Annals of National Security: The Redirection: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Annals of National Security: The Redirection: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "The Redirection
Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?
by Seymour M. Hersh March 5, 2007


Efforts to curb Iran’s influence have involved the United States in worsening Sunni-Shiite tensions.

Efforts to curb Iran’s influence have involved the United States in worsening Sunni-Shiite tensions.

Keywords
Middle East Strategies;
Policy Shifts;
Bush Administration;
Iran;
Saudi Arabia;
Sunnis;
Cheney, Dick (Vice-President)

A STRATEGIC SHIFT



In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its"