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Carl Higbie’s latest Frontline segment landed like a wake-up call for patriotic Americans: Washington must not be the world’s unlimited checkbook for rebuilding societies that have repeatedly proven unable or unwilling to govern themselves. Higbie, hosting from the Middle East, challenged the reflexive compassion of the Left and establishment Republicans who rush to pour American blood and treasure into foreign projects without any guarantee of security or reform.
President Trump’s proposal to “take over” the Gaza Strip and rebuild it into what he called the “Riviera of the Middle East” has been widely reported and has predictably set off a fierce debate in capitals and on cable. The idea — that the United States would supervise clearing rubble, dismantling weapons, and remaking the territory — is bold, unprecedented, and raises immediate questions about authority, costs, and who would actually live there.
Even administration allies admit the plan is not simple paperwork; it contemplates resettlement options and, in some formulations, the possibility of U.S. troops providing security during reconstruction. That prospect should alarm any American who remembers the forever wars and the hollow promises that followed them — our priority must be American security, not nation-building experiments that swallow billions and yield instability.
Beyond logistics, the blueprint for Gaza’s future — the so-called GREAT Trust and related proposals — reveals a dangerous mix of corporate optimism and geopolitical wishful thinking that would effectively engineer a forced demographic change under the guise of “voluntary” relocation. Critics across the globe have rightly warned that what is dressed up as a development prospectus smells dangerously like dispossession unless Palestinians are full partners in any plan — and Arab governments are not lining up to take responsibility.
On the ground reality should be the deciding factor. Israeli officials and security experts on Higbie’s show stressed that Gaza has been radically transformed by decades of Islamist indoctrination and terror infrastructure, and that leaving the territory to its own devices without rigorous security controls would be a recipe for future slaughter. If Gazans cannot or will not dismantle the terror networks and cultural drivers of extremism, Americans should refuse to bankroll a reconstruction that simply builds nicer rockets and mortar positions.
There is, however, a narrow path for America to lead without being sucked into empire-building: support Israel’s security, pressure friendly Arab states to contribute money and resettlement solutions, and insist that any reconstruction be tied to complete demilitarization and durable local reform. Recent reports that phase one of a ceasefire and hostage exchanges tied to the broader Trump plan have moved forward underscore the urgency of getting this right — not for global virtue signaling, but to protect American lives and taxpayers.
Hardworking Americans who pay the bills deserve commonsense foreign policy: stand with our ally Israel, demand that our partners carry their share, and say no to open-ended U.S. occupation or reconstruction projects that have historically failed. If Washington wants to lead, let it be with muscle, clarity of purpose, and an ironclad guarantee that American soldiers and dollars are not squandered rebuilding the same failed political structures that produced terror in the first place.
