Andrew Bacevich on America's history of intervention in the Middle East

[I]n the wake of the atrocities committed on October 7th and Washington’s tacit acquiescence in Israel’s maximalist war aims, the dubious notion that vital American interests are still at stake in the Greater Middle East has taken on new life.  Dating from the 1980s, Washington had cycled through a variety of arguments for why that part of the world was worthy of spending American blood and treasure: the threat of Soviet aggression, U.S. reliance on foreign oil, radical Arab dictators, Islamic jihadism, weapons of mass destruction falling into hostile hands, potential ethnic cleansing and genocide.  All of those were pressed into service at one time or another to justify continuing to treat the Middle East as a strategic U.S. priority. 

In truth, though, none of them has stood the test of time.  Each has proven to be fallacious.  Indeed, efforts to cure the sources of dysfunction afflicting the region proved to be a fool’s errand that has cost the United States dearly in money and lives while yielding little of value. 

For that reason, allowing Israel’s conflict with Hamas to draw the United States into a new Middle Eastern crusade would be the height of folly.  In fact, however, with little public attention and even less congressional oversight, that is precisely what may be happening.  The Global War on Terror seems on the verge of absorbing the Gaza War into its current configuration.

~ Andrew Bacevich, "America's War for the Greater Middle East (Continued)," TomDispatch, December 7, 2023

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