Foreign Affairs Mag: The age of U.S. dominance in the Middle East has ended

[sabra]

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20061101faessay85601/richard-n-haass/the-new-middle-east.html

The New Middle East
Richard N. Haass
From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2006

Summary: The age of U.S. dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might.


Richard N. Haass is President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

<snip>

What has brought this era to an end after less than two decades is a number of factors, some structural, some self-created. The most significant has been the Bush administration's decision to attack Iraq in 2003 and its conduct of the operation and resulting occupation. One casualty of the war has been a Sunni-dominated Iraq, which was strong enough and motivated enough to balance Shiite Iran. Sunni-Shiite tensions, dormant for a while, have come to the surface in Iraq and throughout the region. Terrorists have gained a base in Iraq and developed there a new set of techniques to export. Throughout much of the region, democracy has become associated with the loss of public order and the end of Sunni primacy. Anti-American sentiment, already considerable, has been reinforced. And by tying down a huge portion of the U.S. military, the war has reduced U.S. leverage worldwide. It is one of history's ironies that the first war in Iraq, a war of necessity, marked the beginning of the American era in the Middle East and the second Iraq war, a war of choice, has precipitated its end.

[mike_c]

1. everything Bush attempts fails completely....

Good gawd what were people thinking when they put this utter loser in office? He has done more damage to America in the last six years than all the presidents in my lifetime combined. Everything he touches turns to shit.

[kenny blankenship]

2. Way to go Prince Georgie. Way to go Republicans (and pro-war Dems)

You may have started a war that will burn for a generation or more, and which we will lose.

[bullimiami]

3. 50 years of efforts wasted by 6 years of gangster morons.

[RethugAssKicker]

9. 50 years of efforts??.... It has been 100 years of US corporate

dominace of that region.... It has been all administrations, rethugs and Dems.

That has been the US policy all over the world for the last 100 year !!!

Bush is just the stupidest.

[DemonFighterLives]

4. I agree with most of that clip except the war of necessity part

for Iraq I. The side drilling and April Glaspie part has me stuck. Saudi Arabia was lied to about Iraqi's massing on the border and the world was told encubator lies. George the 1st tore up the military of Iraq and only quit when the highway to hell was too disgusting, killing a retreating army. Junior the knucklehead didn't give a shit who dies and seems a step worse than ole daddy, who helped build up Saddaam before he jumped him.
Perhaps someone could help me here.
:dem:

[Peace Patriot]

6. Consider the source--the Council on Foreign Relations. Where were they

when we needed them to help us head off this madness?

All these pompous, hypocritical, war profiteering "think tanks" ought to be flushed down the toilet.

[DemonFighterLives]

12. They love this crap

Thoughtless think tanks.
:kick:

[acmavm]

7. You are very correct to doubt that we've even scratched the

truth to Gulf War I. April G. was a ringer sent in to give Saddam the idea (false or whatever) that it was fine with the Bush 41 admin. to go into Kuwait.

I still roll that little scenario over in my head and try to decide what the purpose was and what they had to gain. One thing's for sure, anything that the Bush 41 administration accomplished has been turned to shit by his worthless son.

And Poopy has the nerve to go the the Middle East and defend this loser.

[RethugAssKicker]

10. Poppy is a muderous thug himself !..

[DemonFighterLives]

13. Thanks for the reply

as time passes and history gets rewritten the mind tends to play tricks.
What I found sickening is that Kuwait had like 80% of the coastline and Iraq's part was rocky, etc. These borders were set up by Britain years ago and don't seem right, though I'm not here to defend Saddam for taking the Green Light into Kuwait. He fell right into poppy's sweaty little hands.

[KansDem]

5. BWAHAHAHA, read all about "U.S. dominance"...

The Bush-Saudi Connection

[RethugAssKicker]

8. Latin America too...... The World has had enough imperalism !

This is a good thing. Finally. However America (US Govt)....(The American people don't have any idea what I'm talking about).. are not going to let it slip out of their greedy hands without a fight. I only hope they don't destroy us all to retain their hegemony and dominance over other people and their resources..

[lebkuchen]

11. The age of US dominance has ended PERIOD.