Unholy Wars
{{Infobox book
| image=UnholyWars.jpg
| author = John K. Cooley
| language = English
| publisher = Pluto Press
| pub_date = 1999
| country =UK
| pages =288
| isbn = 978-0745319179
| oclc = 656249884
| genre = International terrorism
| media_type = Paperback
}}
Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism is a book by John K. Cooley, a news correspondent. The book presents Cooley's account of United States policies and alliances from 1979 to 1989 in the Middle East, the flaws and the lacunae inherent in US handling of the affairs, and their contribution into the emergence of a form of terrorism which continues to affect several regions of the World.
Cooley has spent decades in the Middle East and the book is the result of his studies of the subject matter, and his interaction with a number of administrators, diplomats, politicians and the common people.Graham E. Fuller (2000-01-09) [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/09/reviews/000109.09fullert.html Our Own Islamic Radicals]. New York Times
Chapters
Unholy Wars is divided into eleven chapters noted below:
- Carter and Brezhnev in the Valley of Decision
- Anwar al-Sadat
- Zia al-Haq
- Deng Xiaoping
- Recruiters, Trainers, Trainees and Assorted Spooks
- Donors, Bankers and Profiteers
- Poppy Fields, Killing Fields and Drug lords
- Russia: Bitter Aftertaste and Reluctant Return
- The Contagion Spreads: Egypt and the Maghreb
- The Contagion Spreads: The Assault on America
Reception
According to Norwegian researcher Thomas Hegghammer, Unholy Wars did the most to propagate the view that the CIA trained the Afghan Arabs.{{cite book |last=Hegghammer |first=Thomas |date=2020 |title=The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FfPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=182 |isbn=978-0-521-76595-4}} Cooley described "the central role of the CIA’s Muslim mercenaries, including upwards of 2,000 Algerians, in the Afghanistan war,"{{cite book |last=Cooley |first=John K. |author-link=John K. Cooley |date=2002 |title=Unholy Wars. Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5C0R6qxjpgC&pg=PA163 |location=London |publisher=Pluto Press |edition=3rd |page=163 |isbn=0-7453-1917-3}} however journalist Peter Bergen writes that Cooley did not present any evidence for his claims.{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bergen |date=2001 |title=Holy War, Inc. Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRhZDrJb0zgC&pg=PA64 |location=New York |publisher=Free Press |pages=64, 251 |isbn=0-7432-0502-2}} According to historian Odd Arne Westad—based on information by Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin—the book "obviously originates in Soviet disinformation from the 1980s."{{cite book |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |author-link=Odd Arne Westad |editor-last=Njølstad |editor-first=Olav |editor-link=Olav Njølstad |date=2004 |title=The Last Decade of the Cold War: From Conflict Escalation to Conflict Transformation |chapter=Reagan’s Anti-Revolutionary Offensive in the Third World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcDfO5V4C_YC&pg=PA261 |location=London |publisher=Frank Cass |page=261 |isbn=0-7146-8539-9}}{{#tag:ref|Russia historian J. Arch Getty, writing in the American Historical Review, raised questions about the trustworthiness and verifiability of Mitrokhin's material about the Soviet Union, doubting whether this "self-described loner with increasingly anti-Soviet views" would have had the opportunity to "transcribe thousands of documents [and] smuggle them out of KGB premises."J. Arch Getty, review of Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield in American Historical Review 106:2, April 2001. [https://watermark.silverchair.com/106-2-684.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA28wggNrBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggNcMIIDWAIBADCCA1EGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMMjxLE2-fXBSpFbt2AgEQgIIDIsZWBA6hcZXpVRWzzZi09D9OjY7cF8KmJMu138Qpj0U-AP0qvxrj9S3QPh3ERV89s9Z4ZzWPCnk-YAGcRGKyHo7H8VNQobtgA4lxe39hQ7t4bcM9gncwPGYSVfr4B6e_mCok107-YLbTSdsa4uFWZUj42GkWj5Z52B4ee9B76mPugWRrp7wda6pnTueXRgmMPlC5mbCxtL4WcF8HX4vPF6xECFtM70zaQdSSrMxQ78GxGQTqn4RVBbN7zfhCDsc1vRnnhRmCHZRqBEA26jRJlAISRO6oHeDqwK1TBT0si330qRcRZqY59Af2i8R6yOT-QAaUaojI_NDnBFDkvyunfKyGj2LYwcEdKw7wjipp5Wpjb81MjELSabBIe7opb1mfoz3rumNcM8MOhlY_IyCLtITebfchZNtfle7exyktGcxacam2aIhi8GUBNjZfhgj6akCS5aAsPyG6TflrkW3TPWgqrWlA1UUZzAmoX5Yf1mVC2NUs6O2fPer8NIWAMr9AzF1ncUZxqxGhXitafz9gi8u3VsjfNdPshFrRd_WFEquZxtqSU6M_L2xSo8fjOzeLNZyGWqA70sEkybdzYK7VrpLCviKe7zBwLI40-UllIxRx_updPCGPMMsdhW3eVHp4syRlbrfIzzL9e1yhd0Gk-YxcS4_8m5KSWS3q3pIfFLJFwdLkLuVRadZoXU4tuWnZ-8YZBOlDVBC8HJfbfrLopFhgmB6FZgaCLxLMnIuDDNML_i_L_jaLInmHaamDOPnCZZad614Jfi14hnWg6LZ9p6_sfcr3x761-Z_BZxTV1S7EYFb0T3N0Ln_NNlnI4lkoT4HzN44rm7YxeWQHZ1-7jJeQTuNn1lqCEagQZhKzXerFLeBLUZS2toSQL073Hor3xuF0QsBMy7O9kf6-LClCAHlErBJCT_b14ycjJa36QF18P9VGGeblcJ_4H1gTOP3MQBj5FJlkGajo_m0jqonYqCexBJDs_4vnPyyHQnHpm8HVN7L5BGnSiAHulZgVzbyuVezEChFFtdpdT_b83WaL51oq8HzmaoGQcjjWIXppK7ZWy4k Online version] Former Indian counter-terrorism chief Bahukutumbi Raman also questions both the validity of the material and the conclusions drawn from them.Bahukutumbi Raman, [http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/26raman.htm The Mitrokhin mystery]. Rediff.com, September 26, 2005.|group=Note}}
See also
Notes
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References
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Category:Books about terrorism
Category:1999 non-fiction books
{{int-book-stub}}{{terrorism-book-stub}}