Professor Brad Dillman

Department of International Political Economy
University of Puget Sound

History & Middle East Issues        Israeli-Palestinian Conflict        Algeria        Western Sahara        Iraq War

• Youssef Choueiri, ed., A Companion to the History of the Middle East (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005).  DS62 C63 2005
   
• David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (Henry Holt, 2001) (on order)
   
• Dialogue with the Islamic World, <www.qantara.de> [Portal funded by the German Foreign Office. Excellent resources, articles, and interviews about the Middle East and its adaptation to globalization.]

• Robert Fisk, The great war for civilisation : the conquest of the Middle East (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) DS62.8 F53 2005
   
• John Keay, Sowing the Wind: The Seeds of Conflict in the Middle East (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003)  DS44 K43 2003
   
• John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007)  Controversial new book by prominent political scientists (on order)
   
• The Middle East and North Africa 2007 (New York: Europa Publications) [Excellent, detailed country studies; in library reference]  DS49 .M5 
   
• Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) <http://meria.idc.ac.il> [Check their research guides, links, and current contents of periodicals on the Middle East]
   
• Cornell University’s Middle East and Islamic Studies Collection, with a wide variety of links to articles <www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast>
   
• Middle East Journal.  Leading scholarly journal. Available in Proquest.
   
• Middle Eastern Studies. Good scholarly journal that usually focuses on historical issues. Available in ProQuest and Academic Search Premier.
   
• Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion [An excellent weblog maintained by Juan Cole at the University of Michigan. Has news clippings and opinion/analysis on current Middle East issues, especially the war in Iraq. Full, daily archives available] <www.juancole.com>
   
• Speaking Truth to Power http://bostonuniversity.blogspot.com/ (Professor Augustus Richard Norton’s blog. Eclectic, critical, great archives)
   
• Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa  (4 vols) Invaluable resource. DS43 E53 2004 REF
   
• David Lesch, ed., History in Dispute, Volumes 14 and 15: The Middle East Since 1945, First and Second Series (Farmington Hills, MI: St. James Press, 2003) (Excellent arguments/counterarguments about MENA conflicts and issues. In library reference  D20 .H543 2000 )
   
• MEMRI (Middle East Research Institute) <www.memri.org> (Many fascinating, timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media. Considered by some to highlight negative news about Arabs)
   
• Daniel Pipes. <www.danielpipes.org/>"At Middle East Forum, he is publisher of Middle East Quarterly, which he says, 'seeks out voices excluded from the scholarly debate, voices more aligned with the pro-American views of mainstream Americans.' And he has initiated Campus Watch, a website and speakers' bureau that monitors Middle Eastern studies at North American universities—'a kind of Consumer Reports,' he says, 'for students, parents, alumni, and legislators' to air perceived biases and inaccuracies. This is yet another irritant to critics like Rashid Khalidi, of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, who calls the Campus Watchers 'intellectual thugs;' Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, deems the project 'cyberstalking.'"  -- from www.danielpipes.org/article/2300)
   
• National Public Radio, “The Middle East and the West” www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/the_west/ [Very nice 6-part series on relations between the Middle East and the West, from Ottoman times to 2004. Radio files, historical photos, etc.]
   
• Avalon Project, Yale Law School. A comprehensive database of primary documents about the Middle East since 1916 <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/mideast.htm>

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT 

• Foundation for Middle East Peace <www.fmep.org> (Monthly reports and copious maps and data sets)
   
• The Land of the settlers: a journal log/written and directed by Haim Yavin (5-part documentary broadcast on Israeli TV, with extensive interviews of Israelis and Palestinians on the West Bank) in DVD section, DS110 W47 E5413 2005
   
• International Crisis Group <www.icg.org> (A highly-respected non-governmental organization. Check their Arab-Israeli reports section)

• BitterLemons [Internet forum on the MENA run by Yossi Alpher and Ghassan Khatib] <www.bitterlemonsinternational.org/previous.php> (Moderate)
   
• Journal of Palestine Studies  (in JSTOR 1971- ; Academic Search Premier 2000-)
   
• Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel <www.vtjp.org/> (Activist, pro-Palestinian)
   
• Ha’aretz <www.haaretzdaily.com/> (Leading Israeli newspaper, English version)
   
• http://www.ynetnews.com/  (Leading mass-circulation Israeli newspaper  Yedioth Ahronoth)

President Bill Clinton presides over the historic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993. The two had just signed the Oslo Accords, giving the Palestinians limited autonomy in certain parts of the occupied territories. (AP Photos/Ron Edmonds) (CQ Researcher/Middle East Conflict, 4/6/01)

• Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs < www.mfa.gov.il>
   

• B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights <www.btselem.org/English/list_of_Topics.asp>
   

• MEMRI, Palestinian Authority [Translations of speeches, reports by and about the PA] <www.memri.org/palestinian.html>
   

• Philip Weiss. Critical perspective on Israel and American policy toward the Middle East. http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/
   

• Martin Kramer. Influential, pro-Israeli blog. <www.martinkramer.org/index.html>

ALGERIA

• Algeria’s Bloody Years    Documentary.  Entire transcript at <www.journeyman.tv/?lid=17374>
   
• Algeria-Watch  <www.algeria-watch.org/index_en.htm> [This is THE best website on Algerian politics and human rights]
   
• Algeria Newspaper and news Media Guide <www.abyznewslinks.com/alger.htm> [Links to all Algerian papers, a few to English language sources]
   
• World City News <http://news.surfwax.com/worldcities/files/Algiers_Algeria.html> [Current Algeria news stories from a wide variety of sources, in chronological order, all in English]
   
• Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah (New York: Enigma, 2002) [“A French court in 2001 found the 83-year-old retired army general guilty… of condoning war crimes for his defense of executions and torture by French forces during Algeria's war of independence. Paul Aussaresses, who led intelligence operations during some of the bloodiest years of the 1954-1962 conflict, landed in court after publishing tell-all memoirs in which he acknowledged summary killings and other abuses…He has continued to defend his actions, saying he was only carrying out orders to protect French lives, and has drawn parallels with the U.S-led campaign in Afghanistan and the hunt for Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden. ``I would do it again today if it were against bin Laden,'' he said after the September 11 attacks on the United States.” Quote: “Torture is extremely efficient. In the majority of cases people crack and talk. Afterwards, most of the time, we'd finish them off. Did that pose a problem for my conscience? I have to say it did not.”]
   
• The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontevorco (1965) –  DT295 B3 1965 - Videotape/Circ Desk

 

• MINURSO <www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/minurso/> [Official site of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara]
   

• Western Sahara Online <www.wsahara.net/> [Pro-Polisario]
   

• <www.vastsahara.org/> [Check out their news section and photos from the 2005 intifada in the Western Sahara. Also, video clips from a seminar in Stockholm on natural resources in Western Sahara's conflict.]
   

• SaharanMarathon. <www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/sahara/index.html> [PBS’ website on a Wide Angle Film. Some good resources at this site, including an interview with James Baker]
   

• Association for a Free and Fair Referendum in the Western Sahara<www.arso.org/index.htm>
   

• One Hump or Two? A blog by Washington, DC college student “Will.” Good! http://onehumportwo.blogspot.com

IRAQ AND THE IRAQ WAR

On-line journals and resources 

• Satellite photos of Iraq <http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/> [From NASA, searchable. Type in keyword Iraq. I find the photos mesmerizing, even haunting. ]
   

• Global Policy Forum, Iraq <http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/irqindx.htm> [Very useful, large collection of full-text articles on Iraq from a wide variety of sources. Mostly critical of the Iraqi war.]  

• Movie: Valley of the Wolves: Iraq. [2006 feature film. Biggest budget Turkish film ever made! A devastating Turkish portrait of America in Iraq. Prescient. Alarming. Not released theatrically in the U.S. Billy Zane and Gary Busey are in it. They may never work in Hollywood again after this! I have a copy which is dubbed in English.]
   

• 4^th25’s Live from Iraq album. [Pronounced  “fourth quarter.” 2005 hip-hop album recorded in Iraq by American soldiers. Two-minute truncated clips of songs available at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/4th25.  Shocking full lyrics at: http://www.lyricstime.com/4th25-lyrics.html . “This album is dope and really tells a story about war you never hear in the media or from the mouths of the administration. These guys are the hardest American rappers ever. They make Tupac (RIP) sound like Tweety Bird.”
   

• **Nikki Schwab, Blogs Chronicle War from Soldiers' Perspectives (Washington Post)
  Thursday, May 3, 2007 [Great set of links to American “milblogs”].
   

• **Iraq Documentaries and Videos      http://www.911docs.net/iraq [Site with links to a lot of visual media on Iraq, including long documentaries and clips they claims are in the public domain and from Google Video, YouTube and Dailymotion. My favorite is “Soundtrack to War.” Beware: I think they are violating many copyrights!]

• 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography (Awarded to the Associated Press for Iraq photos) <www.pulitzer.org/year/2005/breaking-news-photography/works/> [A sample of disturbing, but poignant, images from Iraq
   

• U.S. Department of Defense news on Iraqi Reconstruction <http://www.defendamerica.mil/> [Everything official on Iraq from Uncle Sam.]

