Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East

by Steven Simon

A longtime American foreign policy insider’s penetrating and definitive reckoning with this country’s involvement in the Middle East

The culmination of almost forty years at the highest levels of policymaking and scholarship, Grand Delusion is Steven Simon’s tour de force, offering a comprehensive and deeply informed account of U.S. engagement in the Middle East. Simon begins with the Reagan administration, when American perception of the region shifted from a cluster of faraway and frequently skirmishing nations to a shining, urgent opportunity for America to (in Reagan’s words) “serve the cause of world peace and the future of mankind.”

Reagan fired the starting gun on decades of deepening American involvement, but as the global economy grew, bringing an increasing reliance on oil, U.S. diplomatic and military energies were ever more fatefully absorbed by the Middle East. Grand Delusion explores the motivations, strategies, and shortcomings of each presidential administration from Reagan to today, exposing a web of intertwined events—from the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict amid Israeli domestic politics, Cold War rivalries, and Saudi Arabia’s quest for security, to 9/11 and the war on terror—managed by a Washington policy process frequently ruled by wishful thinking and partisan politics.

Simon’s sharp sense of irony and incisive writing brings complex history to life. He illuminates the motives behind America's commitment to Israel; explodes the popular narrative of Desert Storm as a “good war”; and calls out the devastating consequences of our mistakes, particularly for people of the region trapped by the onslaught of American military action and pitiless economic sanctions.

Grand Delusion reveals that this story, while episodically impressive, has too often been tragic and at times dishonorable. As we enter a new era in foreign policy, this is an essential book, a cautionary history that illuminates American's propensity for self-deception and misadventure at a moment when the nation is redefining its engagement with a world in crisis.

Genres: History, Politics, Middle East, Nonfiction, International Relations, American, American History

496 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today the Middle East borders on chaos. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under indictment and as a means of retaining his administration pushes to reduce the power of the Israeli Supreme Court resulting in roughly 20% of the country taking to the streets in protest. Further, Israeli reserve pilots have threatened to refuse missions in dissent. The West Bank is experiencing renewed violence highlighted by a recent Israeli incursion and a continuing power struggle between Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In Yemen, the brutal civil war continues as Saudi Arabia and Iran are fighting a proxy war. In Iran, the government is still dealing with domestic discontent particularly by the younger generation, exporting weapons to Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and drones and other support for the Russian war in Ukraine. In Jordan, opposition to King Abdullah increases each time Israeli troops crack down on Palestinians. Egypt remains a repressive autocracy. Lastly, Saudi Arabia’s government under the leadership of Mohammad bin Salman further consolidates power of his repressive regime and spreads its wealth seemingly worldwide as it finds itself disagreeing with the Biden administration more and more.

The above is symptomatic of a failed attempt by the United States to reorient the region toward its goals and in so doing according to Steven Simon in his new history/memoir GRAND DELUSION: THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICAN AMBITION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, the region has undergone a forty year period whereby Washington has evolved from deep engagement to a period of retrenchment.

According to the author, the process began with the Iranian Revolution and the overthrow of the Shah during the Carter presidency which brought about a collapse of the American position through the final weakening of US resolve under Barack Obama. In between the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush II administrations tried to retain American hegemony in the region, attempted to foster an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, dominate Iraq, and support Saudi Arabia. This came to an end as Obama held Israel and the Gulf states in open contempt, failed to arm and train Syrian rebels in a civil war he referred to as “the shit show,” intervened in Libya, stalled in attempts to foster democratic transitions during the Arab spring, dealt with the Islamic State, was unable to forge a constituency for a nuclear deal with Iran, and witnessed a bitter end to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Obama’s successor, Donald Trump acquiesced in this situation, periodically threatening different parties and trying to see how he could achieve political and personal gains.

The question is how did the present situation evolve resulting in America’s propensity for self-deception and misadventure in the region particularly after 9/11 – Simon, whose career included a fifteen year career at the State Department, and service on the National Security Council staff as senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs provides interesting and evocative answers.

