Grand delusion The rise and fall of American ambition in the Middle East

Hubris regularly begets disaster in this astringent history of American policy in the Middle East since 1980, in which former State Department official Simon (coauthor, The Sixth Crisis) surveys decades of American successes and failures in the region. The latter far outnumber the former and include the Reagan administration's secret, illegal arms sales to Iran; George W. Bush's Iraq War, which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths; Donald Trump's self-defeating repudiation of Obama's Iran nuclear deal, which ended up accelerating Iran's nuclear program; and many feckless stabs at an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. The author highlights persistent dysfunction in U.S. policy, including a tendency to resort to military coercion, policymakers' rejection of lower-level experts who contradict their theories, and "a superimposition of grand ideas on antithetical Middle Eastern realities." Stocked with sharply etched portraits of statesmen, Simon's narrative elucidates complex issues in pithy, biting prose. (On the Iran-Iraq War: "Equally jarring is the idea that both the United States and the Soviet Union were supporting Iraq only because the prom queen--Iran--had spurned them.") Simon's insider savvy and bracing honesty make for an illuminating take on America's vexed relationship with the region. (Apr.)

According to this comprehensive account, when it comes to Middle East policy, good intentions count for nothing. The entanglement of the U.S. in the Middle East goes back decades. Simon, who has worked in numerous key government roles related to foreign policy in the region, argues that despite the spending of huge amounts of blood and treasure, not much has been achieved. The chapters relate to presidential administrations, but the author often takes informative detours into the deeper history. Every president has started out with great aspirations, but each one has had to change course to accommodate shifting realities. Every country in the region has its own agenda and historic conflicts with neighbors, and their political systems are often dictatorial, unstable, and/or corrupt. For an external player to understand all of the factors involved is like trying to put together a jigsaw in a labyrinth of distorting mirrors. Simon threads his way through the chaos, noting the many agreements and treaties that have been meant to bring stability. Unfortunately, paper burns easily. In fact, American policy has seldom displayed a clear objective. Should the U.S. support Israel? Counter Soviet, and then Russian, influence? Build democratic governments? Tamp down the chronic violence? Protect sources of oil? All of these are relevant, which has meant that none has been very effective, and occasional, conditional successes have been offset by bloody failures. Simon sees the focus of U.S. foreign policy now moving toward Asia, with a growing realization that the idea of imposing a solution on the Middle East is a delusion. "A net assessment suggests that the United States would have been better off today if it had not been so eager to intervene in the Middle East," says Simon. "Fortunately, America's era there is drawing to a close, and probably not a moment too soon." As a frontline player in Middle East policy, Simon provides a sweeping, detailed analysis of failures and successes. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.