Introduction

This chapter poses the main question of the book: why is there no security in the heart of the Muslim world or its geographic equivalence, the greater Middle East (GME)? The chapter focuses on the role of the American foreign policy establishment (AFPE) in creating and maintaining a conflict-generating system that shapes the security calculus of every state in the GME, including the United States. The chapter identifies four recurring themes that summarize how the AFPE reproduces the idea of America as a liberal empire endowed with the self-appointed responsibility for securing, developing, and democratizing the GME by using extreme violence. Later chapters show how these recurring themes pervade America’s strategic approach to the Middle East.