Book: Resurrecting Empire Western Footprints and America‘s Perilous Path in Middle East
Reviewed by: Fakiha Hassan Rizvi
Publishers: I.B Tauris
About the Author:
Rashid Ismail Khalidi is an American historian of the Middle East, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, and director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Rashid Khalidi in his impressive account backed with substantial facts explores the perilous path taken by the Bush administration into Iraq. He aptly explains the misuse of rhetorical devices such as ‘democratization’ for legitimizing U.S footprints in the Middle East and Iraq, in particular. Khalidi argues that the Iraq war was fought without learning about the history and culture Arabs. This, at the first place made it an ignorant attempt. He unveils the chequered record of Middle East – U.S ties that worsened with the United States’ acceptance of Israel as a country, America’s retention of colonial bases in order to counter Russia and the incentive of self-determination on the condition of vested regional interests. Rashidi finds it interesting that how neocons surrounding Bush suddenly felt concerned about democracy in Iraq as they never expressed the slightest inclination towards the democratic cause in the region during the past years.
In a nutshell, Rashid Khalidi shares a persuasive set of arguments marking the ‘Iraq War’ of 2003 as the worst failure of the US foreign policy.
Fakiha Hassan Rizvi 