capabilities in the Middle East. MESB offers a comprehensive insightful assessment of the complex Middle East strategic environment. Governments and the media pay close attention to the data and analysis, and the work is quoted extensively.

Political Trends in the Middle East: The Triumph of Identity Over Democracy; US Policy in the Greater Middle East: A Rendezvous with Reality?; Stepping Up the Pressure? The International Community Faces Iran; The Iraqi Quagmire; Syria: Within and Without Lebanon; Democratisation in the Palestinian Authority: Hamas Now, Peace Later; Trends in Military Procurement and Build-up; The New Israeli Agenda; An Inflated Defence Budget?; Israel, Fall 2006: A Net Assessment.

"...a 'must read' for any scholar interested in an assessment of the distribution of military power in the Middle East..." - Dr Geoffrey Kemp, Nixon Center, Washington. "...offers readers a comprehensive, insightful assessment of the complex and dynamic Middle East strategic environment..." - Ambassador Samuel Lewis.

Palestine 1948, 2nd Edition : War, Escape and the Emergence of the Palestinian Refugee Problem

Since the 1970s, the Latin Based on new or newly interpreted Israeli, British and Arab documents, this book attempts to integrate present controversies concerning the development of the Jewish-Palestinian war from December 1947 to mid-May 1948 and the consecutive Israeli-Arab war. It follows the organization of both sides at the beginning of the war and the shaping of their respective war policies. Further, it describes the creation of the invading coalition and its disintegration in the wake of the Arab armies' military failure. The book stresses mainly the processes that led Palestinian society to its collapse and mass flight and the Israeli reactions and policies that turned this temporary escape into a long-lasting refugee problem. Emphasizing the different historical and cultural perspectives of the adversaries and the context of the war's development, it criticises the approach of the Israeli 'New Historians' who tend to isolate the refugee problem from the broader issues of the war and treat it separately. Includes a glossary of Arab/Israeli wartime operations.

Introduction; The Outbreak and Expansion of Hostilities; The Palestinians' Organisation for War; The Arab League's Intervention; Shaping the Yishuv's War Policy; The Beginnings of the Palestinian's Mass-Flight; From a Civil War to Regular Warfare; Palestinian Society's Collapse; The Arab Regular Armies' Invasion of Palestine; Fighting and Flight After the Invasion; The Ten-Day Campaign and the Second Truce; The Palestinian's Decay; Diplomacy and Intrigues; Operations in the Negev; The End of the War with Lebanon and Syria; Ending the War with Lebanon and Syria; Ending the War with Egypt and Transjordan; Welcoming the Refugees in the Arab States; From Flight to Refugeeism: Blocking the Return; Index.

"Recommended for its contribution to a continuing debate over a controversial issue..." - Choice. "There have been flashier histories of Israel's war of independence, and longer ones, but none as well informed, more sensible and more compelling than Gelber's magisterial account..." - Middle East Quarterly. "Yoav Gelber's contribution to the literature on 1948 is useful for its detailed chronology of ‘Israel’s most significant and triumphal’ campaign against the Arabs... The book’s value lies in its shedding light on the loose alliances unfolding in the Middle East." - Studies in Contemporary Jewry, Oxford University Press.