Why have Arab armies performed so poorly? Whether fighting Israelis in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, Iranians in the 1980s, American coalitions in two Gulf Wars or being clobbered by the army of Chad in 1987, Arab forces have generally failed to achieve their military objectives. Kenneth Pollack, a respected veteran observer of Middle East political and military affairs, attempts to identify the underlying reasons in his compendious Armies of the Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness . The result is an informative, if somewhat flawed, book.
Pollack focuses on politico-cultural factors as the greatest determinant of Arab military failures. He makes a strong historical case for Arab weakness on the battlefields of the past century.
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