Losing the Long Game : The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East

Losing the Long GameAuthor(s): Philip H. Gordon"Book of the Week" on Fareed Zakaria GPSFinancial Times Best Books of 2020 The definitive account of how regime change in the Middle East has proven so tempting to American policymakers for decades—and why it always seems to go wrong."It's a first-rate work, intelligently analyzing a complex issue, and learning the right lessons from history."—Fareed Zakaria Since the end of World War II, the United States has set out to oust governments in the Middle East on an average of once per decade—in places as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan (twice), Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The reasons for these interventions have also been extremely diverse, and the methods by which the United States pursued regime change have likewise been highly varied, ranging from diplomatic pressure alone to outright military invasion and occupation. What is common to all the operations, however, is that they failed to achieve their ultimate goals, produced a range o