http://lobelog.com/for-the-middle-east-its-the-center-for-american-regress/#more-36351

For the Middle East, It’s the Center for American Regress

by Jim Lobe
Last week, I featured a new Atlantic Council report by former Stimson Center president Ellen Laipson in which she argued that the nuclear deal with Iran—and the opportunities for future cooperation with Tehran that it opened up—required “national security officials …to shed old thinking about the near permanence of U.S.-Iran enmity. It will take courage, imagination and perseverance,” she went on, “to seize opportunities even as US national security institutions continue their work to respond to the many challenges Iran poses.”
Well, if she’s looking for new thinking about ties between the two countries, let alone courage and imagination in pursuing new opportunities with Tehran, she’s not going to find it at the Center for American Progress (CAP) if its latest report on Middle East policy is any indication. The 40-plus-page report, “Leveraging U.S. Power in the Middle East: A Blueprint for Strengthening Regional Partnerships,” depicts Iran as an intrinsically bad actor whose “destabilizing influence” across the region should be countered at every turn, “especially in partnership” with “long-standing” allies, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Egypt.

Iran continues to pose a threat to U.S. interests and values in the Middle East and around the world. Tehran aids, abets, and engages in terrorism, prolongs civil wars across the region through support for proxies, works to subvert regional governments, and promulgates regressive norms and values worldwide. Until and unless Iranian behavior and attitudes change, relations between the United States and Iran will likely remain antagonistic.  http://lobelog.com/for-the-middle-east-its-the-center-for-american-regress/#more-36351