Andrew Bacevich

Whether Iran choos­es to act con­struc­tive­ly re­mains to be seen, but the US can no longer pre­tend Iran doesn’t ex­ist.

Air strikes, drones, cy­ber strikes or spe­cial op­er­a­tions won’t check the an­ar­chic forces the US it­self helped let loose.

Will con­gress take the op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­assess Amer­i­ca’s War for the Greater Mid­dle East? Don’t hold your breath.

Fur­ther re­liance on armed force as the pre­ferred in­stru­ment of US pol­i­cy in the Is­lam­ic world will com­pound the er­rors.

Oba­ma’s fo­cus on spe­cial ops and se­cret drone wars open the door to an im­pe­r­i­al pres­i­den­cy with no ac­count­abil­i­ty.

The cur­rent pol­i­cy of the US is not a re­flec­tion of its state to­day, but a wish­ful re­it­er­a­tion of the US’ zeit­geist.

The mes­si­ah-na­tion, gripped by war and fear of the un­known, could fi­nal­ly be com­ing to its sens­es.

De­spite rhetoric of promise, Oba­ma’s pol­i­cy in Libya is fu­elled by in­sid­er pol­i­tics and mo­tives.