• The National Security Archive, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html#mesa   AND www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html#911 [A treasure trove of declassified documents, many acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. Provide insights on US security policy in the 20^th Century and relations with the Middle East and Iraq. See also: The Saddam Hussein Sourcebook: Declassified Secrets from the US-Iraqi Relationship <http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/special/iraq/index.htm>]

• Pulitzer Prizes http://www.pulitzer.org/ [See especially archives of winners under full text search Iraq: feature photography, feature writing, and breaking news photography. The photos and stories are very moving.]
   

• The Struggle in Iraq <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2002/conflict_with_iraq/default.stm> [In-depth current coverage, from the BBC. Current news, video, photos, radio broadcasts, analyses, and features all focused on Iraq. Great background material.]
   

• MERIP <www.merip.org> [Often critical of US foreign policy, Arab dictators, and Israel. An influential MENA journal that leans to the left. New print copy in the library periodicals; full archives from 1986-2003 in JSTOR database. Their recent issue on Iraq/Afghanistan is “Dispatches from the War Zones”  MER 239—Summer 2006].
   

• Middle East Policy. www.mepc.org [Highly respected academic journal. Very good coverage of Iraq policy debate in official circles.]
   

• Washington Report on Middle East Affairs <www.wrmea.com> (Very critical of Israel and US foreign policy on Iraq. Sympathetic to Arabs. Extensive archives. )

• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, www.rferl.org [Check their regular, archived reports on Iran and Iraq www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/country/iraq.html (great reviews each week of local media). See also <www.rferl.org/specials/iraqcrisis> for great archives and up-to-date articles. Better than you would expect.]

Books

• Chandrasekaran, Rajiv. Title Imperial life in the emerald city: Inside Iraq's green zone / Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Publisher New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007, c2006.  (on order)

[From Publishers Weekly
“As the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post, Chandrasekaran has probably spent more time in U.S.-occupied Iraq than any other American journalist, and his intimate perspective permeates this history of the Coalition Provisional Authority headquartered in the Green Zone around Saddam Hussein's former palace. He presents the tenure of presidential viceroy L. Paul Bremer between May 2003 and June 2004 as an all-too-avoidable disaster, in which an occupational administration selected primarily for its loyalty to the Bush administration routinely ignored the reality of local conditions until, as one ex-staffer puts it, "everything blew up in our faces."]

• Thomas Cushman, ed., A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). [Liberal-humanitarian scholars and writers explain why they believe the invasion of Iraq was justified and moral]  DS79.76 .M38 2005
   

• Iraq in Fragments: The Occupation and Its Legacy, by Eric Herring and Glen Rangwala. Cornell University Press, 2006. 354 pages. $18.45. [Reviewed at http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol14/0703_record.asp]  (on order)

• Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq , by Ahmed S. Hashim. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006. 482 pages. $29.95 hardcover, $14.95 paperback.  DS79.76 H3758 2006
  [“Ahmed S. Hashim’s Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Iraq is the best book published to date on the Iraqi insurgency’s “origins, motivations, and evolution and the U.S. policy and strategic and operational responses to it.” Completed in November 2005 and released in March 2006, the book presciently anticipated the subsequent sharp escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq that threatens to saddle the United States with its greatest foreign-policy disaster since the Vietnam War.”   
   

• Janet Wallach, Desert Queen (New York: Doubleday, 1996). [Life of a famous British civil servant who helped shape the borders of Iraq after WW I. Her diaries, letters to parents, and thousands of photos are available at: http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/]  (on order)

Blogs

• Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion www.juancole.com

 [An excellent weblog maintained by Juan Cole at the University of Michigan. Probably the most influential blog on Iraq by an American academic. Has news clippings and opinion/analysis on the war in Iraq. Full, daily archives available]

• Dahr Jamail. http://dahrjamailiraq.com/index.php [Fashions himself as providing “independent, unfiltered, on the ground journalism’ about Iraq. Run a blog. Something of a darling of the U.S. anti-war movement. In my opinion, has serious credibility problems- shows the strengths and dangers of “citizen journalists.”

• Global Voices Online. http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/middle-east-north-africa/iraq/

• Commentary on Iraq <www.agenceglobal.com/list.asp?type=3&Id=1> [Agence Global (AG) is a syndication agency. The magazines and authors are leaders in their fields or areas of expertise, and offer points of view that are often at variance with the mainstream of U.S. and international media.]

Interesting articles

• ***Kureishi, Hanif. “Weddings and Beheadings.” Prospect Magazine (December 2006). [900 words. A must read! That’s all I can say. http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7916

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