ABSTRACT
US Middle East policy is facing unprecedented challenges in the face of the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq and the resulting counter-insurgency war, the ongoing threat from Islamist extremists, the continued Israeli and Moroccan occupations, a reassertion of Russian involvement in the region, the conflict between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, growing Iranian influence, and ongoing wars in Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq. Furthermore, the Middle East is becoming an increasingly pluralistic region in which the influence of non-state actors is growing while the ability of governments – particularly those outside the greater Middle East – to control events is decreasing. Adding to this is having a mercurial and inexperienced American president with virtually no knowledge of the region and who has appointed ideologically driven individuals with little background in Middle Eastern affairs to key policy positions and has frequently made statements at odds with his own Department of State. Despite such unique challenges facing the United States in the Middle East at the end of the second decade of the new century, however, there has been a remarkable consistency regarding US policy in the Middle East for many decades.
