Reviewed by: LT Youssef H. Aboul-Enein, USN
Mid-East/North Africa FAO
Serenade of Suffering: A Portrait of Middle-East Terrorism 1968-1993 by Richard J. Chasdi.
Lexington Books. Lanham, Maryland. 267 pages, 1999.
Wayne State University academic Richard Chasdi first book is a scholarly look into a quarter century
of terrorism in the Middle-East. As FAOs, one of our pivotal missions is to contribute to field commanders
and extra edge in force protection matters. This book will help in classifying different types of terrorism
and discuss the evolution of many terrorist groups in the region. The author offers a balanced description of
Islamic militant, Palestinian radical and Jewish extremist groups, comparing and contrasting between them.
The vocabulary describing terrorist organizations as theocentric, enthnocentric and ideo-centric will
aid FAOs in articulating the types of groups operating in an area. The second chapter is a study in what
stimulates action in terrorist organizations. Some stimulants are more direct and include examples such as
the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Others are key dates, commemorations that Palestinian, Jewish
and Shiite radicals take advantage of in order to make a political statement. Chapter four contains one of
the better historical discussions and outlines of each terrorist group. It starts with a description of
Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen (The Islamic Brotherhood), founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna
as a sociopolitical party in Egypt. This organization is the blueprint for many Islamic groups throughout
the region. Hamas is the offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian Occupied
Territories. The author also discusses the key founders of these organizations. If you read only one chapter
in the book, Chapter Four will be worth your while.
Within the Palestinian movement the author peels back the different factions many who espouse
different views on how to gain Palestinian independence. The Syrian-backed Al-Saiqa
(Thunderbolt), the Iraqi-sponsored Arab Liberation Front (ALF) demonstrates how regimes wish to
manipulate the Palestinian cause to enhance their regional influence in the Arab World. The book ends
with counter-terrorism tips from a long and short-term perspective. Middle-East FAOs will benefit from
reading this slim volume.
Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin by Akbar S. Ahmed. Routledge Press,
London, United Kingdom. 258 pages, 1997.
Before I begin this review, I wanted to thank my fellow FAOs for their e-mail of support. Knowing
that I am an American of Arab Origin, several of you sent e-mails of concern after the events of September
11th. Many of you I had not met personally, but you took the time to ask about my family and
I. Such acts my fellow FAOs is one of the moving aspects of this War on Terrorism. In Navy parlance,
"Thanks shipmates and let's go out there and make our contribution against this new enemy!"
Pakistan has played both a negative and positive role in the war on terrorism. The Negative
contribution includes the Taliban's creation during the Benazir Bhutto regime Taliban were nurtured by
elements of the Pakistan Inter-service Intelligence (ISI) Agency. Positive in the sense that Pakistan's
current leader General Pervez Musharraf has seized the opportunity to wrestle control of Pakistan from
Islamic militants and corrupt officials that led to his personal coup of President Nawaz Shereif. To
understand Pakistan however, it's important to begin with its founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Akbar Ahmed's book looks at Jinnah from Pakistani, Indian and Western perspectives. It reveals a
highly complex figure little known in the annals of India's independence movement, which includes Nehru
and Mahatma Gandhi. Jinnah was a successful lawyer who was influenced early in life to take up the cause
of Muslim minorities in a free India with a Hindu majority. From the 1920s to his death in 1948, he would
struggle with the idea of being both an Indian and Muslim; this struggle in many ways is that of Pakistan
today. The book details how he eventually concluded that a Hindu majority in an independent India would
not protect Muslims and he would break with Gandhi and Nehru. A chapter is devoted to the negotiation
process between the last British Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten, Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah. The
settlement reached over the terms of partitioning India resulted in mismanagement and abhorrent violence.
Remnants of this violence remain today over the dispute between the two nuclear nations in regards to
Kashmir.
The author believes that Jinnah's character was assassinated and marginalized in the West. He argues
that it was a result of Lord Mountbatten's personal dislike for Jinnah and his favoritism towards Nehru. It
is ironic that both Pakistan and Israel are two nations born solely on a religious faith. During the 1947
partition of India and the independence of both nations, Jinnah struggled with the idea of secularism and
Islamic fundamentalism. Pakistani intellectuals regard Jinnah's first two speeches as his defining vision for
Pakistan. He says, "You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your
mosques or to any other place of worship you may belong to any religion, caste or creed. That has
nothing to do with the business of the State." He goes onto say, "We are starting
with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state."
