America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (78 page)

 39.
Theodore Schleifer, “Lindsey Graham Calls for 10,000 U.S. Troops in Iraq,”
CNN.com
(May 18, 2015).

 40.
Emmarie Huetteman, “U.S. Defense Secretary Blames Iraqi Forces for ISIS Victory in Ramadi,”
The New York Times
(May 24, 2015).

 41.
Mark Thompson, “Pentagon Rhetoric About Ramadi’s Fall Risks U.S. Credibility,”
Time
(May 25, 2015).

 42.
Kristina Wong, “Pentagon Sending 2,000 Anti-Tank Weapons to Iraq,”
The Hill
(May 21, 2015).

 43.
“Statement by the Press Secretary on Additional U.S. Steps in the Counter-ISIL Effort” (June 10, 2015).

 44.
For a cogent exploration of the potential benefits of rapprochement with Iran, see Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett,
Going to Tehran
(New York, 2013). For an example of the anxieties induced by that very prospect, see the review of that book by Roya Hakakian appearing in
The Wall Street Journal
on March 1, 2013.

 45.
Ed O’Keefe and Joby Warrick, “Weapons Prove Iranian Role in Iraq, U.S. Says,”
The Washington Post
(July 5, 2011).

 46.
David E. Sanger, “Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran,”
The New York Times
(June 1, 2012). For a book-length account, see Kim Zetter,
Countdown to Zero Day
(New York, 2014).

 47.
Tom LoBianco and Sophie Tatum, “GOP 2016 Hopefuls Slam Iran Deal,”
CNN Politics
(July 14, 2015); Burgess Everett, “Ted Cruz’s Iran Doomsday,”
Politico
(July 21, 2015); Eric Bradner, “Huckabee: Obama Marching Israel to ‘Door of the Oven,’ ”
CNN Politics
(July 26, 2015).

 48.
Isabel Kershner, “Iran Deal Denounced by Netanyahu as ‘Historic Mistake,’ ”
The New York Times
(July 14, 2015).

 49.
Max Boot, “The Dawn of the Iranian Empire,”
Commentary
(July 14, 2015).

 50.
For a concise description of Iran’s response to ISIS, see Dina Esfandiary and Ariane Tabatabai, “Iran’s ISIS Policy,”
International Affairs
91 (January 2015), 1–15.

 51.
“Joint Chief General Martin Dempsey Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee” (September 16, 2014),
youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7XDLXGLGg
, accessed July 12, 2015.

 52.
“Department of Defense Press Briefing by Secretary Hagel and General Dempsey in the Pentagon Briefing Room” (August 21, 2014).

18. Generational War

 1.
PPS 23, “Review of Current Trends, U.S. Foreign Policy” (February 24, 1948).

 2.
“World Population by Country,”
worldometers.info/world-population/
; “List of Countries by Distribution of Wealth,”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_distribution_of_wealth
, both accessed July 8, 2015.

 3.
Melvyn P. Leffler,
A Preponderance of Power
(Stanford, 1992).

 4.
“Defense Planning Guidance, FY 1994–1999” (February 29, 1992).

 5.
The National Military Strategy of the United States, 2015
(June 2015), 3.

 6.
General Stanley McChrystal, who presided over Zarqawi’s assassination via two 500-pound bombs in June 2006, later wrote that the killing had come “too late.” More to the point, Zarqawi’s elimination, however justified and psychologically satisfying, was largely beside the point. Much the same can be said of the others once occupying a place on America’s most wanted list. McChrystal,
My Share of the Task,
234.

By Andrew J. Bacevich

America’s War for the Greater Middle East

Breach of Trust

Washington Rules

The Limits of Power

The New American Militarism

American Empire

Diplomat in Khaki

The Pentomic Era

Andrew J. Bacevich grew up in Indiana, graduated from West Point and Princeton, served in the army, became an academic, and is now a writer. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of a dozen books, among them
American Empire, The New American Militarism, The Limits of Power, Washington Rules, Breach of Trust,
and
America’s War for the Greater Middle East.
He lives in Walpole, Massachusetts.

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