Strategic Assessment

The failure of the United States to impose order in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein and the European attempts at dialogue with Iran on termination of its nuclear project exposed the limited understanding on the part of the West of “the other side of the Middle East tracks” and the wide gaps between them. Substantial disagreement between foreign policymakers in the US and Israel regarding the objectives of Arab leaders, and diverging interpretations by various intelligence agencies in the US and Israel with respect to the intentions of the Arab adversary give the impression that the knowledge of the people making these evaluations is too narrow to provide them with the proper tools necessary for well-based and reliable assessments.