Ali Khedery has great Middle East credentials, see how
Politico describes him:
He was an executive with Exxon Mobil Corporation, where he was the architect and chief political negotiator of the company's entry into the Kurdistan Region. He also worked for the U.S. State and Defense departments, where he served as special assistant to five American ambassadors to Iraq and as senior adviser to three commanders of U.S. Central Command. He was the longest continuously serving American official in Iraq.
One might reasonably attend to what Khedery writes about current turmoil and disarray in the region, see his
column written as a memo to Obama. He begins:
The Middle East is more unstable today than it has been in decades. (snip) After more than a decade of war against al Qaeda, the United States has failed to stem the rising tide of transnational jihad, which is again threatening to rock the very foundations of global order as the Islamic State seizes vast swaths of land, resources and arms, murders and terrorizes thousands, displaces millions, recruits countless new fighters and plots a second 9/11.
From his experience in the region, Khedery adds:
As a U.S. official, and now as an executive doing business in the Middle East, I have heard the same sentiment echoed privately by regional leaders for years. The reality is that your intended policy of benign neglect has actually proven to be one of malignant neglect and only strengthened our foes.
The longest part of the article consists of an elaboration of this: figure out what isn't working, get a new team of real experts, appoint a czar, support friends in the region, and confront enemies. Perhaps the most telling short paragraph is this one:
One former aide from your White House team recently told me: "It’s not just that they don’t understand. It’s that they don’t want to understand what’s happening in the Middle East. They just want it all to go away." But it’s only going to get worse.
