The Man Who Broke the Middle East

[Hotdoger]

The Man Who Broke the Middle East - Elliott Abrams - POLITICO Magazine

 

[actaeon277]

Well, much that I don't like him, I think the Middle East was "broke" a long time ago.

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

Saying that he "broke the Middle East" might be stretching but I won't argue the fact that he has dropped the ball on pretty much EVERY major call to come across his desk regarding the ME (and other things too).

The humanitarian cost has been high, yes. How high would it have been had we gotten more directly involved? I don't know and neither do any of us. The political cost has been high. The strain on our allies due to empty gestures and downright alienation has been unnecessary at best and possibly disastrous at worst. However, the region has been a mess for a lot longer than our illustrious leader has been in office.

 

[Birds Away]

BHO views the US as a bully always taking advantage of smaller nations. What he never seems to have realized is that our absence causes a power vacuum. Nature hates a vacuum and now that the vacuum has been filled, everyone hates us.

 

[cosermann]

Maybe the title should be, "The Man Who Made the Middle-East Even More Broke."

 

[findingZzero]

The arrogance/ignorance here is that we could actually make a difference in that region. That the way the middle East goes depends upon what U.S. policy is. We supported brutal dictators for 50 yrs. Kept the peace and made the Arab street hate us. Sing Kumbaya (not that we did that), but that wouldn't work either. There is a proxy war going betwwen extremist Shia elements backed by Iran pitted against extremist Sunni elements supported by gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Quatar, etc.). Our 'friends' are funding ISIS, and our enemies (Iran) are fighting them. We stuck our hand in that hornets nest and the blame game is silly unless you want to blame Cheney, Wolfowitz for having the right world view, but an unworkable strategy to achieve it. We may help shape events indirectly by supporting those groups that align with our interests. It's an intricate chess game that requires more than hellfire missiles. A cynic would say let both radical sides weaken each other, then step in and wipe them both out. A realist would go on vacation and plan to move to New Zealand.

 

[cosermann]

BTW, who's to say the current situation isn't actually an improvement from Obama's perspective?

 

[Libertarian01]

To All,

Before 2003 there was a balance of power in the Middle East between Iraq and Iran. Guess what happens when you lay low one of those powers...?

In 2003 a man named Paul Bremer disbanded the entire Iraq military and police force. So, when every top general, colonel and other officer who has all of the strategic and tactical experience is out of a job and cannot be hired in their own country, where do they go I wonder? To someone who will hire them. Say ISIS, for example.

The Middle East is struggling with "new" ideas. The idea of freedom of religion and women's rights are relatively entrenched in our country but not so much over there. There you have extreme fundamentalists resisting a change that will reduce their power and give it to someone else. This is NO different from the Catholic Church waging a loosing war against Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Protestant reforms. Catholic Priests who had an absolute hegemony of cultural power faced loosing it and fought back - hard. The Muslim Imams in the Middle East are no different today than their Catholic predecessors, they are just about 400 - 500 years behind schedule.

There is NO way any American President can force people into the modern age. All we can and should do is allow them to sort things out on their own and be what we were 100 years ago, a beacon of hope without an agenda of force. It will be through cultural diffusion and the bulk of the population accepting new ideas that the old Imams will be pushed out of cultural power in the Middle East.

This will take time.

Regards,

Doug

 

[findingZzero]

To All,

Before 2003 there was a balance of power in the Middle East between Iraq and Iran. Guess what happens when you lay low one of those powers...?

In 2003 a man named Paul Bremer disbanded the entire Iraq military and police force. So, when every top general, colonel and other officer who has all of the strategic and tactical experience is out of a job and cannot be hired in their own country, where do they go I wonder? To someone who will hire them. Say ISIS, for example.

The Middle East is struggling with "new" ideas. The idea of freedom of religion and women's rights are relatively entrenched in our country but not so much over there. There you have extreme fundamentalists resisting a change that will reduce their power and give it to someone else. This is NO different from the Catholic Church waging a loosing war against Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Protestant reforms. Catholic Priests who had an absolute hegemony of cultural power faced loosing it and fought back - hard. The Muslim Imams in the Middle East are no different today than their Catholic predecessors, they are just about 400 - 500 years behind schedule.

There is NO way any American President can force people into the modern age. All we can and should do is allow them to sort things out on their own and be what we were 100 years ago, a beacon of hope without an agenda of force. It will be through cultural diffusion and the bulk of the population accepting new ideas that the old Imams will be pushed out of cultural power in the Middle East.

This will take time.

Regards,

Doug

While I have to agree with your description, I cannot agree with your prescription. What happens in the Middle East, unfortunately, doesn't stay in th Middle East (9-11, etc), or, put another way (originally describing the Balkans & WW1) this region creates more history than it can consume locally.

