“我是个失败者，而你让我成了失败者，”2001年1月，比尔·克林顿对亚西尔·阿拉法特说，此前这位巴勒斯坦领导人拒绝了巴勒斯坦人可能从以色列政府那里得到的最好的和平协议。
“I am a failure, and you have made me one,” Bill Clinton told Yasser Arafat in January 2001, after the Palestinian leader rejected the best peace offer Palestinians are ever likely to receive from an Israeli government.
自那以后，中东一直令美国总统困惑不解、苦恼不已。一场错误的伊拉克战争主导了乔治·W·布什的总统任期。巴拉克·奥巴马在很大程度上因早期反对布什总统的战争而当选，却不得不派遣军队重返伊拉克，以对抗伊斯兰国的崛起。乔·拜登从阿富汗的仓促撤军损害了他的支持率，他对加沙冲突的处理引发了民主党内部尚未平息的内战。
Ever since, the Middle East has flummoxed and vexed American presidents. A misbegotten war in Iraq came to dominate George W. Bush’s presidency. Elected in large part because of his early opposition to Mr. Bush’s war, Barack Obama had to send troops back to Iraq to combat the rise of the Islamic State. Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan damaged his popularity, and his handling of the Gaza conflict ignited a civil war among Democrats that has yet to subside.