The New York Times Magazine has published an extensive feature on the Middle East’s decent into chaos that is sure to be in the running for all the awards.
Billed as “a story unlike any we have previously published,” the Times piece documents the lives of six individuals throughout the troubled region in order to paint a picture of “the catastrophe that has fractured the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq 13 years ago, leading to the rise of ISIS and the global refugee crisis.”
As with many popular narratives of the existing crisis in the Middle East, there is scant mention of the role President Obama and his policies toward the region might have played in exacerbating the chaos. “Obama” is mentioned just once in the entire 40,000-word piece, in a section about the deadly terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, nearly a year after the United States-led (from behind) military air campaign concluded.
President Obama, at the urging of Hillary Clinton, decided to join European allies in a bid to oust former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and did so without asking Congress for approval.
Obama and Clinton’s role in facilitating the chaotic situation in the Middle East has received some attention in recent days after Republican nominee Donald Trump described the president and former secretary of state as the “co-founders” of the terrorist group ISIS. Some critics argue that ISIS rose to prominence in part as a result of Obama’s politically motivated decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq earlier than our military commanders would have liked.
