In spite of shifting landscapes and strategic aims throughout the decades, an extensive U.S. military presence persists across the Middle East. The initial mission of these American soldiers was to defeat the Islamic State (or ISIS), thus ensuring U.S. national security.
Yet, over two decades post-AUMF and the same bases continue to operate, often with entirely transformed roles, unclear aims, and flimsy legal justification. Now, as tensions flare up across the region, these forward-deployed U.S. troops invite the unnecessary risk of drawing the United States into entirely new conflicts. This begs the question, what is the U.S. military doing in the Middle East?
The Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program’s April 2024 roundtable brought experts together to discuss this very question, with many weighing in on the state of U.S. military engagement in the region. The conversation focused on the legal justifications given for U.S. military activity, the changing role of the U.S. military in these countries, the self-reinforcing nature of military engagement, and the hurdles facing legislative attempts to temper it, and the ultimate end-goals of such engagement. Three experts weigh in on the matter below.
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