Red Line

American Foreign Policy in a Time of Fractured Politics and Failing States

P. J. Crowley

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2016
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442255715
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: National Security
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Over the past quarter century, four consecutive American presidents—two Democrat, two Republican—have spent more time, diplomatic capital, and military resources on Iraq than any other country in the world. Much as the Vietnam syndrome cast a long shadow over American security policy in the decades after the end of the Vietnam War, Iraq provides the commanding narrative for this generation of American leaders. In this book, former Deputy Secretary of State P. J. Crowley, one of America's most insightful national security commentators, unpacks the legacy of American triumphs and failures in Iraq . He argues that presidents have fallen victim to the Iraq Syndrome—the disconnect between politics, policy, strategy, and narrative—that has hampered America's foreign policy in the Middle East and hotspots throughout the world. In order to maintain America's global leadership role, Crowley argues that the next president must realign American's national security politics, policies, strategies, and narrative for the long term.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Introduction: Red Lines and Political Boundaries
• 1 Reasonable Assurance
• 2 War against Al Qaeda
• 3 Central Front
• 4 Extended Hand
• 5 Wrong Side of History
• 6 Leading from Behind
• 7 All Wars End
• 8 The Pivot
• 9 Someone Else's Civil War
• 10 Reset
• 11 A Good Deal
• 12 Good Enough
• 13 War within Islam
• 14 No Boots on the Ground
• 15 Incredible Nation
• 16 A Foreign Policy within the Political Lines
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• About the Author