There is a on going US policy of isolating and containing Iran that is continued from one administration to another irrespective of the party occupying the White House. Its origins are both in the profound rage at the Iranians for the 1979 embassy seizure by the professional foreign service types. Holding a lot of FSO’s hostage for over a year is the about the biggest insult that could be administered to the Foreign Service culture. Besides this the Arabists in the State Department have a generally deep pro-Sunni bias. The Sunnis are the majority ‘establishment’ group in the Middle East and the governing class in the ME is almost entirely Sunni so the Foreign Service has adopted the attitudes of the political class of the region they have made their careers in. The Shia are looked upon about the same way the Maronites in Lebanon are; trouble making trash that need to be contained and periodically given a strong lesson in who is in charge. The fanatical Wahhabi outbursts are just considered the lunatic fringe of the normal and rightful political culture of the region. This attitude is also somewhat mirrored in the CIA with less affection for the Sunnis. There it is just a given that the Sunnis have the big battalions and the deep pockets so those are who one cultivates and screw the rest. The Israelis are so powerful that the Sunni really know deep down they are never going to uproot them so they will just keep up a perpetual tribal war with the Jewish state. For both the state Department and the CIA something like Maj Hassan’s rampage is just greeted with a world weary shrug and a comment that its the Army’s problem and not theirs. The boys and girls at State and CIA feel they have already given at the office and have plenty of their own problems to deal with. That I am sorry to relate to you is life in the big city inside the Beltway.
Good analyses.I pretty much agree with your realistic assessment.I might add that there seems to be no understanding of Sunni/Shia reality and a morphing of such things as suicide bombing over to Shia when none exists. Its like “we’ll just blame the Shia for everything the Sunnis do” (Wahhabi) and keep buying oil. Not one Shia was involved on the attack on our country— Iraq was in under control and people will tell you that Iraq had something to do with the attack on the US. It really is devoid of truth or recognition of the obvious.I grant you that Iran35 years ago siezed our embassy but they killed noone. Israel not only steals our state secrets with guys like Jonathan Pollard, who should have be executed. but Israel knowingly and willfully attacked the the USS Liberty in 1967 killing 31 and wounding 178 Americans!!! Why not bomb Israel now for that before we bomb Iran for not killing any of our embassy people before they let them go?? Seems like a double standard. But as far a Syria is concerned— internal matter. Stay the hell out of it.