America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (60 page)

Amidst such challenges, the afflictions besetting large portions of the Islamic world will undoubtedly persist. But their relative importance to the United States as determinants of American well-being will diminish, a process even today already well advanced even if U.S. national security priorities have yet to reflect this fact.

In this context, the War for the Greater Middle East becomes a diversion that Americans can ill afford. To fancy at this point that the U.S. military possesses the capacity to “shape” the course of events there is an absurdity. Indulging that absurdity further serves chiefly to impede the ability of the United States to attend to more pressing concerns. Washington finds itself playing yesterday’s game and playing it badly, when a more important game with different rules is already well underway elsewhere.

Ultimately, the game that will decide if Americans succeed in preserving their privileged position will play out at home rather than in some far-off place like Iraq or Afghanistan. At the end of the day, whether the United States is able to shape the Greater Middle East will matter less than whether it can reshape itself, restoring effectiveness to self-government, providing for sustainable and equitable prosperity, and extracting from a vastly diverse culture something to hold in common of greater moment than shallow digital enthusiasms and the worship of celebrity.

Perpetuating the War for the Greater Middle East is not enhancing American freedom, abundance, and security. If anything, it is having the opposite effect. One day the American people may awaken to this reality. Then and only then will the war end. When this awakening will occur is impossible to say. For now, sadly, Americans remain deep in slumber.

Operation Eagle Claw, 1980: a warning from the gods? (© A. Abbas/Magnum Photos)

Marine peacekeepers depart Beirut, 1982. Not for the last time, events will mock the banner’s claim. (US Marine Corps)

Marines survey the rubble, Beirut, 1983. With 241 Americans lost in a single day, Reagan pulls the plug. (SSgt Randy Gaddo/US Marine Corps)

The Oval Office, 1983: hosting Afghan jihadists.

Rumsfeld in Baghdad, 1983: The presidential envoy brings greetings from Washington. (Iraqi TV)

Operation El Dorado Canyon, 1986. A one-off raid dings Libya; Moamar Gaddafi will exact revenge. (US Department of Defense)

The First Gulf War: In 1987, Saddam Hussein’s air force nearly sinks the USS
Stark,
but Washington blames Iran. (US Navy)

Operation Praying Mantis, 1988. In the “largest surface action since the Second World War,” U.S. forces pummel Iran’s puny fleet. (US Navy)

The Second Gulf War, 1991: Advancing with controlled deliberation, VII Corps closes in on the Iraqi Republican Guard. (US Department of Defense)

Schwarzkopf delivering the “mother of all briefings,” 1991: “The gates are closed.” Alas, they were not. (Associated Press)

Enforcing the no-fly zones. With few taking notice, the Second Gulf War continues throughout the 1990s. (Staff Sergeant Sean M. Worrell/US Air Force)