Live Online Policy Forum 

# Good Money after Bad? What Does America Need from the Middle East? 

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Date and Time 

March 30, 2021 11 AM - 12:30 PM EDT 

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Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

[![Justin Logan cropped portrait new](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-08/Justin-Logan-cropped.jpg?itok=1xXiDWfG)](/people/justin-logan) 

[Justin Logan](/people/justin-logan)

Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/JustinTLogan) [ 

](mailto:jlogan@cato.org) 

Jeffrey Martini 

Senior Middle East Researcher, RAND Corporation

[![patrick-porter-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-07/patrick-porter-cropped.jpg?itok=UQCD3xvR)](/people/patrick-porter) 

[Patrick Porter](/people/patrick-porter)

Professor, University of Birmingham

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](https://twitter.com/PatPorter76) 

![John Glaser](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/John%20Glaser.jpg?itok=-uvxR8zG) 

John Glaser 

Host, Power Problems Podcast

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](https://twitter.com/jwcglaser) 

Rebeccah Heinrichs 

The greater Middle East has consumed much of foreign policymakers’ attention for decades. In recent years, however, scholars and policymakers have started to question the region’s importance to the United States and whether Washington may be too deeply involved in the Middle East.

Have U.S. exertions in the region produced important victories for U.S. national security? In an era of growing needs at home and in other regions abroad, should the United States double down in the Middle East, deemphasize its military engagement, or withdraw entirely? What does the United States need from the region, and what is the best way to get it?

Please join us for a virtual policy forum with a diverse panel of experts.

## Additional Resources

- *[The Case for Withdrawing From the Middle East](https://www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/the-case-for-withdrawing-from-the-middle-east)* by Justin Logan
- *[Desert Shield of the Republic? A Realist Case for Abandoning the Middle East](https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/SPAA9G4STUAN2DUVGGSH/full?target=10.1080%2F09636412.2021.1885727&)* by David Blagden and Patrick Porter
- *[Reimagining U.S. Strategy in the Middle East](https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA958-1.html)* by Dalia Dassa Kaye, Linda Robinson, Jeffrey Martini, Nathan Vest, and Ashley L. Rhoades

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