Simon has written a personal account of his diplomatic career involved in the Middle East, offering many historical observations and insightful analysis. The monograph seems to offer two major themes. The first, after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 the United States changed from a period where American troops where not actively deployed in the region, instead CIA operations, vast military sales were tools used to spread influence, and Washington relied upon autocratic to achieve its goals. Once Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency for better or worse, American troops at times became active in the region from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and bases in the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. In the case of Iraq, the policy has been a disaster which in the end destroyed the region’s balance of power and elevated Iran to being a major player. This period came to an end with the final withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011. The second major theme that Simon explores was American policy toward Israel and Saudi Arabia. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States sought to facilitate Israel’s survival in a hostile Arab world following the Holocaust and preventing any Soviet inroads involving Saudi Arabia. Up until recently these policies have been mostly successful. However, the emergence of a right wing Israeli government under Bibi Netanyahu and his ultra-orthodox allies, and the elevation of Mohammad bin-Salman as head of the Saudi government has led to policies that at times are designed to “get even” with President Biden’s comments during the 2020 election his cruelty and repression zeroing in opposition within Saudi society, in addition, his hope of achieving regional super power status does not bode well for the future of American success in the region.

Simon does an excellent job developing the background history for each presidential administration’s policies. Beginning with President Carter and taking the reader up to the present, the author describes the significant issues that each occupant of the White House faced, the internal debates over policies, the personalities involved, the final execution of the decision-making process, and the ramifications once the dust cleared. Beginning with Carter’s attempts at Camp David and the Iran hostage situation, Simon moves on to the haphazard NSC decision-making process in relation to the deployment of US Marines to Lebanon and the Iran-Contra scandal under Reagan; the debate in the first Bush administration over whether to remain in Iraq and achieve regime overthrow after Desert Storm, and the Madrid Conference designed to facilitate an Israeli-Palestinian peace; Clinton’s need to know whether Saddam’s WMD had been catalogued and destroyed, and his inability to lure Iran to the negotiating table, as well as Clinton’s refusal to issue a presidential decision directive on the Middle East; George W. Bush facing the repercussions of 9/11 leading to an ill fated war in Iraq as well as creating a disastrous policy in Afghanistan; Obama’s attempts to reset US policy in the region, not enforcing his self-imposed red-line dealing with Syria, and achieving the Nuclear arms deal with Iran. Next, Trump was indifferent to the mechanics of foreign policy and “his ignorance of the conduct of foreign policy clouded his occasionally sensible, if crudely formulated, impulses,” i.e.; pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal allowing Tehran to enhance its nuclear program, the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, and abandoning the Kurds to Turkish President Erdogan Lastly, President Biden who inherited unresolved conflicts with Iraq, Iran, and a Saudi relationship whereby Jared Kushner was able to ingratiate himself with Mohammad bin-Salman. For Biden, faced with deteriorating relations with China, the issue of Taiwan, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and difficulties with Iran leave very little time to devote to the Middle East. I agree with Simon’s conclusion that the Saudis and Persian Gulf states see Biden as “a speed bump on the road to a more accommodating Republican administration.”

Many of the major characters aside from presidents are discussed in Simon’s presentation. Jimmy Carter employed Zbigniew Brzezinski, Cy Vance and others, though at times he was his own Secretary of State. Under Ronald Reagan, George Schultz, Casper Wienberger, Robert McFarlane, and William Casey played significant roles. For George H. W. Bush, James Baker, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney stand out. President Clinton, who had little foreign policy experience relied upon Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, and William Cohen. George W. Bush relied heavily on Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, and to a lesser extent on Colin Powell. Barack Obama worked well with Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, and Robert Gates. Donald Trump had a series of individuals who he eventually fired and brought in sycophant’s who would do his bidding. For Biden it is too early to know the impact of those around him particularly Jake Sullivan, Lloyd Austin, and Anthony Blinken. All of these figures play prominent roles in Simon’s presentation and analysis, and it is interesting to compare the types of people and their experience before they served their respective administrations and how impactful they were.

Simon has written a thoughtful, well-constructed work of fusion that will be useful for the professional and general audience. His viewpoints are based on years of involvement in the region and his commentary is succinct and for the most part dead on no matter which administration he is discussing. He has done a wonderful job exploring a series of presidential administrations and how they approached the Middle East and must be commended for his ability to synthesize information as each chapter in of itself can be developed into a book of its own.

