After Hamas shocking 2023 attack on Israel, the United States stood firmly behind Israels near-genocidal war on Gaza, despite widespread moral outrage and significant damage to Washingtons global agenda. But Gaza is only the latest paradox in thirty-five years of Middle East policy. How did this pattern develop, why cant policymakers learn from repeated Middle Eastern calamities, and what does Gazas destruction mean for Americas place in the world?Marc Lynchcharts the United States disastrously failed approach to the postCold War Middle East, where aspirations for US leadership and a calm region have only produced war, instability and humanitarian catastrophe. Lynch exposes the failure of each presidents efforts to transform the Middle East in Americas image, or pivot away from the region; Washingtons refusal to take seriously the views of Middle Easterners; and its fantasy of forging a regional order without the Palestinian issue.Moving between American politics and Middle Eastern realities, this incisive account explains why US policy has not changed despite its horrifying human costs, from Iraq, Lebanon and Syria to Iran, Yemen and Libya.
