Mark Perry

Talking to Terrorists

Why America Must Engage with its Enemies

(Basic Books)

Book Review by Adam McKibbin

During the American presidential campaign of 2008, Barack Obama was ridiculed by a certain segment of conservative mouth breathers for extolling the virtues of diplomacy.  He’s gonna talk to our enemies!  This was a clear sign that he was a liberal pussy – or perhaps a militant Muslim in disguise, or maybe both.  Since taking office, Obama has, for instance, invited Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley over for a beer, but has yet to turn over your local VFW to weekly Hezbollah and Hamas bingo nights.  Yet.

In Talking to Terrorists, well-traveled foreign affairs analyst Mark Perry makes a case that would have likely been branded as treasonous in 2004 but began to gather traction even in the waning months of the Bush administration.  That case:  maybe our battles aren’t always so clear-cut.  Maybe it isn’t as simple as “with us or against us.”  Maybe there is a difference between national resistance movements and freedom-hating terrorists.  Maybe communication is a tool of defense, not surrender.  In fact, Perry could have taken the title one step further by saying “with” rather than “to.”

To find a workable example, Perry turns his attention to the al-Anbar Awakening, cited as the turning point in the war in Iraq, an opening with the insurgency following an unexpected border skirmish between Sunni fighters and al Qaeda operatives. Perry fastidiously details the events and errors leading up to this pivotal decision to send Marines to the aid of the “enemy.”  It’s a riveting read that digs into reactions from the Pentagon as well as frustrations from the field.

Perry presents a lucid case that translates easily to the layman, never getting bogged down in wonk-speak.  If anything, more experienced readers may find sections of the later chapters – which offer tight summaries of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – somewhat remedial or extraneous in nature, although they set the table for Perry’s personal experiences, which are often illuminating.  After devoting a chapter each to Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel – and debunking some of the commonly American-held myths therein – Perry builds toward a crescendo that, although intermittently losing sight of the cohesiveness of the book’s thesis, provides a more emotionally charged call to action than the superior but more procedurally oriented front section of Talking to Terrorists.