Bush & the Middle East: Taking Stock of the Last 8 Years Posted by Shadi Hamid

I've written a retrospective on the Bush administration's somewhat complicated legacy in the Middle East. I try to take stock, and if I had to use one word to describe the accumulated meaning of the last 8 years, I think I would opt for tragic. As I say in the piece, "something, here, was lost." I know many think that the verdict against Bush is so damning as to, in a sense, defy understanding or explanation. Bush was bad. Period. But, it is not so simple. Yes, Bush ended up messing up the Middle East, but it is easy to forget how less obvious and clear the answer to the question was as recently as three years ago.

When I say "something was lost," the implication is that something, at some point, could have been gained. For something to have been lost, something must have gone wrong. There was a progression, or, actually, a regression. How this came to be is, in my view, a genuinely sad story and one worth reflecting on. Bush will likely stand as the worst president for the Middle East in recent memory, perhaps ever. I think the reason for this has to do with expectations. The last 8 years were not simply a disappointment. They were something much, much worse: a betrayal.

You can read the article here.

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Often as I have disagreed with Shadi Hamid about the Middle East and American policy toward that region, I am bound to say his observation about President Bush's self-referential exit interviews is acute, summing up in a sentence the soul of this Me Generation President.

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