Summary
Contents
Subject index
Challenges for America in the Middle East offers a comprehensive and contemporary analysis of the foreign policy challenges the United States faces in the Middle East. It takes a close look at the critical policy dilemmas posed by radical Islam, the Arab Spring, the Shia Crescent, and Israel–#x2013;Palestine relations. Authors Richard W. Mansbach and Kirsten L. Taylor examine the issues from a historical perspective and in the context of the current state of affairs, and analyze options for future action. Throughout the text, they emphasize the interplay of foreign and domestic issues in the United States and overseas, and show how that interplay shapes American policy towards the region.
Chapter 13: America and the Shia Crescent: Iraq and Iran

Official White House Photo by Paul Morse
Chapter 13 begins by describing U.S.–Iraqi relations from the Cold War including Washington’s response to Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and its subsequent partial return to Iraq in 2013. It then examines the claim of the George W. Bush administration that Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda, a claim given as one justification for Washington’s overthrow of Saddam. The chapter then turns to U.S.–Iranian relations after Iran’s Islamic revolution. It looks at the spread of Iranian influence in ...
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