A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East

by Kenneth M. Pollack

Book Overview

Bestselling author Pollack explains why the Middle East is so important to America's vital interests and explores the great political and social problems that plague the region and foster terrorism. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400065488
• ISBN13: 9781400065486
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 539 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A policy that weds America's interests with its ideals

On the subject of what the US should do in the Middle East, Ken Pollack has written perhaps the most ambitious and memorable book in recent years. Pollack acknowldedges the magnitude of redirecting American policy and constantly reminds his audience that it will not be easy and that it cannot happen overnight, but that it is absolutely necessary. One of his main criticisms of US policy in the Middle East to date is that we've tried to do 'too much with too little resources, time, and effort.' Pollack then sets out to identify America's interests in the Middle East and how our policy can protect those interests without selling out America's ideals. An important aspect of Pollack's discussion of America's interests in the Middle East is that he doesn't confuse them with the threats we face from the region, such as terrorism. He speaks of the concept of stability and while many of our interests are served by the preservation of stability, it does not mean stability itself is one of America's interests. On that subject, Pollack identifies oil, Israel, our Arab allies, and nonproliferation as America's interests. Pollack makes convincing arguments on each of these topics, but does so in a way that doesn't adhere to any singular ideological framework. For example, he recognizes that in the short term, the preventing the sudden loss of oil production is absolutely in America's (and the world's) interests, but that keeping the price of oil low is not. On the matter of Israel, Pollack makes a very convincing argument that while America's partnership does cause problems for the US, it's not nearly as problematic as it's commonly portrayed to be. For example, the relationship has zero impact on oil exports, it hasn't kept the US from having strong relationships with Arab governments, and there isn't much we want from Arab states that we aren't already getting that could be achieved by cutting ties to Israel. Another intersting aspect of Pollack's argument is that he credits the Bush administration's intent in the region, and that at least on paper, the ideas behind these policies should be continued, it's the execution of the policies that need adjusting. Speaking to that topic, Pollack devotes chapters at the end of his book to Iraq, Iran, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Path Out of the Desert is an accessible and compelling read. Pollack pulls no punches here....he lays out what America's long term interests in the region are, and how we can go about protecting them. He reminds his readers throughout the book that change is coming to the Middle East whether we want it to or not, and that the US can either sit back and hope that change benefits us, or we can engage the region in a more intelligent way.

A Great Book

Since everyone else has posted their favorite review of Pollack's terrific book, here is LTG Dubik's from Army Magazine. Dubik was commander of MNSTC-I in Iraq when we finally turned the Iraqi Army around and built one that could fight. Throwing Out a Challenge: A New Strategy for the Middle East By Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik U.S. Army retired ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East. Kenneth M. Pollack. Random House. 543 pages; tables; index; $30. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're looking for a one-volume answer to the questions--"What is going on in the Middle East?", "Why should we care?" and "What should we do about it?"--then this is your book. Simply put, Kenneth Pollack's A Path Out of the Desert is a must-read for any serious strategist, military practitioner, student of the Middle East or informed citizen. Pollack starts with a clear description of America's vital interests in the Middle East, then presents a set of well-documented, cogent arguments demonstrating that those interests are threatened by the anger and frustration of the people in the region--anger and frustration caused by an interlocking set of crippling societal problems. Finally, Pollack recommends a grand strategy for the United States and its allies in which they "encourage and enable the countries of the Middle East to pursue a gradual process of political, economic and social reform--one that grows from within, rather than being imposed from without; one that reflects the values, traditions, history and aspirations of the people of the region themselves, not a Western guess at them; one that recognizes that reform and stability are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing--and ultimately mutually essential." A Path is grandly written and argued, as is Pollack's vision for U.S. policy. His personal history--Persian Gulf military analyst at the CIA, director for Persian Gulf affairs in the Clinton National Security Council and now a director of research at the Brookings Institution--has come to bear in the pages of A Path. The dots connecting the twin threats facing countries in the Middle East--instability and terrorism--to American vital interests are clear in Pollack's mind: "Global economic dependence on oil has risen to the point where the United States and its trading partners simply cannot tolerate the kind of instability for which the Middle East has become famous. A major calamity there could bring down the entire international economic order." Oil, Pollack goes on to remind us, is the lifeblood of modern civilization. China, Japan, Northeast Asia, Europe, the Americas--all have interests in the production, distribution and pricing of oil. Pollack deals with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. Clear, sober and complete might best describe the framework for this

Excellent Presentation of Grand Strategy

In this book, the author presents his grand strategy for U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The bottom line is that the author considers the uninterrupted flow of oil from the Middle East as THE vital interest of the U.S. in that region of the world, and that all actions of the U.S. must revolve around protecting this vital interest. Foremost in his argument is that in order to protect the flow of oil from the region, we must prevent upheavals such as civil wars, Salifist activities - to include terrorism within the region, and violent government overthrows that could ultimately spread to regional conflicts and disruption of oil flow from occurring. Further, he states that to achieve this end, we must help in the reform of the region's governments, educational systems, and economies, among other things, in order to reduce civil unrest and ultimately lead to a more stable region. Overall, I thought his arguments and ideas were easily understood, well thought out, and supported with facts and data when necessary. Obviously, the amount of resources required to implement such a strategy would require greater thought and more detailed analysis (military forces and money required) based on the specific actions taken to implement this strategy - but as an overarching "doctrine" I think that the author presents an outstanding framework. I was especially intrigued by the author's last chapter dealing with the future impact that China could play in the Middle East, and the potential difficulties and opportunities that this presents. I also thought that his arguments pointed to the urgency of becoming less dependent on foreign oil - which would provide the U.S. more "breathing space" and options when dealing with the governments of the region. Finally, his detailed ideas for specific actions for the U.S. to pursue with each country within the Middle East are excellent starting points for future discussion and plans. Overall I think that this is a must read and I highly recommend.

