United States Policy toward the Middle East: a Dossier

THE FRAGMENTATION OF PALESTINE. Glenn E. Robinson. Current History, December 2007, pp. 421-426. "Ironically, without concerted effort by all parties to forge a credible Palestinian state, the solution that almost nobody wants will gradually emerge: that of a single, binational state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea." READ MORE

MIDDLE EAST MUDDLE. Dennis Ross. The National Interest, November/December 2007, pp. 30-38. "Rarely have we faced more daunting problems in the Middle East and seemed farther away from resolving or even defusing them. There is surely no more important foreign-policy priority than finding ways to ameliorate the challenges and conflicts that confront us in the region. This won't be done with slogans or declarations or even 'surges' that are disconnected from a clear political and diplomatic strategy; nor will it be done with international meetings that are not thoroughly prepared and choreographed in advance." READ MORE

U.S. POLICY ON IRAN. Peter Katel. The CQ Researcher, Nov. 16, 2007, pp. 961-984. "President George W. Bush is turning up the heat on Iran. Official hostility to the United States and its closest Middle East ally, Israel, remains high in Iran. But many observers say that any military move on Iran could add to dangers for U.S. forces next door in Iraq. That's a major reason that even top foes of Iran urge the administration to strike Iran's government by aiding dissidents rather than by force of arms." READ MORE

THE POLITICS OF NATIONAL SECURITY: AN UNABASHED LIBERAL VIEW. Todd Gitlin, World Policy Journal, Summer 2007, pp. 45-53. "Anyone who doesn't think we have a grave fight on our hands is morally frivolous and in intellectual default. But anyone who thinks that today's jihadis are the military equivalent of the Wehrmacht is profoundly ignorant. And anyone who thinks that the struggle against the jihadis can be waged with blithe indifference toward how a billion Muslims see the United States is ignorant to the point of stupefaction. Today's global interdependence, like the eighteenth century's struggle for independence, demands that the United States be guided by 'a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.' " READ MORE

THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST: STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES. F Gregory Gause III, Fareed Mohamedi, Anthony H Cordesman et al. Middle East Policy, Fall 2007, pp. 1-27. "The subject we are talking about today wasn't of interest to many people not so long ago, but, quite tragically, it has now become almost a national obsession in the United States. The Middle East is not a pretty picture for American foreign policy. On the other hand, our backing of Israel's efforts to pacify the Palestinians rather than negotiate peace with them has discredited us as peacemakers without gaining security for Israel. Our attempt to isolate the democratically elected Palestinian government has further discredited us as supporters of democratization in the region. Among other results, our policy has quite predictably left Hamas nowhere to go but deeper into the embrace of Iran." READ MORE

ARAB INTELLECTUALS AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY: THE CASE OF THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE. Sami E Baroudi, The Middle East Journal, Summer 2007, pp. 390-418. "This article considers how Arab intellectuals represent the United States and American foreign policy in their editorial contributions to Arabic newspapers. As a case study, it examines Arab intellectuals' reactions to the George W. Bush Administration's campaign to effect democratic change in the Middle East, as articulated in the Administration's 2004 Greater Middle East Initiative (hereafter GMEI or Initiative)." READ MORE

WINNING THE RIGHT WAR. Philip H. Gordon, Survival, December 2007, pp. 17-45.
"It would be comforting to believe that the main cause of America's difficulties has been the lack of time or resources. But there are in fact few signs that things are moving in the right direction, and there is little reason to believe that 'staying the course' - or indeed expanding the fight - will succeed. Sadly, there is a more compelling conclusion: the administration is failing because it is fighting the wrong war. It has misdiagnosed the most important origins of the problem, put too much faith in military force and tough talk, needlessly alienated friends and allies, and neglected the important ideological aspects of the struggle. Until the administration changes course - or more likely, leaves office - the United States will continue to risk creating more enemies than it eliminates." READ MORE

KNOWING THE ENEMY. Ariel Cohen, Policy Review, October/November 2007, var. pages. Since 9/11, democracies have fought three wars against nonstate Islamist actors. The West needs to draw important lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the clash between Israel and Hezbollah to address these strategic deficits. Lack of clarity in defining the enemy and delays in formulating political and information strategy severely endanger U.S. national interests and the security of the West. READ MORE

ARAB SPRING FEVER. Nathan J. Brown and Amr Hamzawy, The National Interest, Sep/Oct 2007, pp. 33-40. We need to avoid choosing between unrealistic idealism and brutal cynicism. The wider regional scene does not look as bleak as the democratization pessimists in the United States tend to depict it. In contrast to the pessimists, we offer a sober but more hopeful view: Change has been occurring and further reform is possible. But it is neither inevitable nor bound to be purely democratic in nature. Moreover, while the American push for Arab democracy between 2003 and 2005 was not misguided in its essence, it was pursued in such a clumsy and manic manner that the current disillusion was inevitable. READ MORE 

THE MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST: IS THERE A DEMOCRATIC OPTION? McCabe, Thomas R. Orbis, Summer 2007, pp. 479-493. "'Moderate' Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, are moderate only in relative terms, are mostly antidemocratic, and are more correctly considered nonviolent enemies of the U.S. This being the case, a democratic opening in the Muslim Middle East is all too likely to bring to power profoundly antidemocratic groups that are virulently and possibly violently hostile to the U.S. A possible alternative strategy is one stressing good government, with gradual democratization as societies decompress." READ MORE

Spiegel, Steven. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH. Democracy: a Journal of Ideas, Spring 2007, var. pages.

