For more than a century successive US and UK governments have sought to thwart nationalist, socialist and pro-democracy movements in the Middle East. Through the Cold War, the ‘War on Terror’ and the present era defined by the Islamic State, the Western powers have repeatedly manipulated the region’s most powerful actors to ensure the security of their own interests and, in doing so, have given rise to religious politics, sectarian war, bloody counter-revolutions and now one of the most brutal incarnations of Islamic extremism ever seen.
This is the utterly compelling, systematic dissection of Western interference in the Middle East. Christopher Davidson exposes the dark side of our foreign policy – dragging many disturbing facts out into the light for the first time. Most shocking for us today is his assertion that US intelligence agencies continue to regard the Islamic State, like al-Qaeda before it, as a strategic but volatile asset to be wielded against their enemies. Provocative, alarming and unrelenting, Shadow Wars demands to be read – now.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
1 Counter-revolution – A Pattern Emerges
Lessons from the past – nothing is new
Lessons from the past – the preventive counter-revolutions
Britain’s hungry empire
The threat from Arab nationalism
Trouble on the Arabian Peninsula – revolution reaches Yemen
The contagion spreads – the Sultanate of Oman
The smaller sheikhdoms – preventive measures
2 Cold War, Oil War – America Takes Over
America’s even hungrier empire
America’s global counter-revolution
America’s Middle East – special treatment for a special case
Removing the rivals – Iranian democracy
Removing the rivals – taking on the Arabs
Strengthening the status quo – the arms trade
Strengthening the status quo – military bases
Strengthening the status quo – mercenaries
3 The Road to al-Qaeda – The CIA’s Baby
Searching for an Islamic state – Britain’s caliphate
Searching for an Islamic state – Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood
Mobilizing jihad – the case of Afghanistan
Operation Cyclone – Anglo-American jihad
Foreign fighters, foreign cash
The Islamic Republic of Iran – a secret relationship
4 Allied to Jihad – Useful Idiots
The Taliban – America’s new ally
Keeping bin Laden on board
The war against Serbia – Bosnian jihad
The war against Serbia – Kosovan jihad
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – Britain’s new ally
The road to 9/11 – managing blowback
9/11 – saving Saudi Arabia
9/11 – protecting the funding networks
The fake ‘War on Terror’ – Afghanistan
The fake ‘War on Terror’ – Iraq
5 The Arab Spring – A System Threatened
A new challenge, a new hope
The road to 2011 – regimes in decay
Tunisia – the Jasmine Revolution
Egypt – the Republic of Tahrir
Yemen – revolution in Arabia
Breaking the fear barrier – a chance for cosmopolitanism
The economic storm – enter neo-liberalism
The economic storm – the rise of crony capitalism
The economic storm – the rise of Gulf capitalism
From modernizing Arabs to revolutionary Arabs
Cosmopolitan communications – from satellites to social media
6 Plan ‘A’ – Islamists Versus the Deep State
The need for counter-revolution
Egypt – back to the Brotherhood
Egypt – an uneasy alliance
Egypt – military dictatorship
Egypt – ‘Sisi mania’
Egypt – the Qatar connection
Egypt – Saudi Arabia takes on the Brotherhood
Tunisia – under pressure
Tunisia – sleepwalking to counter-revolution
Yemen – outmanoeuvring the Arab Spring
Bahrain – the forgotten revolution
7 Plan ‘B’ – A Fake Arab Spring
Containable protests
Axis against axis – faking the Arab Spring
Libya – Gaddafi’s strange regime
Libya – flirting with neo-liberalism
Libya – not so supplicant
Libya – the uprising
Libya – subverting the National Transitional Council
Libya – NATO takes action
Libya – an international crime
Libya – the scramble for assets
Libya – a role for al-Qaeda
Libya – searching for a Sisi
Syria – parallel plans
Syria – the uprising begins
Syria – preparing for intervention
Syria – enter the proxies
Syria – arming the rebels
Syria – searching for the ‘red line’
Syria – back to the battlefield
Syria – the media war
Yemen – a painful intervention
Yemen – bringing back al-Qaeda
8 Enter the Islamic State – A Phantom Menace
Al-Qaeda’s limits
The need for ‘national jihadists’
Iraq – the incubation chamber
Iraq – the emerging Islamic State
Iraq – the proto-caliphate
The Islamic State – mysterious new leadership
The Islamic State – a persuasive ideology
Opportunities in Syria
Expansion in Iraq
The caliphate restored
The resurrection of Saddam Hussein
‘Remaining and expanding’ – services and recruitment
‘Remaining and expanding’ – masters of propaganda
9 The Islamic State – A Strategic Asset
Qui bono – to whose profit?
The manufacturing of evil – the new bogeyman
The business of evil – a history of cashing in
The business of evil – the arms industry bonanza
Surprise, surprise – the Islamic State came from nowhere
The strangest road to war
A campaign of contradictions
Explaining failure – the official line
Suspicions mount – challenging the narrative
Follow the money – the self-funding narrative
Follow the money – the Islamic State’s funders
Funders need facilitators – the role of Turkey
10 The Islamic State – A Gift That Keeps Giving
The return of the ‘War on Terror’
The Islamic State in Libya
The Islamic State in Yemen
The fight for Mali
Boko Haram – Nigeria under attack
Boko Haram – the shift to the Islamic State
Boko Haram – generous sponsors
Boko Haram – delivering results
Beyond Panetta – other pledges to the Islamic State
Russia and China – superpower implications
Epilogue – Keeping the Wheel Turning
Getting business back to usual
The exploitation of Egypt
Wild card number one – opening up Iran
A new Iran, a new sectarian war
Wild card number two – American oil
A new Saudi Arabia, a new chapter
Notes
Index
About the Author :
Christopher Davidson is a Reader in Middle East Politics at Durham University.
Review :
‘This is an outstanding book, bracing in its understanding of the rapacious forces that set upon the Middle East and meticulous in weaving the historical threads that explain why.’
‘The best and most informative book yet on the struggle for power among the US and Europe, Arab autocratic regimes, and these countries’ impoverished masses.’
‘An avalanche of spies, lies, covert actions and overt aggression – Davidson shows how many of the West’s troubles in the Middle East have emerged from its relentless search for resources.’
‘A thought-provoking and original take on the present catastrophic realities in the Middle East. This is a timely research into the causes of the failure of the Arab Spring. It deems the defeat of the ‘Spring’ as a counter revolution prompted by external interventions. The book is a tour de force that begins with the past European Revolutions and ends up with an intriguing and highly convincing analysis of the demise of the Arab Spring. No one is spared in this incisive analysis: Arab regimes, fundamentalist movements, the West and Israel are all castigated here for their responsibility for the suffering of the people of Middle East today.’
‘Plunges into America’s move to center stage and how it has sustained its ravenous postwar economy by preserving access to crude oil imports at any cost...Davidson is especially dogged at “following the money”—e.g., the rise of crony-capitalist networks in the Gulf monarchies and the financing of al-Qaeda and of the new Islamic State group…An exhaustively researched account.’
‘For its unsparing probity, Davidson’s book ought to be required reading…Who are these people? Where did they come from? What do they want? Shadow Wars makes the answers painfully, damningly clear.’
‘Mr Davidson is one of the most knowledgeable academics writing about the region.’
