Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire

Mr Leverett gave the best analysis for the state of Syria past and present that I have read in one book. This is definitely the book to read for a balanced account of Syrian history and the future of Syria based on the history. I study Syria extensively and this book is the best and most unbiased single book to read on the subject plain and simple. Great job

Considering what has been happening with Israel and Lebanon recently, I thought that reading a book on one of the main players in the crisis, Syria, would be a good idea. I had a feeling that this was going to be a good book, but Leverett really stunned me with his knowledge and his writing. From an organizational perspective, this book is wonderfully straighforward, and it has a very clear focus. Its five chapters include one devoted to Syria's history and its place in the Middle East, the next covers the elder Asad's time in office, the following chapters deal with the younger Asad's domestic & then foreign policy aspects, with a final chapter devoted to how the U.S. should handle a country like Syria. Throughout the entire book, Leverett's approach is dispassionate and balanced. Many people take subject matter involving the Middle East and proceed to start with their conclusions and work backwards. This type of behavior is unhelpful at best, incredibly harmful at worst. Leverett on the other hand, does not appear to have any sort of axe to grind. He comes across as wanting to first provide an honest account of what makes Sryia tick as a country, and then second, how the U.S. can behave in such a way that will foster engagement between the two countries that will lead to a more productive relationship that will benefit both sides. I was largely unfamiliar with the specifics of Syria. The only prior experience I've had has been brief accounts in more general history books, and also quite a bit of recent exposure from print and broadcast sources in the past several weeks. The limited experience notwithstanding, I found this book to be very easy to follow. I feel as though I am much more prepared to discuss issues pertaining to Syria after having read this book. I was particularly impressed at the way in which Leverett really seemed to balance all the different and sometimes conflicting aspects of this case study. Handling a country like Syria is no easy task, but in the end Leverett paints an optimistic, and ultimately realistic picture. I can only hope that Leverett will write as many books on the topic as he can because the field of Middle Eastern studies needs more of this kind of work.

I found Flynt's book to be on target and fascinating material. Do yourself a favor and read this book and keep it in your library to refer back to for history in the making.

Despite somewhat dry writing and rapidly evolving events on the ground, this is a compelling book for anyone interested in the Middle East. Former U.S. State Department and C.I.A. Syria-expert Flynt Leverett covers the history, personalities and strategies of the late dictator, Hafiz Al-Asad, and his son, Bashar, Syria's current ruler. The author explains U.S. diplomatic options and traces the evolution of Syria, an impoverished rogue dictatorship long under U.S. sanctions as a state that supports terrorism. He devotes about 30% of his well-researched book to a chronology, appendix and footnotes. He provides extensive support materials to demonstrate why a country with so many internal needs has become such a devoted patron of terrorism, imbued with the purpose of destabilizing Western Democracies' policies and spoiling any regional peace efforts. Leverett also addresses the U.S. State Department's near tolerance of much of Syria's international troublemaking. While he presents clear descriptions, he offers no clear-cut answers - as if there are any - but offers possible scenarios, mostly stalemates, in this drawn-out international chess game. We recommend this book as important reading on U.S. foreign policy.

I will give this book five stars because it is perhaps the only book available in English that offers this kind of information on Syria, even though such information is widely available in Arabic texts. Leveret t provides a highly accurate description of the power circle in Syria despite the few minor mistakes. The author then cites a number of Bashar's statements and encounters to support the book's main point: that Bashar Assad has genuine intentions for change and positive overture toward the United States except that the US is not currently willing to reciprocate this kind of behavior. Leverett then examines the possibilities facing America when dealing with rogue states like Syria. According to Leverett, there are four options: sanctions, military campaigns or alternatively, Leverett suggests that the United States employs what he terms as "conditional engagement." The author dismisses sanctions saying that they proved to be inadequate if applied unilaterally without Europe's involvement. He argues that military campaigns exposed America's limited human and financial resources as the United States maintains considerable missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions of the world. Therefore, Leverett suggests that the US start building trust with Syria and provide Bashar and his young team leverage over the old guard in his presumed bid to change and modernize Syria. American-Syrian trust building can start from the successful exchange of intelligence information on Al-Qaeda and be expanded to include exchange of other favors. According to Leverett, these incentives would be the carrots as opposed to the many sticks with which America will threaten Syria in case the latter fails to comply. Consequently, and over the medium and long terms, such a policy will benefit both nations even though the author does not suggest that it will lead to the democratization of Syria. He stated, however, that trying to unseat Bashar would only bring instability and Muslim fundamentalists to power and that Bashar remains America's best bid in Syria. The hypothesis of the book is interesting, even though it has nothing new to it. This kind of containment-of-dictators policy has dominated America's foreign policy prior to 9/11 and has not proven any particular success. Furthermore, a main prophecy in the book failed the test of time since according to Leverett, a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon would lead to a Lebanese civil war. By the time this review was written, Syrian troops had been outside of Lebanon for over a month and nothing like civil strife yet appears to be coming in the Lebanese horizons. As for Israel, Leverett makes it known that Bashar's attitude to the US is independent of the procession of any Syrian-Israeli peace. Leverett quoted Bashar as saying that he was ready to "bracket" the peace process for the time being while he improves Damascus's bilateral relations with Washington. This can only be a proof that Arab dictators like Bashar are neve