From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama: America as Viewed by an Egyptian-American Who Loves Her

By Hossam Nasser

In todays troubled world, it is imperative that we develop an accurate and precise understanding of the other people who share the planet with us. How they think, why they act the way they do, and why we think they hate America, or do they?

From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is a mixture of personal experiences intertwined with political events that span over five decades. You will read a totally fresh perspective about political events along with a different assessment of those major players who helped shape them.

You will realize how conventional wisdom may be a synonym to mental complacency.

As someone who had one foot planted in the land of the Pharaohs and the other deeply rooted into the land of opportunity, I am going to tell you my side of the story.

I will share with you the perspective of a man born and raised in the Middle East, but chose America for his home, and will let you in on what goes on in the minds and hearts of people in this vital and turbulent part of the world.

This book is written for every American who cares enough about this great nation to make a serious effort at learning about the other side of the story, and in doing so may discover an uncharted path to world peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Nov 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452561233

Hossam Nasser

The author is a licensed professional engineer in California, holds a Ph.D. in structural engineering and runs his private practice as well as teaches part time at Saint Mary’s College. He lives with his wife while being visited by his four adult children who live all over California. He has published a collection of short stories in Arabic titled “The Price.”

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Copyright © 2012 Hossam Nasser

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-6122-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-6123-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919370

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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Balboa Press rev. date: 11/13/2012

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

The Early Years

The Seventies

Into the Eighties

The Nineties

The Elephant in the Room

What About Iran?

Afghanistan

Bin Laden

Iraq

Hurricane Egypt

The Great Recession

Internal Affairs

Capitalism 2.0

Now What?

Epilogue

About the Author

Preface

In a troubled world filled with conflicts and mistrust, it becomes imperative that we develop a proper understanding of other people who share the planet with us. How they think, why they act the way they do, and why does everybody hate America, or do they?

As someone who has one foot planted in the land of the Pharaohs, and the other deeply rooted into the land of opportunity, I am going to tell you my story, or better yet, my side of the story. I will share with you the perspective of a man born and raised in the Middle East, but chose for his home America, and I will let you in on what goes on in the minds and hearts of people in this vital and troubled part of the world.

I will take you through a long journey that starts way back in the sixties with the then very popular TV show The Fugitive and ends with a man who recently made the powerful claim that Yes We Can. I will give you the unique perspective of someone who understands both sides of the Atlantic, and will let you in on a different view for events for which local views have long been packaged and shelved for so many years. Take a look from another angle; you are bound to see something else! In the process of reading this book, you may even gain insights that may help you see the world in a different light.

From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is a mixture of personal experiences intertwined with political events that span over five decades. You will read a totally fresh perspective about political events along with a completely different assessment of those major players who helped shape them. After reading this book, you will realize how the so called conventional wisdom may, after all, be just a synonym to mental complacency. You will end up with a new understanding of issues such as the infamous Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan among others. In each case, an historic synopsis is presented. This, at times, may relate to relatively recent history while at others it may be quite distant.

The main underlying motive for writing From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is my very deep love for this country. It is as simple as that. I offer you my own distilled life experience on a silver platter in the hope that it may help us all make better decisions when it comes to dealing with the rest of the world.

From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is a political memoir based on the views and life experiences of its writer, and although others may have written along similar lines, one distinction needs to be noted, which is the fact that this is the one book that approaches the subject matter through a mindset of eastern and western cultures, simultaneously. Having been born and raised in a Middle Eastern country, and living the rest of my life in the United States, I will present you with a unique perspective of world events and how they may be interpreted in a surprisingly different way.

Utmost respect is due to writers such as Jimmy Carter for his books such as: We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land; A Plan That Will Work, and Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, and Zbigniew Brzezinski for his writings such as: America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy, and Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower. Whereas these are superb writings that treat world politics with an extraordinary understanding, they, nonetheless, are the product of purely western minds and are, hence, void of that view of the other. This is the main gap that From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama will attempt to fill.

From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is written for everyone who seeks a better understanding of the complex world we live in. Detailed analyses are provided to explain volatile political conflicts that we find ourselves sucked into and having to find a way to safely extricate ourselves from. The book even presents formulas for how to deal in each and every one of these problem areas be it the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the two active wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the escalating tension in relations with Iran. This book is written for every American who cares enough about this great nation to make a serious effort at learning about the other side of the story, and in doing so may discover an uncharted path to world peace.

Acknowledgments

No work is ever the product of one person’s efforts, and From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama is by no means an exception to the rule. I, hereby, would like to extend my deepest thanks to Grete Stenersen, my colleague at Saint Mary’s College for her insightful feedback at the very early stages of this work. Grete was the first person to read through the initial manuscript and her encouraging remarks gave me the push I needed to go on with my project.

Thanks are also due to my very good friend and my one and only editor, John Paulin for his efforts which I know for a fact have greatly improved the quality of the finished version of the book.

Many thanks are due to Virginia Morrel and Adriane Pontecorvo of the Balboa Press publishing team who had always exhibited both friendly and professional collaboration throughout the production phases of this work.

Thanks are also due to the folks of Wikipedia for facilitating my historic searches which exponentially facilitated my effort in that regard. Although some historic references were obtained from other sources, most of which were based on information found in Wikipedia.

And last, but not least, my thanks and gratitude to my beloved wife Dodie who despite not being in the best shape at the time of this writing had undertaken the responsibility of preparing the marketing plan for my book. She is also credited for first convincing her stubborn husband to include photos in the book, and then going through the search and collection of those photos; some of which —