United States' Involvement in the Middle East
Introduction
The Middle East first got interference from the West towards the end of 1914 when oil had taken over the political arena; this is when British soldiers landed at Basra, Southern Iraq to protect oil supplies from attacks by neighbouring Persia. During this time, the United States had little interest in the Middle East oil or any other resources from the region. Its ambitions overseas were focused on Latin America East Asia and the Pacific (Alin 180). The oil found in the Middle East has always enchanted global powers, in particular the United States. The romance with America began in earnest in 1934 when geologists from the standard oil of California discovered oil of commercial quantities in the Far East of Saudi Arabia. The enchantment turned into obsession in the years that followed, as was evident in statements from such state leaders as President Jimmy Carter while addressing the state union on June 23, 1980. President Carter made it abundantly clear to the state union that the United States would not take kindly any invasion of the Persian Gulf region by any outside force as this would be viewed as a direct assault on the United States’ interests. President Carter further intimated that the United States would resort to the use of military force, if need be, to thwart such efforts.
Since then, the United States has significantly been involved in all political affairs in the Middle East. They continue to influence the political, social, and economic aspects of the country to maintain their control of the oil in the region. Hence, this essay will cast light on the particular involvement of the United States in the Middle East, and the consequences brought about by the relationship.
Truman administration: 1945-1952
During Harry Truman’s administration, American troops were deployed in Iran to protect Iranian oil and help transfer troops to the Soviet Union during World War II. The British and Soviet soldiers had also been stationed in Iran. Stalin withdrew his forces after the war; this was after Harry Truman protested about their continued presence and also threatened to use military force to drive them out. During this time (Louis & Roger 100). Diplomacy between America and the Middle East was born, and Truman strengthened his relationship with Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi by opposing the Soviet's influence in Iran. America later brought Turkey into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), making it clear to the user that the Middle East was no place for communist ideology.
In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into two, granting Israel 53% and Palestine 43%, Truman oversaw its success. However, the plan had lost support from most of the United Nations member states, especially since there was a rising hostility between the Jews and Palestinians that escalated in 1948 which led to Arabs fleeing after they lost their land. Truman also recognized Israel as a nation 11 minutes after it was created on May 14, 1948.
Eisenhower administration: 1953-1960
In 1953, President Eisenhower gave an order to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to depose Mohammed Mossadegh, the elected leader of the Iranian parliament and an ardent nationalist who openly opposed British and American influence in the country. The coup led to the loss of trust by Iranians for the Americans and nearly tarnished their reputation. In 1956, he ended the attack on Egypt by Israel, France, and Britain (Alin 180). Two years later, he landed his troops in Beirut to protect the Christian regime that was under attack from nationalist forces. The deployment lasted three months and led to the end of a civil war in Lebanon.
Kennedy administration: 1961-1963
According to Bass Warren, in “Support a Friend: Kennedy’s Middle East and the Making of the United States Israel Alliance,” Kennedy tried to develop a special diplomatic relationship with Israel while at the same time trying to diffuse the effects of his predecessors’ policies regarding the cold war about Arab regimes (Tang et al. 540). Kennedy increased aid to the region and worked towards reducing tension between the American and Soviet Union spheres. Fortunately, the United States’ friendship with Israel solidified during his reign. However, he failed to mollify Arab leaders.
Johnson administration: 1963-1968
The six-day war in 1967 led to the Middle East bursting back on the United States’ foreign policy. This is when Israel, pre-empted that the war was characterised by an impending attack from Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, after raising tension from both sides (Fawcett and Louise 67). During the war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrian Golan Heights. She also threatened to move further, in turn, the Soviet Union threatened to attack them if they did. On the other hand, Johnson deployed the American navy in the Mediterranean but also compelled Israel to cease fire on June 10, 1967.
Nixon-ford administration: 1969-1976
After losing in the six-day war, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt tried to gain lost territory in the war fought on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in 1773. Immediately after Egypt gained some ground, their third army was surrounded by an Israeli army led by Ariel Sharon. The Soviets proposed a cease fire and threatened to act unilateraly if it failed (Little and Douglas 100). The United States was faced with the second major conflict by the Soviet Union in the Middle East. A female journalist named Elizabeth described it as Strangelove day after the American forces were put on high alert. However, the administration persuaded Israel to cease fire.
