Calling off the Search for Peace in the Middle East

America may still want peace in the Middle East, but it no longer needs it.

Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin upon completion of the Camp David Accords, 1979

Since the 1970s the Middle East has been the linchpin of US foreign policy. The region was an essential source of oil and increasingly represented the primary source of international terrorism and conflict. In combination with the promotion of democracy, WMD disarmament, and the need to protect Israel…