![]() ![]() While not disengaging entirely from the region, and while declaring that they would not permit Iran to get the bomb, three successive American presidents have rejected the strategy that underpinned the successful deterrence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In no small part because of the two previous wars, in response to the Iranian threat the American government has followed the post-World War I precedent. In the wake of those wars, America now confronts a serious threat in the Middle East: an aggressive, terrorism-sponsoring Iran with an ongoing nuclear weapons program that has brought it close to getting the bomb. It has fought two recent wars in or near the region – in Afghanistan and Iraq – that are widely considered to be failures, costing too much in lives and treasure and failing to achieve the goals the country set for them. Now the United States finds itself in a comparable situation in the Middle East. The country was drawn into World War II, and in its aftermath took an entirely different tack, becoming deeply engaged in Europe and carrying out a successful policy of deterrence toward the Soviet Union, which had replaced Nazi Germany as the major challenge to American and European security. Disappointed by the results of World War I, America disengaged from European security in order not to become entangled in another conflict on that continent. In the wake of each war, the US government, with public support, adopted a foreign policy designed to avoid the necessity of waging another such war but the approaches the country adopted after the two conflicts were diametrically opposed to each other. So it was with the United States and the two world wars of the twentieth century. They have heeded what they have believed to be the lessons of the most recent conflict in which they have been engaged, seeking, in effect, to avoid the last war. Political leaders and the people they represent typically prefer to avoid armed conflict. ![]() Generals, the old adage goes, are prone to fighting the last war. ![]()
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