[WM D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grand delusion was a good idea for a book. It told the story of how America under 7 different presidents managed to involve the United States more deeply in the Middle East than they thought they were

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

An expert American foreign policy insider’s comprehensive account of US involvement in the Middle East from the Carter Administration to present day. Author Steven Simon is a former United States National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, and also previously served as the Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)-US, and Corresponding Director IISS-Middle East, and as a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute based in Washington, D.C. He was Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and is now a visiting professor at Colby College in Maine--which makes him eminently qualified to write this tome. And what a piece of work this is! Not one to pull punches, Simon soberly gives readers the inside scoop on the ambitions and motivations of an America bent on preserving peace and oil resources in what became a hostile hotbed for naked aggression and terrorism, while also trying to instill democratic values in cultures that mostly find such forms of governance foreign to tradition. As Simon argues, President Reagan really began the deepening US involvement and President Obama began the bookending process of real withdrawal. In between were tumultuous years of war and sacrifice as each president tried to find solutions and disentangle the US. National Security strategists and scholars will find this work very useful in their own studies on how to, and how not to, craft useful policy and strategy objectives. Grand Delusion explores the motivations, strategies, and shortcomings of each presidential administration, exposing a web of intertwined events—from Lebanese civil conflict to shifting Iranian domestic politics, Cold War rivalries, and Saudi Arabia’s quest for security to 9/11 and the war on terror—managed by a Washington policy process frequently ruled by wishful thinking and partisan politics. Grand Delusion reveals the fact that, while episodically impressive, US involvement was often tragic and at times dishonorable. This is an essential book and cautionary history illuminating America's propensity for misadventure at a moment when the nation is redefining its engagement in the face of a new Cold War.

[Emmet Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I like the decision to organize this into chapters for each president (Carter - Biden). This gives the book a logical flow and enables you to track developments and follow trends over time. The level of detail is pretty close to ideal - a bit much in some cases, lacking in others - but on the whole I thought it threaded this gap nicely. One gripe I have with it is the choice of WHAT is covered. I’m not an expert on any of the issues discussed in the book, but the editorial decisions on what content would be included in each chapter sometimes struck me as weird. There’s a lot that you’d expect to find in this book that conspicuously isn’t there, and there’s quite a bit I hadn’t even heard of before reading this.

My one major issue with it: it’s written through a pretty blatant partisan lens, which is a letdown. I get that the author has a lot of govt experience and that much of what is covered in the book is inherently political, but the brazen partisanship (left-leaning) that infects the narratives here strike me as downright lazy. It’s easy as an author to gloss over or not even mention failures of policies/people you were rooting for, but then to attack those you disagree with just strikes me as an unfair and slightly dishonest element of this book.

All in all still worth the read though.

[Holly Seliga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t have many books that I rate five stars but this is top of the list - an extremely clear and concise summary of interventionism throughout American presidencies. Though presenting the facts, the author does an incredible job at refraining from passing judgement on action and simply presenting the various arguments to arrive at your own conclusion.

Every chapter is a different administration, and the author was actually there for the decision making processes - if you’re not familiar with America and the Middle East, this is a perfect alamanc of sorts.

[Shannon Grinnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the expansive history of America's foreign policy and involvement in the Middle East. Steven Simon knows what he is talking about as he spent an entire career in the State Department and was involved in many decisions that drove policy decisions regarding this part of the world.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and it's reflected well in this comprehensive volume. I admire Simons's willingness to acknowledge that many missteps were taken along the way. This is essential as the world continues to change and tactics around foreign policy evolve. It's full of tragedy and speaks as a cautionary tale about how to approach complex decisions differently.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive book discussing America’s policies toward the Middle East since the Carter Administration. Fair assessments across the board for each one, the harshest opinions are directed towards Bush 43 and rightly so. Doesn’t go into counterfactuals which is a breath of fresh air when it comes to these books. Would love to see a book on America’s Middle East policy from WWII to the Carter era. Highly recommend this book. Borrowed from library will most likely order a copy for personal collection and future reference.

[Zannelle Iwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just over 400 pages this book could have easily been a slog to get through, but Simon's insight and writing actually made it pretty digestible and enjoyable to read. Well, as enjoyable as reading about terrible US leadership decisions and horrific violent events can be.

As someone who didn't come into true political consciousness until the 2016 election (woo woo Gen Z rise up) this book taught me a lot. And for that, I thank Steven Simon.

[Alexander McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The post-war American imagination revolved around two self-conceptions. First, the free-spirited Rebel without a Cause that in the vein of Kerouac saw the car as a symbol of personal freedom. Second, the soldier in Normandy arriving to the European continent to fight back against the Totalitarian threat of Nazism.

Both of these self-conceptions would lead the United States to half a century of policy mistakes, humanitarian disasters, countless trillions of dollars flushed into a maw, and thousands of American lives lost both at home and abroad.