 

[findingZzero]

BTW, who's to say the current situation isn't actually an improvement from Obama's perspective?

In what sense? Please elaborate.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

When the chickens come home to roost - prediction - none of it will be laid at this administrations feet.

 

[ModernGunner]

Maybe the title should be, "The Man Who Made the Middle-East Even More Broke."

Wouldn't that be "BrokeR"?

Still trying to figure out if the Liar-In-Chief 'dropped' the ball or intentionally set it down hoping the other side would run with it. Which they have.

Certainly, whether intentional or not, Obama has done more to HELP the anti-American, terrorist 'cause' than even Bin Laden ever did.

 

[AA&E]

The arrogance/ignorance here is that we could actually make a difference in that region. That the way the middle East goes depends upon what U.S. policy is. We supported brutal dictators for 50 yrs. Kept the peace and made the Arab street hate us. Sing Kumbaya (not that we did that), but that wouldn't work either. There is a proxy war going betwwen extremist Shia elements backed by Iran pitted against extremist Sunni elements supported by gulf states (Saudi Arabia, Quatar, etc.). Our 'friends' are funding ISIS, and our enemies (Iran) are fighting them. We stuck our hand in that hornets nest and the blame game is silly unless you want to blame Cheney, Wolfowitz for having the right world view, but an unworkable strategy to achieve it. We may help shape events indirectly by supporting those groups that align with our interests. It's an intricate chess game that requires more than hellfire missiles. A cynic would say let both radical sides weaken each other, then step in and wipe them both out. A realist would go on vacation and plan to move to New Zealand.

Well said, this sums it up very well.

 

[cosermann]

In what sense? Please elaborate.

In the sense that what has happened is what he actually intended.

 

[TopDog]

I have to echo the sentiment that it was broke a long time ago. Has BHO made it worse, most certainly. His open coddling (if not support of Muslim terrorists) alone encourages even more attacks and worsening conditions of anyone not on the side of the extremists.

 

[D-Ric902]

This country has done very little in the Mid East countries that has turned out to be to our benefit.

defend Israel and let your enemies kill each other.

 

[hornadylnl]

This country has done very little in the Mid East countries that has turned out to be to our benefit.

defend Israel and let your enemies kill each other.

What is our duty to Israel?

 

[indiucky]

What is our duty to Israel?

The same as to England I suppose...England and Israel are the only two countries I feel we are "allies" with...

I can't tell you why and that sucks for me but I just reallly, really, really, like them...For whatever reason I have always felt a bond with those two, especially since the end of WW2, and although I can not prove it, I "feel" (There goes my liberal side popping up) that our destiny and theirs are intertwined...I am not saying I am right but I would feel pretty bad if we were not willing to back them up when they need us...

It could be as simple as because they are Jewish....For two thousand years (just like that carpenter predicted) they have kind of been pushed around, demonized, marginialized, and murdered on such a large scale that I kind of want to be their friend...They don't have many it seems....Sorry dude...That's all I have got and it's just my opinion...I tried to answer as best as I could....

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

The same as to England I suppose...England and Israel are the only two countries I feel we are "allies" with...

I can't tell you why and that sucks for me but I just reallly, really, really, like them...For whatever reason I have always felt a bond with those two, especially since the end of WW2, and although I can not prove it, I "feel" (There goes my liberal side popping up) that our destiny and theirs are intertwined...I am not saying I am right but I would feel pretty bad if we were not willing to back them up when they need us...

It could be as simple as because they are Jewish....For two thousand years (just like that carpenter predicted) they have kind of been pushed around, demonized, marginialized, and murdered on such a large scale that I kind of want to be their friend...They don't have many it seems....Sorry dude...That's all I have got and it's just my opinion...I tried to answer as best as I could....

But if we hated Israel too, all those other Israel hating countries would then love us.




Or not.

 

[hornadylnl]

The same as to England I suppose...England and Israel are the only two countries I feel we are "allies" with...

I can't tell you why and that sucks for me but I just reallly, really, really, like them...For whatever reason I have always felt a bond with those two, especially since the end of WW2, and although I can not prove it, I "feel" (There goes my liberal side popping up) that our destiny and theirs are intertwined...I am not saying I am right but I would feel pretty bad if we were not willing to back them up when they need us...

It could be as simple as because they are Jewish....For two thousand years (just like that carpenter predicted) they have kind of been pushed around, demonized, marginialized, and murdered on such a large scale that I kind of want to be their friend...They don't have many it seems....Sorry dude...That's all I have got and it's just my opinion...I tried to answer as best as I could....

I think Israel is more than capable of defending themselves. Who is it that's always tying their hands? Is tying their hands in their interest or ours? Are we so conceited that we think we can stave off the apocalypse?