Security, Reform, and Peace: The Three Pillars of U.S. Strategy in the Middle East

The United States is facing an extraordinary moment of challenge in the Middle East, one that demands an integrated U.S. strategy built on a set of three pillars: security, reform, and peace. The security agenda is the most pressing, but it alone is not sufficient. If the United States wants not just to combat the threats it faces in the region but also to change the regional dynamic which produces such threats, the administration should also pursue political, social, and economic reform in Middle East countries and the promotion of a secure Arab-Israeli peace. 

A bipartisan, blue-ribbon commission of statesmen, diplomats, legislators, scholars, and experts was convened in early 2004 to examine the state of the Middle East and  the effectiveness of U.S. policy in advancing U.S. interests in that important region. This was the fifth such effort organized under the auspices of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, taking advantage of election years to inject “new thinking” into the policymaking process.