In the 1970s, America would face an energy crisis that would traumatize an entire generation of Americans with the sight of long lines at gas stations or needing to constantly adjust the thermostat. The car, which was purchasable American freedom on wheels, would become a prison. Cities built around cars would become a gauntlet impassable without waiting in a long line for gasoline.

The apex of the energy crisis would be the Saudi Arabian led OPEC issuing an oil embargo on countries that supported Israel during the third Israel-Arab war. This economic trauma paired with persistent inflation and unemployment would have disastrous consequences for the political establishment that now saw the importance that the Middle East would play on domestic issues.

During this time, the United States principal foreign policy goal was containment of the Soviet Union and its communist ideology. This was initially contained to Southeast Asia and South America, as the containment line in Europe was iron-clad. With the United States already looking towards the Middle East, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. It was this context that cemented the United States and Israeli relationship. Israel represented a desert oasis of liberal democracy in a region of theocratic authoritarian regimes to the Reagan administration which granted Israel non-NATO ally ship in 1989.

In Simon's book, Grand Delusion, the Carter and Reagan administrations are exposition for what would unfold after the fall of the Soviet Union. In many ways, American policy in the Middle East was modest until the 1990s and the first Bush administration. Even in that modesty, Simon points out what would become hallmarks of American policy, namely paradoxical strategic objectives and a disdain for expertise.

It's with the first Gulf War that American involvement in the Middle East takes on a Tolstoyan bent, where inevitability and inertia become the principal factors moving forward. Bush 43 would place half a million troops in Saudi Arabia along the border with Iraq to protect against a possible invasion from Saddam. This would radicalize certain Saudis, namely Osama bin Laden who saw the American forces as an imperialist mission. A decade later, bin Laden would strike the United States. This would unfurl two wars from the second Bush.

The War in Afghanistan was the "good war" and notably Simon spends almost no time discussing it. This may be because indeed it was a good war from a first principles standpoint but the exclusion is notable considering the good war resulted in no strategic objectives being achieved.

Simon instead focuses on the disastrous Iraq War. Simon makes the convincing case that Bush and his cabinet legitimately believed, counter to all available evidence, Saddam to be behind 9/11. The irony is of course that it was forces in the Saudi government that housed Al Qaeda.

The book also tackles Iran, which permeates throughout the administrations. The dynamics here are a synecdoche of broader policy. Why are we working to contain Iran? To protect our allies, such as Israel, in the region. Why are we allied with Israel? It's an ideologically similar country in the fight against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is gone, why are we maintaining such a dedicated strategic position in the Middle East? Because we always have.

Simon points out correctly that the last three administrations have pulled away from the Middle East. But even pulling away includes an invasion of Libya, missile strikes on Syria, an assassination of a top Iranian commander, and now American involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.

Simon ultimately doesn't advocate that the United States shouldn't have a role in the Middle East. He is in fact a foreign service officer that specializes in the region. And he points to the Iran Nuclear Deal as maybe the only victory from American diplomacy in the region. (This was of course thrown out by the Trump administration.)

What Grand Delusion reveals is that the United States' policy has been informed by conspiracy, inertia, a lack of strategic objectives, and paradoxical thinking.

But maybe amidst all of that, there is a small victory. Simon quotes a prominent political insider: "...9/11, on balance, had represented a good deal: forty years of cheap oil for 3,000 killed on one day in 2001."

[Prashant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 9/10

Grand Delusion takes a necessarily birds-eye view over America's ample failures and occasional triumphs in the Middle East, covering them chronologically from the Carter administration onwards.

What's most admirable about Simon's portrayal of these events is the lack of obvious political bias. He seems more than happy to dish out criticism toward both Republican and Democratic administrations, and does so with a lucidity that is rare in this sort of book. If you read the 400+ pages of Grand Delusion without knowing anything about the author, you'd know very little about his actual political affiliations - well, aside from his withering contempt for the Bush (II) Administration.

Speaking of which, the invasion of Iraq is where Simon gets to show a little personality, and he excoriates Bush and co. with a sense of irony that really underlines the absurdity of it all.

Some of my favorite moments were these dry comments on Bush's thoughts on terrorism pre-9/11, and Powell's post-hoc distancing from the decision to invade Iraq:

Bush himself told the Commission that he was more worried about a Saudi-Iranian alliance, a proposition so bizarre it raises serious doubts about whether he absorbed anything at all in his hundreds of briefings by CIA.

