A field guide to alienating the Middle East

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-061113.html



A field guide to alienating the Middle East
By Bob Dreyfuss
Nov 6, '13

Put in context, the simultaneous raids in Libya and Somalia last month, targeting an alleged al-Qaeda fugitive and an alleged kingpin of the al-Shabab Islamist movement, were less a sign of America's awesome might than two minor exceptions that proved an emerging rule: namely, that the power, prestige, and influence of the United States in the broader Middle East and its ability to shape events there is in a death spiral.

Twelve years after the US invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and a decade after the misguided invasion of Iraq - both designed to consolidate and expand America's regional clout by removing adversaries - Washington's actual standing in country after country, including its chief allies in the region, has never been weaker.

Though President Obama can order raids virtually anywhere using Special Operations forces, and though he can strike willy-nilly in targeted killing actions by calling in the Predator and Reaper drones, he has become the Rodney Dangerfield of the Middle East. Not only does no one there respect the United States, but no one really fears it, either - and increasingly, no one pays it any mind at all.

There are plenty of reasons why America's previously unchallenged hegemony in the Middle East is in free fall. The disastrous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq generated anti-American fervor in the streets and in the elites. America's economic crisis since 2008 has convinced many that the United States no longer has the wherewithal to sustain an imperial presence.