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The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Baer
Publisher: Crown
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  23 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0307408647
Dewey Decimal Number: 955.054
EAN: 9780307408648
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Over the past thirty years, while the United States has turned either a blind or dismissive eye, Iran has emerged as a nation every bit as capable of altering America’s destiny as traditional superpowers Russia and China. Indeed, one of this book’s central arguments is that, in some ways, Iran’s grip on America’s future is even tighter.
As ex–CIA operative Robert Baer masterfully shows, Iran has maneuvered itself into the elite superpower ranks by exploiting Americans’ false perceptions of what Iran is—by letting us believe it is a country run by scowling religious fanatics, too preoccupied with theocratic jostling and terrorist agendas to strengthen its political and economic foundations.
The reality is much more frightening—and yet contained in the potential catastrophe is an implicit political response that, if we’re bold enough to adopt it, could avert disaster.
Baer’s on-the-ground sleuthing and interviews with key Middle East players—everyone from an Iranian ayatollah to the king of Bahrain to the head of Israel’s internal security—paint a picture of the centuries-old Shia nation that is starkly the opposite of the one normally drawn. For example, Iran’s hate-spouting President Ahmadinejad is by no means the true spokesman for Iranian foreign policy, nor is Iran making it the highest priority to become a nuclear player.
Even so, Baer has discovered that Iran is currently engaged in a soft takeover of the Middle East, that the proxy method of war-making and co-option it perfected with Hezbollah in Lebanon is being exported throughout the region, that Iran now controls a significant portion of Iraq, that it is extending its influence over Jordan and Egypt, that the Arab Emirates and other Gulf States are being pulled into its sphere, and that it will shortly have a firm hold on the world’s oil spigot.
By mixing anecdotes with information gleaned from clandestine sources, Baer superbly demonstrates that Iran, far from being a wild-eyed rogue state, is a rational actor—one skilled in the game of nations and so effective at thwarting perceived Western colonialism that even rival Sunnis relish fighting under its banner.
For U.S. policy makers, the choices have narrowed: either cede the world’s most important energy corridors to a nation that can match us militarily with its asymmetric capabilities (which include the use of suicide bombers)—or deal with the devil we know. We might just find that in allying with Iran, we’ll have increased not just our own security but that of all Middle East nations.The alternative—to continue goading Iran into establishing hegemony over the Muslim world—is too chilling to contemplate.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Realpolitik Persian Style January 2, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In The Crisis of Islam, renowned Middle East expert and scholar Bernard Lewis writes, "Unlike revolutionary France and Russia, revolutionary Iran lacks the means, the resources, and the skills to become a major world power and threat".
Robert Baer, not an academician but rather a former CIA operative, takes a very different view in The Devil We Know, writing, "What it comes down to is this: Iran is the most powerful and stable country in the Middle East - a country the United States must either fight in a new thirty-year war or come to terms with".
If the Neocons advising the President in the run up to the Iraq war had placed less emphasis on Lewis' theory and more on Baer's practice, the outcome of events there might have been quite different.
The portrait that Baer paints of Iran flies in the face of conventional wisdom.
He writes, for example, that "Iran is not a totalitarian state run by `Islamofascists' who believe they're in some quixotic war with the West and Western civilization. President Ahmadinejad is not intent on starting World War III; he's a figurehead no more able to take Iran to war than Joseph McCarthy was able to take America to war against Communism. Iran's real leaders are rational, pragmatic, and calculating".
The Iranian goals are those of an imperial superpower. They include the following:
*Dominion over surrounding countries either directly or through proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah;
*A position of dominance in energy markets through control of shipping corridors (strategic pipelines and the Straights of Hormuz) and managing the extraction of its own reserves as well as those of Iraq and other neighboring countries;
*Control of Mecca and Medina, perhaps through a joint administration with Saudi Arabia;
*Recognition, the respect due a superpower, and internal security.
Baer argues that the Iranians are well on the way to achieving these goals, and, again contrary to conventional wisdom, that they do not need nuclear weapons to do so. In fact, one of the books more interesting chapters is entitled "Lethal and Elusive: Why Iran's Weapons and Tactics Make It Unconquerable - Even Without Nukes". In it he describes the military capabilities used by Hezbollah to deliver Israel its first ever military defeat in the Lebanese conflict of 2006. Baer places great emphasis on this writing, "There's a good argument that Iran's modernization of guerilla warfare is a military development as important as the introduction of the machine gun was to World War I or the tank to World War II".
The Iran that is described in The Devil We Know is significantly more dangerous than the caricature that most Americans have espoused. Baer argues that ultimately we will be forced to settle with the mullahs since we surely won't be able to prevail against them.
Sobering, but important material...
 "Divide and Conquer" December 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a Masterful Deception book attempting to convince the readers that "Iran is coming, Iran is coming! All the horrific crimes the Bush government has done are blamed on Iran in one way or other. At the same time the Muslims are being convinced that they should get ready to flight against Iran. The Iraq's tragedy is always someone else's fault, but largely the making of elusive terrorists, whose identities and sources of funds has all come from Iran. These kinds of lies are not even told by the Washing. According to the Bush PR folks the insurgents change according to whatever Washington's political mood dictates. The insurgents, as they were called until recently, were initially remnants of and Ba'ath Party loyalists, disgruntled Sunnis, then they morphed into foreign Arab fighters, then they were depicted as al-Qaeda sympathizers, copy-cats, then al-Qaeda itself with an Iraqi leader, then Iranian agents in cahoots with rogue Shiate militants loyal to whatever character doesn't suit the interests of the US and its allies. New characters were occasionally added to the Green Zone's ever predictable play, unwanted characters were swiftly removed, and the play's language was repeatedly rewritten. This book is filled with lies, deceit, and "divide and conquer" ploys. What one would except from an Ex-CIA man?
Well Worth Considering December 21, 2008
Bob Baer's The Devil We Know is well worth the time. He essentially takes the Neo-con premise that Iran is a threat in the region and turns it around. He argues that Iran is a real regional power with a centuries-long cultural history and a far more rational player in the region than near-failed states like Pakistan. Instead of trying to confront Iran, the US, with two very expensive wars they cannot sustain, needs to find a new policy direction in the region in order to more effectively further their national interests. Iran, is not near the problem that many seem to think it is, and this is Baer's essential position.
The complete lack of footnotes in the book is a problem, but one cannot entirely dismiss Baer's arguments because of it. He clearly has substantial knowledge and experience in the region, but he is not infallible.
 The Devil We Know December 13, 2008
The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower
I read Robert Baer's previous book, "Sleeping with the Devil", so I was familiar with his style and depth of knowledge about the Middle East and then I heard him discussing this new book on NPR. His thesis is that the Iraq war is over and Iran won, may be a little over the top but his perspective on Iran's position in the Middle East is certainly credible and thought provoking. The book is well written and there's plenty of detail to support Baer's thesis. Anyone who wants a better understanding of what the United States is facing in the Persian Gulf in the coming years should read this book.
An exiled Iranian December 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As an Iranian in exile whom left Iran in my middle teens, I found this book both insightfull, and very easy to read. The author has clearly done his homework, and given an unbiased, thoughtfull and logical plan of action for U.S. and the western world to follow. I must admit being an Iranian I felt a bit proud of what Iran has done, even though I don't agree with process they had to go to achieve their goals thus far. U.S. must stop listening to AIPAC and other special interest groups and clearly define its purpose and a path to its prosperity. This book begins that process for a better future for all Americans and perhaps Iranians as well.
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