Re-thinking the U.S Middle East strategy
After attending the Middle East Strategy Task Force security working group meeting, there is a definite need to re-look American strategy in the Middle East. Find ings f rom the working group, in conjunction with rec ent terr orist activity in Lebanon and France, spurred my own thoughts on the strategy that the U.S. needs to pursue in the fu ture. I know that some of my thoughts will be consistent with current public opinion while other ideas will be seen as heretical from an American viewpoint. The United States' engagement in the Middle East, since 2001, has been primarily military interventions centered on counter-terrorism operations and regime change with undefined objectives. But for all of the military and economic resources pumped into the region, what have been the results? Iraq disintegrates into a sectarian quagmire, Syria embroiled in a protracted civil war, refugees flood across borders creating instability in Lebanon and Jordan and creating policy and econo