The Reagan Doctrine.

The Reagan administration's policies toward the Middle East were at least partially informed by the Reagan doctrine, which pledged U.S. support to nations faced with a perceived Communist threat and promised to assist guerrilla groups that sought to displace Marxist governments.

Lebanon.

The crown jewel of President Jimmy Carter's Middle East policy was the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, a positive contribution toward peace in the region that was later overshadowed in the court of public opinion by the debacle of the hostage crisis in Tehran. The Reagan administration fumbled its way through Middle East policy making. A crucial problem was the civil war in Lebanon. Palestinian refugees from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan radically altered the delicate political balance in Lebanon. The Palestinians used bases in southern Lebanon to challenge the Israelis. Other...