Saturday, March 26, 2016

Daniel Byman on Hizbullah: what has happened to Georgetown University (and to Brookings)?

This guy who never studied the Middle East is director of Middle East policy at Brookings.  Remember when Brookings used to house liberal Middle East experts (like William Quandt).  This guy authored a book I nominated as one of the worst books ever on the Middle East in the last decade or two (his A Hight Prince: the Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrosim".  He testified recently before Congress on Hizbullah. This sums up his wisdom:  "Finally, the United States should work with Israel to ensure its deterrence of Hizbollah".  This now passes as Middle East expertise in Washington.  Back in the 1970s, the Middle East experts at Brookings defied Washington conventional wisdom and published a book on Palestinian nationalism which rejected the paradigm of terrorism.  And now this guy teaches at the foreign service school at Georgetown.