The effects of the war were felt by Americans after oil prices skyrocketed through the 197 Arab oil embargo. Henry Kissinger negotiated disengagement arrangements in 1974 and 1975, which involved both Israel and Syria, then Egypt and Israel. This formally ended the conflicts that had begun in 1973 and led to the two countries being given back their lost land by Israel. However, he left the Palestinian situation untouched, and a military commander known as Saddam Hussein was fast rising in the ranks in Iraq.
Carter administration: 1977-1981
For the period of Jimmy Carter's time as president, his time was marked by an equal share of great victories and losses in the Middle East and the Second World War. On the side of victory, he successfully managed to mediate leading to the Camp David accord in 1978 and a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979. This agreement involved a massive increase in aid from the United States to both countries. As a result, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt months after Israel had attacked Lebanon to repel attacks from the Palestinian liberal organization. Nonetheless, in 1978demonstrations from the Iranian Islamic organisation against Sham Mohammad culminated, leading to the establishment of Ayatollah Ruhollah as their supreme leader in 1979 1 April (Fawcett and Louise 67).
As the situation became worse, some students took 63 Americans hostage on November 4, 1979, at the United States embassy in Tehran. They held 52 of them hostage for approximately 444 days and killed 8 American servicemen after a failed rescue attempt by the military. This hostage situation led to the resignation of Jimmy Carter as president and set back United States policy in the Middle East for many years. The hostages were released after President reign was inaugurated. As the situation escalated, Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviets in 1979; this elicited little response apart from an American boycott of the Summer Olympics that was to take place in Moscow.
Reagan administration: 1981-1989
The progress made by Jimmy Carter in the Middle East was made irrelevant over the next decade. The Israeli army attacked Lebanon for the second time in 1982 June. They advanced into Beirut, the Lebanese capital. However, Reagan found it difficult to condone the war further and called for a cease-fire by Israel. To see it through, American, French, and Italian troops were deployed in Beirut to make sure the PLO militants exited the capital (Little and Douglas 110). Although the fighters withdrew, he returned later and assassinated the Lebanese president-elect General Bashir and led a massacre that saw the killing of 3000 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. In April 1983, the American embassy in Beirut was attacked by a truck bomb killing 63 people. On October 23 of the same year, another bomb attack led to the death of 241 Americans and 57 French troopers which resulted in the American’s withdrawal shortly after.
In 1986, the Iran-contra affair found out that Reagan had negotiated a deal with Iran to exchange arms with hostages, this discredited the United States' claim that they do not negotiate with terrorists. Consequently, the last prisoner was released in December 1991. Throughout Regan’s administration in the 1980s, America showed its support for Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements in territories that were occupied. Also, Saddam Hussein was supported between 1980 and 1988 in the Iran-Iraq war. The United States provided its support to Saddam thinking that he would destabilise the regime in Iran and emerge victorious against the Islamic revolution.
George W. Bush administration: 2001-2008
Bush derided the United States military in operations termed as nation building which became more vigorous after the 9/11 attacks that took place in America. He increased military operations in the Middle East which were not very successful. He was backed by the whole world during an attack in Afghanistan in 2001 October to deal with the Taliban regime which had housed al-Qaeda (Ganzer and Irene 45). He expanded the war in Iraq in the 2003 march but with less backing from other countries. After Saddam Hussein had been toppled, Bush took it as the first step to the birth of democracy in the Middle East.
Conclusion
Since the beginning of Truman’s administration in 1945 when America first took an active role in Middle East politics, it continued to become actively involved and gained interest in the region’s vast oil reserves. President Jimmy Carter declared war on any country that would try to overtake the region in an attempt to maintain its control over the oil. The United States continued to take an active role in Middle East politics after President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to depose the Iranian president-elect Mohammed Mossadegh since he did not take care of America’s interest in the region while in power. The coup threatened America’s reputation, especially from the Middle East people who became suspicious of America since then. The United States’ continued involvement in the Middle East only led to more wars as terrorist groups emerged to oppose their control.
Works Cited
Alin, Erika G. The United States, and the 1958 Lebanon Crisis: American Intervention in the Middle East. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2014.
Fawcett, Louise. International relations of the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Gendzier, Irene L. Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016
Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Print.
Louis, William Roger. The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945-1951: Arab Nationalism, the United States, and Postwar Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Tang, Thomas Li-Ping, and Abdul Hamid Safwat Ibrahim. "Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior revisited: Public personnel in the United States and the Middle East." Public Personnel Management 27.4 (2012): 529-550.
