
NATO heads of state are meeting on Sunday and Monday in Chicago against a somber backdrop: American-led efforts to cajole Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to step down have failed. The prospect of a nuclear Iran looms large, and concerns are rising over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan amid the ongoing insurgency there. When Barack Obama was elected president, he promised not only to transform America’s domestic policies, but also its foreign policy. Yet the Middle East, in particular, remains as troubled as ever. Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges joins Diane to explain why he believes President Obama has lost a historic opportunity to redefine America’s role in the region.
From Obama and the Middle East by Fawaz A. Gergez. Copyright © 2012 by the author and reprinted by permission of Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

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