In this important new book, Douglas Little explores the political
and cultural turmoil that led U.S. policy makers to shift their
attention from containing the "Red Threat" of international
communism to combating the "Green Threat" of radical Islam after
1989. Little analyzes America's confrontation with Islamic
extremism through the traditional ideological framework of "us
versus them" that has historically pitted the United States against
Native Americans, Mexicans, Asian immigrants, Nazis, and the
Soviets.
The collapse of the Soviet Union seemed to signal that the doctrine
of containment had served U.S. interests in the Middle East well,
preserving Western access to Persian Gulf oil while protecting
Israel and preventing communist subversion. Yet, although many
Americans hoped that the end of the Cold War would enable the
United States to redefine its diplomatic relationships in the
Middle East and elsewhere, Little demonstrates that from Operation
Desert Storm in 1991 to America's battle against ISIS today, U.S.
foreign policy has been governed by "us versus them" thinking, with
Islamophobia supplanting the threats of yesteryear.