National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien's first book, "While America Slept," contains a few essays that are meritorious (I'm thinking in particular of his assessment of the KSM trial and "Liberty and the Rule of Law are Universal Values"), others that are very telling (I'm thinking of section 6, where he expresses his preference in 2015 that Mitt Romney launch a third bid for the White House and, when Mitt proves intractable, that Rubio or Cruz be nominated), but is mostly a cri de Coeur against President Obama's approach to foreign policy. Like most voters, I attempt to consider both a President's domestic and foreign policies when deciding whether to vote for or against him. Rather than review O'Brien's book, I would like to take a few paragraphs to review President Obama's record in the Middle East.
There have been 3 Democratic Presidents in my lifetime and two of them produced lasting peace treaties between Israel and an Arab state in their first terms. Obama's failure to do so almost led me to vote Green in 2012. There is no longer a serious dispute between the peoples of Iraq and Israel; Obama could have conditioned American withdrawal from Iraq (which the Iraqis badly wanted and deserved) on a peace treaty with Israel. The biggest missed opportunity in the Middle East, however, was the opportunity to do to Assad exactly what we did to Qaddafi, which we should have started doing the day after the latter was killed. This would have picked off a state sponsor of terrorism and also made a peace treaty between Israel and Syria possible. There is no serious question but that this would also have saved hundreds of thousands (though not all) lives that were subsequently lost in the Syrian Civil War.
In Iraq, I am compelled to argue that the removal of a terrorist government and its replacement by one that is both stable and non-terrorist was a victory for the United States. This victory would have been squandered, however, if our troops had remained there in their previous numbers forever. We would have seen (as we did in Afghanistan) disaffected members of the Iraqi Army themselves turning their guns on American troops in significant numbers. Most importantly, in the last year of George W. Bush's presidency, we PROMISED TO LEAVE Iraq. This was a promise we had to keep, though as I argued above, we might have gotten something in exchange.
The most important failure of Middle East policy under President Clinton was the failure to prevent the war against Iraq launched by his successor. I am sure this was at the forefront of President Obama's mind when he made his much-maligned deal with the Iranians. Had this deal not been done, it is highly likely President Trump would already have invaded Iran. It counts as perhaps President Obama's most important foreign policy success.
Finally, Afghanistan. The major reason I am now considering voting to re-elect President Trump is that he would never have gone along with something like the Afghan surge (which NOBODY thought would win the war). As a result, many fewer US servicemen have died in his first term than died in Obama's. This is a salutary development for which Trump deserves credit. We should remove all our troops from Afghanistan and also take in the next million people that flee from that country.
Their approach to the Middle East is the most important thing that separates Democratic Presidents from each other (although in the emerging Seventh Party System, it will not be the most important thing separating them from the Republicans). I give President Obama a D in this critical area for his mistakes regarding Israel, Syria and Afghanistan. But his successes in Iraq and Iran are not completely overshadowed. The book I am here "reviewing" is of interest only if you are or were a hawk yourself.
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