How much has Jinnah influenced General Musharraf is not known, but maintaining this vision by
battling Jihadists and fighting corruption seems to resonate in the speeches and toils of Pakistan's founder.
On a personal level Jinnah's daughter chose to stay with her husband in India rather than join her father in
Pakistan, he died less than a year into the independence of Pakistan. FAOs with a specialty in this region
should take time to read about Jinnah, who Pakistanis refer to as Quaid-al-Azam, urdu for great leader.
Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe by Martin Meredith.
PublicAffairs Press, New York. 243 pages, 2002. $26.00.
As the eyes of the world focus on Afghanistan and the Middle East, there has been faint news from
Equatorial Africa regarding the elections in Zimbabwe. Saddam Hussein typically uses fear, death and
almost every tool imaginable to remain in power. Zimbabwe's dictator Robert Mugabe has taken
democratic principles combined it with socialism and added thugs to remain in power at any cost. Unlike
Saddam, the real tragedy is the Robert Mugabe is highly educated with three degrees in economics, law and
teaching. Two of his degrees are from the University of London. He also struggled to bring independence
to the former colony of Rhodesia, which split into the nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe during the rise of
African nationalism. Zimbabwe is a relatively new African nation having been granted its independence in
1980, but since then the ideals of democracy and prosperity espoused by men like Mugabe and his chief
rival the late Joshua Nkomo have been turned on its head, with greed, personal enrichment and remaining
in power being the sole objective irregardless of the welfare of the Zimbabwean people.
Martin Meredith has reported on Africa for decades and has authored several books of South Africa.
He has reported on the continent for the London Observer and Sunday Times. He writes in detail about
Mugabe's life in Ghana were he witnessed first hand revolutionaries like Kwame Nkrumah, who gained
independence for his country. Mugabe would enlist the help of sympathetic Catholic clergy and newly
independent African nations to foment a revolution in Rhodesia. Unlike many African nations who were
granted full independence, Southern Rhodesia was technically a nation in which Britain supported and
recognized the white settlers who led the nation. London wished to create a similar arrangement to South
Africa to guarantee the rights and future of white settlers. What came of this arrangement was apartheid
government although not as harsh as South Africa's, still underrepresented the black majority. What
emerged were two parties committed to rectifying this situation. They included Zimbabwe African
People's Union (ZAPU) and Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
In the sixties ZANU and ZAPU were more concerned with fighting each other than accomplishing full
independence for Zimbabwe. Mugabe returned from an African trip to face eleven years of imprisonment,
it is hear he earns his degrees and becomes an avid reader. The author delves into the intrigues of how
several nations including China supported each faction and the ultimate triumph of Mugabe over his rival
Nkomo. As independence was granted it looked like Mugabe would retain several white advisors and even
the internal security chief who jailed him, recognizing the value of the white minorities in keeping
Zimbabwe economically viable. A honeymoon period saw millions of dollars donated to this promising
young country in which Ian Smith representing the white settlers coexisted with Mugabe and the black
majority. This honeymoon would last only a year.
Troubles began when veterans of ZANU saw their economic plight not improving and even worsening
under Mugabe. It is in this climate that ZAPU saw its chance and renewed and attempted to undermine the
regime. Mugabe subdued ZAPU through violence and turned to seek retribution against those white settlers
that supported Nkomo. It is hear the socialist labels of bourgeois and racism was brought to bear and
Mugabe cronies began to enrich themselves by confiscating farms and property. The author lists amazing
feats of corruption and a land reduced to every piece of paper, government stamp or service required a
kickback. The rewards also seemed to benefit Mugabe's Shona people excluding other African minorities.
The book continues with Mugabe's irrational involvement in the Congo, placing troops in support of
the late Laurent Kabila. The motive was not political as much as gaining quick access to Congo's rich
mineral deposits. The author also details the ruining of productive farmland over the course of two
decades. "Any vote we shall have, shall have been the product of the gun," Mugabe said in
a radio broadcast in 1976. He has not disappointed those who actually noticed this speech for it underlies
his modus operandi and the current sanctions he is facing with the 2002 elections that the world has seen as
fraudulent. Africa FAOs will find this book worth their while.
2001, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve
Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org
