America Is Not in a Zero-Sum Contest with Iran

Michael Doran and Peter Rough’s essay on U.S. strategy in the Middle East makes for a fascinating and provocative read. Its combination of strategic savvy, regional expertise, and formidable writing is not only broadly compelling but almost hypnotic in its deployment of overarching themes, incisive analysis, and a staunchly maintained point of view.

And yet, for a reader looking for help in rethinking his or her own potentially changeable views on these matters of strategic import, there are also problems with their approach. To see why, it is necessary to extricate oneself from the overall sweep of the narrative and focus on specifics.

Doran and Rough are at their best in the essay’s unsparing and hard-hitting critiques of the preceding administration’s policy toward the region. They argue, persuasively, that President Obama was largely wrong in thinking he could minimize the U.S. role in the region while cooperating at some level with Iran as well as Russia.