Does the U.S. Have the Wrong Middle East Strategy?

Events in the Middle East tend to have serious policy implications for the United States given the range of important U.S. economic, political, counterterrorism, and broader military interests in the region. Although there is a healthy debate to be had about where the Middle East might fit into a potential recalibration or rebalancing of U.S. global priorities, at this juncture I don’t believe it would be in U.S. interests to turn its back on the region’s crises and just hope for the best. That said, the historical record shows that there is tremendous room for improvement when it comes to the effectiveness of U.S. policies in achieving the country’s larger strategic objectives or helping resolve underlying causes of conflict in the region. Moreover, although the United States may at times have an important role to play, the challenges facing the Middle East are likely to only be fundamentally resolved from within and over time.