The Middle East is unquestionably President Obama's toughest foreign policy challenge. The region is a complex clash of interests, histories, cultures and religions. It cannot be understood through stereotype or one-size-fits-all generalizations. Every country of the Middle East, and every conflict in the Middle East, has its own history and its own challenges. There's only so much an American president can do to influence events. That influence depends on a clear understanding of the players motivations and America's limitations. Here's a guide to Obama's Middle East policies.
1. Obama's Larger Vision of the Middle East
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2. Obama's Biggest Challenge: Pakistan and Afghanistan
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- Why Pakistan Is Barack Obama's Biggest Middle East Challenge
- Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategy: Scaled Down Goals
- Obama's Graveyard: Why Afghanistan Is the Wrong War
- Full Text of Obama's Speech on New Strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- U.S.-NATO Air Raids and Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan: The Facts
- NATO and US Troop Deployments & Casualties in Afghanistan
- Return of Religious Repression in Afghanistan
- Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategy: Prudence or Hubris? You Be the Judge
- History of the Taliban
3. Obama and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
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- How Obama Can Resolve the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
- Obama-Netanyahu: Round 1 Goes to Obama
- Analysis of Barack Obama's AIPAC Speech
- Full text of Obama's AIPAC speech
- Brzezinski’s Dopey Prescription for Palestinian-Israeli Peace
- When Israel Lied to Lyndon Johnson About Not Introducing Nukes in the Mideast
4. Obama and the Islamic Republic of Iran
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- How Should Obama Deal With Iran? His Non-Nuclear Options
- Barack Obama's Opening to Iran: An Analysis
- Obama's 2009 Nowruz Message to Iranians: New Year, New Opportunity for Peace
- Video of Obama's Norwuz Message to Iran
- Is Iran a Nuclear Threat to Israel?
- What If Iran Had Nuclear Weapons?
- What Obama Avoided: Carter's Failed Hostage Rescue in Iran
- Iranian Court Overturns Roxana Saberi’s Prison Sentence
5. Obama and the Fall-Out from Bush's "War on Terror"
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- The More Things Change: Obama Adopts Bush Policies on Detainees
- Obama's Abu Ghraib Photos Flip Flop: How Obama Is Recycling Bush
- Guantanamo Shame, Cont'd.
- Should Barack Obama have released the Torture Memos?
- Obama Effect: Abuse Uptick at Guantanamo
- Obama Attacks Mideast Policy--With Pen and Promises
- Re-branding "Enemy Combatants"
- Torture Memos and Middle East Silence
- Confessions of Guantanamo Detainees: Punishment or Martyrdom?
- Behind the Dropped Charges Against USS Cole Bomber al-Nashiri
- Guantanamo's Illegal Shame
- Review: The Dark Side, by Jane Mayer
6. Obama and the Iraq War
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- Nothing "Residual" About 50,000 Troops in Iraq
- Full Text of Obama's Speech on Withdrawing from Iraq
- It's a Pact: U.S. Grants Iraq a Withdrawal Agreement
- Iraq War: Everything You Want and Need to Know
- Obama-McCain Debate on Middle East Issues and Iraq War
- Citing Iraq, Recovering Neocon Francis Fukuyama to Vote for Obama
7. How Barack Obama Is Perceived in the Middle East
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8. The Administration: Obama's Support Staff
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- Vice President Candidate Joe Biden's Middle East Policy
- Joe Biden's Campaign Stop in Beirut: Big Stick Bluster
- Hillary Clinton's Campaign Stop in Lebanon
- Why Hillary Clinton Would Make a Lousy Secretary of State
- Hillary Clinton's West Bank Blind Spot
- Hillary Clinton, Secretary to the Predictable
- Hillary Clinton's Middle East Policy
- Sen. Joe Biden on Going to War Against Iraq, in his own words
- Joe Biden-Sarah Palin Vice Presidential Debate on the Middle East
- Bill Clinton's Arab and Middle East Donors
9. Obama, Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
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- The Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey, 1915-1916: Facts and Figures
- Obama, Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
- Obama on the "Importance of US-Armenian Relations"
- Obama Breaks His Promise on the Armenian Genocide
- Barack Obama's Genocide-Denying Statement on Armenian Remembrance Day
- Why Isn't Turkey's Holocaust-Denying Condemned Like Iran's?