People in the intelligence community did speak up, including Powell’s day-to-day intelligence advisers, and there is no evidence that he was “devastated,” a term generally understood to signify severe and overwhelming shock or grief.

I also loved this hilarious description of Bush's "Mission Accomplished speech":

A Wall Street Journal columnist and former Republican speechwriter wrote dreamily, “And there was the president, landing on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, stepping out of a fighter jet in that amazing uniform, looking—how to put it?—really hot. Also presidential, of course. Not to mention credible as commander in chief. But mostly ‘hot,’ as in virile, sexy and powerful.” The author, Lisa Schiffren, further noted, “You don’t see a lot of that in my neighborhood, the Upper West Side of Manhattan.”

And who can forget the greatest Freudian slip of all time?

It was the “decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,” former president George W. Bush said Wednesday before quickly correcting himself, saying he meant to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

All in all, I felt Simon did an excellent job of weaving 40+ years of history into a cohesive, readable portrait of American fallibility.

My only criticism is that despite the relatively high positions Simon has occupied, he miraculously seems to have made no incorrect decisions or even assessments during his career. In so far as I can tell, the only part of the book that approaches self-criticism is the introduction, in which he informs the reader that he "participated in the planning and oversight of two ill-fated interventions in the Middle East." Well, what does participation entail? Given that he was the NSC Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the time, I think it's safe to assume his opinion held some weight in these decisions.

[Dido · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging book - a long-time State Department insider's account of America's middle eastern policy from President Carter through Trump.
The author - Steven Simon, illustrates decades of American successes and failures in the region which include the Reagan administration’s secret and illegal arms sales to Iran, George H. W. Bush's hasty withdrawal from Iraq for humanitarian reasons even though, clearly he wanted a regime change, Clinton's failed "dual containment" strategy for Iraq and Iran... the utter disaster of George W. Bush’s Iraq War (which I am sure is not news to most readers); Obama's ill-advised declaration of a red line with subsequent inability to follow through with action; culminating in the chaotic policies of Donald Trump (e.g., his self-defeating repudiation of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, which ended up accelerating Iran’s nuclear program).
The author highlights persistent dysfunction in U.S. policy over the decades, largely due to policymakers’ rejection of regional experts / lower level analysts opinions that contradict their own theories that are often colored by political beliefs or individual biases etc. The author underscores the tendency of resorting to military coercion which often doesn't have clearly defined end goals / outcomes... Steven Simon’s narrative explains very complex issues in pithy, biting prose... a must read for anyone who wants a crash course in US's Foreign Policy over the decades in this region.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly fascinating, covering an area of recent history that I was largely unfamiliar with. This book starts before I was born, and until September 11th, when I was in High School, I wasn't paying too much to the details - and truly not even after that.

Simon clearly has a firm grip on the material, this book is RICH with detail. It's like drinking from a fire hose for those readers that aren't as familiar. I think he does a good job of explaining things, but I'm sure I didn't take away everything, I'll need to read far more on the topic before things really start to solidify. That didn't detract from the reading experience of this book.

As an American, this book is largely a frustrating read. American presidents didn't operate with complete information, nor did they surround themselves with those truly in the know - it's a function of trusting your advisors, who are wont to keep their own shortcomings unknown. The hubris that so many political aides operate with is staggering and demonstrably detrimental to foreign policy (and I'm sure several other areas) of the United States.

I recommend this book to all interested in the subject, and I myself will continue to read on this topic - as an introduction to the topic, it can be overwhelming, but still worth the read, regardless of your existing knowledge on the subject.

[Wissam Raji · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, the author meticulously examines U.S. intervention in the Middle East, detailing events from the presidency of Jimmy Carter to that of Joe Biden. Each chapter focuses on the significant decisions made by various administrations that profoundly influenced the U.S. presence in the region. The book provides a thorough analysis of how these decisions were formulated and their long-term impacts, starting with deterrence against the USSR and moving to the strategic shifts in U.S. policy post-9/11.

Additionally, the book highlights the U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, noting the genuine attempts of several presidents to address the Palestinian crisis while maintaining Israeli satisfaction. This topic is explored in depth in the final chapter, where the author identifies it as one of the most positive aspects of U.S. intervention, alongside economic investments and the Iran nuclear deal initiated by Obama and later halted by Trump.

This compelling and informative book serves as an excellent reference on American intervention in the Middle East. It is highly recommended for those interested in the subject and can also be seen as a roadmap for future U.S. strategic positioning in the region.

