Jake Sullivan’s embarrassing essay shows how clueless Team Biden’s been on the Middle East

If it weren’t taken for granted by now that everything that comes out of the Biden administration is a colossal screwup, it would be shocking that anyone shaping foreign policy for the White House is still employed there.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan’s embarrassing, 7,000-word drivel in Foreign Policy magazine should leave no doubt.

“The Middle East is quieter than it has been in decades,” read his piece — which went to press just days before Hamas’ savage attack on innocent Israelis.

President Biden’s “disciplined approach frees up resources for other global priorities, reduces the risk of new Middle Eastern conflicts, and ensures that U.S. interests are protected on a far more sustainable basis.”

Yes, “challenges remain,” particularly in the West Bank, Sullivan conceded. But “we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.”

Uh, you fell for Hamas’ grand charade, is more like.

And so much for Biden’s “direct diplomacy” between Israelis and Palestinians being “restored.”

Fact is, while Team Biden was patting itself on the back, Hamas — likely in cahoots with Iran — was preparing for a major terrorist operation that now threatens to enflame the entire region.

Nice work, guys.

So: Did Sullivan and his White House cohorts learn their lesson when Hamas struck on Oct. 7?

Ha! Look at the “updates” to the online version of the piece that Foreign Policy let Sullivan make after the attack.

Some of the self-congratulatory sections were cut. Added were lines like: “The October 7 attacks [in Israel] have cast a shadow over the entire regional picture, the repercussions of which are still playing out, including the risk of significant regional escalation.”

I’ll say!

What followed what was an inexplicable (if somewhat predictable) assertion by Sullivan that the “disciplined approach in the Middle East that we have pursued remains core to our posture and planning as we deal with this crisis.”

Translation: We’ve done nothing wrong, and we’re sticking with our shameful, out-to-lunch Middle East policy even now.

Anyone with a shred of self-respect would’ve asked that the entire article be deleted and then resigned his position and headed to the North Pole to live out his days in shame.

Yet Sullivan & Co. always say they’ve done a great job, no matter how clueless they are and how dismal the situation.

Each passing month brings a new round of depressing news on record-high border crossings, rising prices, high interest rates — and now two wars with major implications for the United States.

But with every development, there’s someone in the Biden White House to tell us that, in fact, everything is awesome.

Worse, Sullivan even had the nerve to trash his predecessors and suggest that he, Biden and their team have righted all of their wrongs.

“We recognized that Washington could no longer afford an undisciplined approach to the use of military force, even as we have mobilized a massive effort to defend Ukraine and stop Russian aggression,” he wrote. “The Biden administration understands the new realities of power. And that is why we will leave America stronger than we found it.”

A normal person reads and cringes.

And worries about the future, given the alarming state of the world that has come to pass under Biden’s presidency.

At least readers now know: The only point in listening to people from the Biden administration, like Sullivan, is to get a sense of just how clueless they really are.

Eddie Scarry is a columnist for The Federalist.