Parables of Permanent War

Kurt Jacobsen is research associate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Sayeed Hasan Khan is a journalist, activist, and co-author of No Clean Hands.

• IntroductionPart 1: America: Inside & Out 1. Prologue to a Parable 2. The Blessings-of-Civilization Trust Vs. Bin-Laden 3. A Fairy Tale of the Clash of Civilizations4. The Vietnam Syndrome as Myth5. A Parable about Realpolitik6. A Parable about Anti-Americanism7. Realist Tall Tales8. Electoral Democracy as Electronic Fable9. Loaded Dice: A Fairy Tale of New Orleans 10. Dubya’s Fellow Travelers11. Green Zone Follies12. Misunderestimating George W. Bush13. Cleaning Up After the Great Bush Bash14. What’s the Matter with America? Part 2: Britain: Inside & Out 15. A Parable from the British Streets 16. The Hutton Report versus Planet Earth 17. Walter Mitty meets Realpolitik 18. The London Bombs 19. Experiencing Islam, British Style20. What Happened to Gordon Brown? 21. An IRA FantasyPart 3: South Asia in The Middle of a Muddle22. Backgrounders: Pakistan and India since Partition 23. A Mohajir’s Tale24. The Myth of Shining India25. No Fairy Tales for Pakistan26. Housing the Poor without a Magic Wand27. Supreme Court Tales: Rough Justice in Pakistan 28. Replaying the Partition Game29. Swat is Burning 30. Pakistan’s Pathetic Political Culture 31. On Pakistan Bashing 32. Who’s Afraid of the ISI?Part 4: The Middle East Inside Out33. Sifting Fairy Tales in Iraq 34. A Tale of The ‘Israel Lobby’35. Gullibility Fatigue? 36. The Israeli Fairy Tale Factory37. A New Fairy Tale of Afghanistan38. A Yellowcake Parable 39. A Meditation on Haditha 40. Clueless in Gaza 41. Saddam’s Revenge 42. America’s Iranian Mirage Part 5: Spell-Breakers43. Fairy Tales of Terror and Liberalism 44. Greene’s Parable of The Quiet American45. At the Heretics Ball 46. Spooks, Hacks and Scholars 47. Hearts and Minds Fantasies 48. Zinn Breaks the Spell 49. Pacification Woes 50. Why the West should Withdraw from Afghanistan 51. Anthropology Meets Counterinsurgency52. Paintballing Politics 53. Obama’s Bubble54. Wikileaks and Elites55. Osama Down So Why is The US not Out?Conclusion: Milgram’s Moral BibliographyAbout the Authors

The authors cast sharp eyes on the unfolding folly of Bush's and Blair's cynical and counter-productive responses to 9/11. Jacobsen and Khan offer a terrifically enjoyable chronicle that delves into all the tough issues roused by yet another costly war of aggression.