The US in the Middle East: Stupid or Merely Fallible?

Abstract The broad story that Steven Simon’s Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East tells is one of arrogance and ignorance on the part of American leaders. In essence a realist, Simon is engagingly opinionated, sharp and judgemental. For him, 1979 is the moment the United States abandoned any previous caution about direct involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts and began to act as if it believed the region mattered more than it actually did. This is a serious charge. Simon makes the case for the prosecution robustly and with ample evidence from first-hand experience, archival research and contemporaneous press reporting. But energy, extremism and the preservation of the rules-based international order could still explain and justify US involvement. It may not be that America got stupid, but rather that the rest of the world got smart.