[Byron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simon delivers a scathing, fairly even handed report card of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East under every President since Carter. He comes across here and there as a bit of "I could have told you so" know-it-all. But by far the most glaring omission here is that he dishes out overwhelming harsh grades for absolutely everyone except himself. How an insider in every sense of the word can get away with that is beyond the pale. That said, this comprehensive account of the repeated messes our governments under both Republicans and Democrats have made in the Middle East should be required reading for everyone who works in the the executive and legislative branches now as well as going forward. Good luck with that. If the past and present are any indication, the people who work for us in Washington prefer to bury their heads in the sand and make many of the same mistakes over and over and over again. Bottom line: bill for these grand failed strategies adds up to "$8 trillion (not million or billion) in costs to wage the post 9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan" plus claimed over 900,000 lives.

[Gary Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary clear headed and impartial analysis of the Middle Eastern US Policy since Carter. There have been many strategic miscalculations and blunders but none greater than Reagan's in Lebanon and especially W's in Afghanistan and Iraq. How many more hundreds of thousands of lives will be lost in this region because of US willful destruction? I protested the Afghanistan and Iraqi invasions but hesitate to return to the streets given the US climate of violence. The US, Iran and Russia have ar4med these regions militarily, but the people of the US can rival these countries in its possession of killing weapons.

[Miriam Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating piece of political and policy history in the Middle East. At times simplistic, other times in-depth, the author takes on this complex, emotionally charged topic of peace, war, and more from Reagan's administration through the present. Of course, the author had an insider's view from his 40+ year career within the government.

The performance by Robert Petkoff is smooth and perfect for this complex book filed with facts and lots of details.

For more on the performance see AudioFile Magazine http://www.audiofilemagazine.com

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In depth analysis of the U.S. involvement in the Middle East. The book begins with the Carter administration and ends with Biden. Each chapter focuses on a President's failure and successes in the Middle East. The book is written by a former State Department employee and the writing at times feels as though it is being written by a policy wonk. Ultimately, the Middle East is very complex with no easy solutions.

[Ted Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pretty comprehensive history of American policy and misadventure in the Middle East, with a chapter for each presidential administration starting with Carter in 1977 and ending with Biden. There are no heroes or good guys in this accounting, although Bush #1 and Obama get some minor "attaboys". It's mostly tales of leaders who when faced with lose-lose situations make the wrong choices.

[Adam Schutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Simon does an incredible job at giving an unbiased view of foreign policy decisions made by each presidential administration in the Middle East. I really liked the fact that sections of the book are organized by the various presidential administrations so the reader has a comprehensive view of the twists and turns of the United States’ wins and blunders in the Middle East of the past decades.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished. Good workmanlike recapitulation of post-Ford Middle East policy. No arguments w main assessments (to include assessments on Bush II and Trump policies’ intellectual fatuity), but the book falls prey to “outcomjng” - basing soundness of decision on outcome, which in a probabilistic world smacks of hubris.

[Pradeep Prakash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A policy maker's narrative of how America handled (fiddled more apt?) middle east in the past and how they will possibly handle the world, even as America is losing the edge slowly, going by the current events. Mostly centered around black gold - OIL!

Narration is crisp and interesting and keeps you hooked!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally well organized and insightful—both at the macro level describing the principal motivations of US policy and at the micro level with insights from Simon’s career. Would have liked a bit more analytical insight about why things happened but this is a fantastic one stop shopping destination for US policy in the Middle East over the last 45 years

[Arevik Heboyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

an amazing work representing ambitions, hidden motives, hidden players, betrayals, and ominous decisions that can affect the lives of thousands, here in the US and abroad, where US-decisions materialize...

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in depth analysis about U.S. forigen policy on the Middle East mainly focuses on the relationship between the U.S. and Israel and the U.S. and Saudia Arabia

[Adam Sarlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of America’s involvement in the Middle East from the Jimmy Carter administration to the Joe Biden administration.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried very hard to read this in its entirety but it was too dry. Difficult going. Could not finish it.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

surface level, more reporting facts than analysis

[Daniel Elefante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers eight Presidential administrations’ success and failures in the Middle East. Very informative and insight.

[Tatyana Masters · Rating 3 out of 5]

really fascinating analysis of American intervention in the Middle East and how that's contributed to the current state of affairs

[Bente Dalby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written book. Covers a lot of history in a very complex area of the world.