My Brother, My Enemy: America and the Battle of Ideas Across the Islamic World

Reporting from insurgencies, war zones, and America's military, longtime journalist Smucker (Al Qaeda's Great Escape) analyzes the fraught relationship between the Arab world and the U.S. with an emphasis on how American foreign policy exacerbated Islamic extremism and, in particular, has radicalized young Muslims. Drawing on interviews with students, journalists, and soldiers on all sides, the author argues cogently that decades of wrongheaded American policy—propping up oppressive demagogues in the region and America's persistent failure to assertively pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace— have been instrumental in sowing anti-U. S. animus, as has been the misguided response of the Bush administration to September 11: the invasion of the already beleaguered Afghanistan, a country that had nothing to do with the attacks; the demonizing of Islam; and America "gloating" as Saddam was toppled. While Smucker allows that relations won't be warmed quickly, "stubbornly continuing to fight without attempting to see through the eyes of our brothers and our enemies is a dead end." He calls instead for foreign policy shifts to give "soft power" and diplomacy a lead role in the efforts to eventually replace war and distrust with stability and cooperation. (July)