"Tar Baby": America in the Middle East

Take the case of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: just about every college freshman has heard of him, most have an opinion of his work, a few have read (or attempted to read) his books and a very small number have an informed opinion, derived from careful study and consideration of his thoughts in context. Analogously to Nietzsche, most everyone, well at least political blog readers, media pundits and avid conspiracy theorists, have heard of Kenneth Michael Pollack. Also analogous to Nietzsche, most have an opinion, but, at least based on my impressions of the majority of internet postings, few have actually read and attempted to understand his thinking. Such is the case with Pollack's latest book, "A Path Out of the Desert: a Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East". By way of introduction, Pollack, a former CIA Middle East Iran specialist, analyst and National Security Council member in the Clinton Administration, who is now Director of Middle East Research at Brookings, was launched into media attention with the publication of, "The Threatening Storm: the Case for Invading Iraq". That book presented detailed arguments which addressed the problems presented by the Saddam Hussein regime. After careful consideration of the various alternatives, Pollack favored invading Iraq, as this option, which appeared to be the best of those available at the time when considering the level of evidence, presented the most expedient and reasonable method for dealing with the geostrategic problems posed by Saddam's government. Note that nearly one third of "Storm" detailed the likely consequences of military action and gave recommendations for managing the aftermath, namely, the efforts required to stabilize and rebuild the country after the war. While the administration of George W. Bush chose the military option (an action some attributed to Pollack's highly influential book), it ignored his "grand strategy" for rebuilding the country. The debacle Pollack predicted resulted, along with the expected barrage of public outrage. As a result of Bush Administration actions, now unfairly associated with Pollack, he was promptly tarred with the "neoconservative" epithet by Bush detractors as well as a myriad of anti-war activists. Pollack's commentaries on CNN and elsewhere confirmed his position as an authority on the Iraq War, but simultaneously solidified the public perception of him as a "war supporter". Once that polarizing linkage was established, few troubled to read his subsequent work ("Persian Puzzle" and now, "Path"), but strident opinions on his books abound. Worse for Pollack, his area of interest, the Middle East, is like the proverbial "tar baby": once touched, you're sort of stuck to it. Of course, the main attraction to the area from a strategic perspective is oil. Despite the fact that the greatest wealth transfer in history is now in progress (presently amounting to around $475 billion/year from oil consuming nations to oil p

The Economist's Review

Here is The Economist's Review of Path Out of the Desert. The Economist Books and Arts America and the Middle East How they got in, how to get out Jul 24th 2008 From The Economist print edition Foresight and hindsight in the world's bad places A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East By Kenneth M. Pollack Random House; 539 pages; $30 A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East By Lawrence Freedman PublicAffairs; 624 pages; $29.95. Weidenfeld & Nicolson; £20 HOW did America get into its current mess in the Middle East? And how can it get out again? Kenneth Pollack's book is all about the second question but he starts by making a confession relevant to the first. He was a champion of the invasion of Iraq. In 2002, in an influential book entitled "The Threatening Storm", he argued the strategic and moral case for removing Saddam Hussein. Mr Pollack admits now that the intervention a year later was a fiasco, and that after such a disaster the inclination of most Americans is to turn away from the region completely and focus on problems at home. But that is not his view. His latest book is a powerful argument for continued, and perhaps even greater, American involvement in the Middle East. As befits a former CIA analyst and member of the National Security Council, Mr Pollack builds his case on a hard-headed examination of America's interests in the region. Of these, the most important is oil. If a big percentage of it were suddenly to be removed from the market, the shock of higher prices could on some estimates spark a global recession akin to the Great Depression. American policy, he concludes, should therefore be designed principally to prevent "catastrophic oil disruptions". This means guarding against possibilities such as a revolution in Saudi Arabia or a massive terrorist attack on the oil-supply network. You might expect a book that starts this way to dwell mainly on how America can maintain military forces in the region. Mr Pollack, however, wants nothing less than "an integrated grand strategy" to secure American interests for the long run. Such a strategy, he admits, may take "many decades", just as it took nearly half a century for America to help Europe and East Asia repair themselves after the second world war. For this grand strategy to work, he says, America will first have to harmonise its separate policies towards Iraq, Iran and Israel. It must also transform the region's politics and economics. That is to say--let no one accuse the chastened Mr Pollack of imperial hubris--America must help along the efforts of the locals, since outsiders "cannot possibly know how to change the society of another people". But do the people of the Middle East want what America wants for them? Given the growth of political Islam, and the fact that Mr Pollack deems many Arab countries to be on the point of revolution, perhaps not. Nonetheless, a policy of continuing to prop up repressive re