All "tohu wabohu," chaos and tumult. U.S. Mideast Policy Has Failed

What is astounding is that there were any reasonable expectations that Obama's apology tour of the Middle-East would have any good results at all. Here is an honor based culture with fanatics who are pledged to kill us. We are the infidel to fanatics, who are more than willing to die in their perverse theology, who are to be expunged from the earth. They do respect poet and strength, yet Obama professed weakness and submission. Obama grew up immersed in Islam. He should have been aware of the consequences of his policies, so their are two conclusions that may be made: either he is a naive fool or he is anti-American dominance in the world and he sees us as a colonial power that requires dismantling for world egalitarianism. m/r


U.S. Mideast Policy Has Failed - WSJ.com

By 

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD  

August 24, 2013,   

In the beginning, the Hebrew Bible tells us, the universe was all "tohu wabohu," chaos and tumult. This month the Middle East seems to be reverting to that primeval state: Iraq continues to unravel, the Syrian War grinds on with violence spreading to Lebanon and allegations of chemical attacks this week, and Egypt stands on the brink of civil war with the generals crushing the Muslim Brotherhood and street mobs torching churches. Turkey's prime minister, once widely hailed as President Obama's best friend in the region, blames Egypt's violence on the Jews; pretty much everyone else blames it on the U.S.

The Obama administration had a grand strategy in the Middle East. It was well intentioned, carefully crafted and consistently pursued.

Unfortunately, it failed.

The plan was simple but elegant: The U.S. would work with moderate Islamist groups like Turkey's AK Party and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to make the Middle East more democratic. This would kill three birds with one stone. First, by aligning itself with these parties, the Obama administration would narrow the gap between the 'moderate middle' of the Muslim world and the U.S. Second, by showing Muslims that peaceful, moderate parties could achieve beneficial results, it would isolate the terrorists and radicals, further marginalizing them in the Islamic world. Finally, these groups with American support could bring democracy to more Middle Eastern countries, leading to improved economic and social conditions, gradually eradicating the ills and grievances that drove some people to fanatical and terroristic groups.

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