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In seven episodes, the\xa0Babel: U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East\xa0podcast miniseries will take a closer look at two decades of heightened U.S. engagement in the region. Over seven weeks, Babel will cover how the United States has used its military, economic, diplomatic, and soft power tools in the Middle East\u2014and how the Middle East has responded.\xa0\xa0\nIn part two, Jon traces the story of the last two decades of heavy U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, identifying how it\u2019s changed the U.S. military and the way that the United States engages in the region. He speaks with Gen. Joseph Votel, a career army officer with over 40 years of service, most recently as commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2016 to 2019; Eliot Cohen, the Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy at CSIS who served as counselor for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the height of the surge in Iraq; and Kori Schake, a member of the National Security Council during President Bush\u2019s first term and the deputy director of policy planning at the State Department in his second term.\n\nKori Schake, Jim Mattis, Jim Ellis, and Joe Felter, \u201cDefense in Depth: Why U.S. Security Depends on Alliances\u2014Now More Than Ever,\u201d Foreign Affairs, November 23, 2020.\xa0\n\nJoseph Votel, "Between Then and Now, They Did Not Die in Vain," Defense One, September 9, 2021.\n\nEliot Cohen, The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (New York: Basic Books, 2016).\xa0\xa0\n\nTranscript,\xa0"U.S. Power and Influence in the Middle East: Part Two,"\xa0CSIS, March 15, 2022.