Conversations With Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire

In this work, perhaps more properly titled Conversations with purported terrorists, as it clearly aims to problematize the simplistic understandings of terrorism and just who exactly is and is not a terrorist that dominate contemporary mainstream discourse in the United States, journalist Erlich reports on, and places in historical context, the views of six figures relevant to discussions of terrorism in the Middle East. These individuals are: Khaled Meshal of Hamas in Palestine; Geula Cohen, formerly of Lehi (also know as the Stern Gang), a Zionist organization condemned as terrorists by the British government for assassinations and other acts prior to the establishment of Israel, and later a prominent figure in the Israeli right-wing settler movement; Bashar al-Assad, the Ba`athist president of Syria; Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fadlallah of Lebanon, often (if mistakenly) referred to as the "spiritual leader of Hezbollah;" Mohsen Sazegara, a founder of Iran's Revolutionary Guard who later became a supporter of the movement backing candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's challenge to the official results of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections; and Mohammad Nizami, former head of Afghanistan TV and Radio under the Taliban. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)