Full text available on publisher web site

"Republican presidents wage war in the Middle East, while Democrats seek
peace. For 60 years, neither approach has worked. Neo-regionalism will. The Middle East is unraveling, in part because it is returning to its roots of communitarian conflict. In the last great cascade of crises, during the 1980s, the Iran-Iraq war was raging, Lebanon was in civil war, and the Israelis and Palestinians were fighting in Lebanon. Today’s situation is much worse: Iraq is ablaze, Iran has political momentum, Lebanon is again imploding, the Israeli-Palestinian scene is mired in a decade of unprecedented violence (first between the two sides and now primarily among Palestinians), the region has become a base of terrorism and a breeding ground for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and extremism seems to gain from every American misstep. In looking at how to handle this potentially catastrophic combination, what can we learn from previous presidents’ Middle East strategies–and can this analysis help pave the way to a more secure and stable future?" Steven Spiegel, author of The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict: Making America’s Middle East Policy from Truman to Reagan, is a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Telhami, Shibley. AMERICA IN ARAB EYES. Survival, Spring 2007, pp. 107–122.

Full text available upon request

"It is no secret that the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims outside Iraq strongly opposed the US-led invasion of that country. Most Arab governments shared the view of their public that the war was ill advised, but many felt they could not say ‘no’ to Washington. There was profound mistrust of American motives and fear that the regional consequences would be devastating. US policymakers knew, too, that the American public would judge the George W. Bush administration’s decision to go to war on the war’s outcome. Had things gone well, much would have been forgiven. While America retains much power in the Middle East, certainly more than any other state, there is a regional perception that the United States has been weakened. This is evident in public-opinion polls showing that Arabs believe America is now  weaker than it was before the Iraq War. The sense that American forces are overstretched in Iraq has diminished America’s ability to project power elsewhere." Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.

Ajami, Fouad. LIBERTY FOR STRANGERS: AMERICAN POWER AND THE PREDICAMENT OF THE ARABS. American Spectator, April 2007, pp. 32-40.

Full text available via ProQuest

"The article discusses the U.S.' diplomatic role in the Middle East. The article talks about U.S. President George W. Bush's push for democratic freedom in the region. Some political experts claim Bush used democratic freedom as an excuse when the war in Iraq turned out to be more difficult and deadly to explain. Analysts say Bush linked Middle Eastern freedom with U.S. security from terrorism." Fouad Ajami teaches at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. This essay is the seventh in a ten-part series being published in successive issues of The American Spectator under the general title, "The Pursuit of Liberty: Can the Ideals That Made America Great Provide a Model for the World?"

Kupchan, Charles A. PERSPECTIVE: EUROPE AND AMERICA IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Current History, March 2007. pp. 137-139.

Full text available upon request

During President George W. Bush’s second term, relations between the United States and Europe have recovered somewhat from the transatlantic acrimony that followed Washington’s decision to invade Iraq. Bush has reached out to the Europeans, making clear that he welcomes a more capable and coherent European Union, especially one that helps shoulder burdens in the Middle East. EU member states have taken up the offer and pursued a new level of engagement in the region, particularly with respect to Iran and Lebanon. Despite this tentative repair of the US-European rift, however, the Middle East still has considerable potential to divide the transatlantic community. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan failing to bring stability to those countries, and a new crisis looming over Iran, the Middle East may yet again challenge the limits of transatlantic partnership. Charles A. Kupchan is a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Saleh, Nivien. EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTHERN AFRICA: THE SUBTLE QUEST FOR POWER. Mediterranean Quarterly, Winter 2007. pp. 75-88.

Full text available from publisher website

In November 1995 the foreign ministers of the European Union and twelve southern Mediterranean states convened in Barcelona, Spain, to pledge bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the area of security, culture, and economics. Their pledge launched the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The partnership exemplifies the regionalist approach of the EU to world politics, which differs from that of the United States in a number of ways. Is the difference substantive or merely stylistic? Is the EU, in its regionalist ventures, not interested in accumulating capabilities and exercising power? Or does it simply channel power differently? This is the question the author seeks to investigate in this essay on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Nivien Saleh is a visiting professor in political science at Northern Arizona University.