US foreign policy tendency to create eternal enemies

Adam Weinstein, Deputy Director of the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute, argues that United States foreign policy is often driven by emotional resentment rather than strategic necessity. He suggests that Washington has a tendency to create ‘eternal enemies’ by freezing its perception of a nation at the moment of a single conflict or crisis.

Weinstein notes that this pattern has affected various nations, including Cuba, Libya under Muammar al-Qaddafi, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He highlights Iran as a primary example, where the trauma of the 1979 hostage crisis continues to shape US political perspectives, preventing the government from viewing the country as a complex, evolving society.