Is America’s Interest in the Middle East Growing?

Is America’s Interest in the Middle East Growing?

           Is America’s interest in the Middle East Growing day by day? The involvement of the U.S government in the Middle East as reported by News agencies focus on Arab nations that include Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Palestine, Oman, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. They also cover Israel and Turkey, and some nations in North Africa, considered to be part of the Middle East. Most news reports detailing U.S. interests in these regions mostly portray some of these nations as partners in peace and trade, or opponents of U.S. involvement in the Arab world. The history of the United States in the Middle East reveals noble causes and not-so noble causes, and a gradual involvement in the Middle East. With the landing of the British soldiers in 1914 in Basra to protect the oil supply, the United States had a slight interest in the Middle East. The US president, Woodrow Wilson, rejected an offer by the British government on sharing the defunct Ottoman empire even after the war. The interest of the US government in the Middle East grew in the 21^st century. The initial interest was oil, particularly in the 1930s, but the U.S. developed more interests later. Mixed feelings towards the United States emerged in the second part of the 20^th century after it became apparent that the United States had a hidden agenda. These feelings have often magnified and translated into anti-U.S. campaigns and terrorism, to the point that U.S. citizens have questioned their governments’ involvement in Arab nations. Consequently, the United States has tried to reduce its significance in the region, with recent presidents promising to minimize U.S. presence and reducing U.S. troops in some nations, including Iraq. Oil and terrorist groups grow America’s interest in the Middle East, but these pursuits are a source of danger and distraction, which is why America is backing away from the Middle East.

The United States’ interest in the Middle East, at least initially, was based on oil. The Middle East had vast oil reserves. The nations traded oil on a global market, and the U.S. purchased oil on the market. American leaders supported the kingdom with the hope that they would, in return, get a stable supply of oil. The interest in oil by Americans began in the 1930s when employees of the Standard Oil Company discovered commercial oil quantities in Saudi Arabia (Simmons 24). The nation began producing oil in 1938, and Americans were increasingly interested. After the Second World War, leaders from the United States lured those of the Middle Eastern to secure oil supply for the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Saudi Arabia’s leader Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud met in February 1945, and Roosevelt promised that the U.S. would protect the kingdom if it guaranteed oil supply to the United States (Tucker and Roberts 466).

The arrangement made U.S. presence in the Middle East a common occurrence. The administration of President Eisenhower intervened and forced France, Israel, and Britain to settle their differences in the 1950s  after the Suez Crisis of  1956. This act showed that the former colonial powers of the region were no longer compelling, at least as compared to the United States, and neither were their interests as prevailing. Still, their interests were dwindling each year. The massive interest of the United States was also aimed at containing Soviet influence, as the Cold War was ongoing. As a result, the United States decided to warm up to anti-communists in the Arab national regime.

In 1967, after the Arab-Israeli war, which tangled Israel with, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Washington changed its tactics in the Middle East. The US was the only mediator in the pacification of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which was centered around regional preoccupations. Over time, Israel, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, conflicted with Palestine, whose citizens continuously claimed the lands controlled by Israel. Palestine not only condemned Israel’s more lethal revenge attacks against Palestinians but also detested the United Nations and the United States for not forcing consecutive Israeli regimes to give up Palestinian lands (Moore 952). Despite the increasingly complex interests of the United States, oil is still a significant factor, as evident in the control of Iraqi oil in the 1990s. The Middle East is rich with oil, with Saudi Arabia producing 12 percent of oil, although the United States is leading with about 18 percent oil (Energy Information Agency 1). Another top producer in Russia with 11%, Canada, China, and Iraq (5% each), Iran and UAE (4% each), and Kuwait, which produces 3% (Energy Information Agency 1). The top consumers are the United States (20%) and China (13%), while all other nations consume less than 5% (Energy Information Agency 1). Thus, the United States most likely wants to secure oil supply, as its consumption exceeds production and has more consumption needs than most other nations in the top ten list combined.

Oil interests have mixed with other interests since the 1960s. The need to secure international peace in the region, and particularly secure Israel, made the United States’ leaders more passionate about the events in the Middle East. The 1970s was the decade in which US supremacy was greatly strengthened, despite the revolution in Iran in which protesters stormed the U.S Embassy. The negotiations after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war to others that led up to the Camp David Accords of 1978 (Leng 304) could not help Soviet Union be in a position to compete with the U.S on several activities in which Washington influenced on.  Even prominent Soviet allies, such as Syria under president Hafez Al Assad, which were prominent allies, concluded that they had to open channels for the  U.S. Many nations were intimidated by the U.S into accepting its desires openly. American strategists, after World War II, derived a mechanism to prevent any hostile force from gaining any form of dominion over the regions that had geo-economic and geopolitical significance. This principle continues today, but heightened awareness about hidden intentions make Middle Eastern citizens angry. Most of them develop an anti-US sentiment and host radical groups that eventually avenge on their behalf by bombing, killing Westerners, and holding them hostage for ransoms.

The US attempts at confronting aggressions have taken many shapes over the years, and shifting alliances have characterized U.S policy in the Middle East. In combating and preventing International terrorist groups, America has played a vital role. However, the nation is a recipient of much criticism relating to union with some terrorist groups or even funding some interest groups; the motives are mostly unclear. However, the United States presents itself as an anti-terrorism nation. Much of its anti-terrorist activity happened after the 2001 terrorist attacks of Washington and New York, leading to the destruction of buildings, public property, government installations, and the deaths of thousands of Americans. A few weeks later, the U.S military bombed regions of Iraq and Afghanistan, from where members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda operated. Since the attacks, the nation has embraced numerous security measures at entry points in the United States, and the measures have often been criticized as discriminative of Arabs or Muslims. The United States places massive surveillance on nations in the Middle East and has often used drone technology to conduct surveillance and drop bombs. The nation took a significant percentage of its army to the Middle East, and the US Army and the Central Intelligence Agency have often tried to collect data to help form stable governments. The Obama administration promised to reduce the number of military soldiers in the Middle East. Even though the region experiences moments of stability, it experiences instability, prompting additional forces or delays in taking military soldiers back home.

The anti-terrorism policy has strengthened the US position on the making of weapons of mass destruction. In the Middle East, Iran is the only nation that has manufactured nuclear weapons and thus contravened international law on the same. However, it is ironic that some nations of the world possess nuclear weapons. The feeling that the United Nations and the United States are selective in the implementation of international deals and law on nuclear material attract further anti-US sentiment. According to Karlin and Wittes, “U.S. forces stationed abroad, and the most important U.S. partners, the United States will have to prevent new threats from emerging in the Middle East” (34). Recently, partnerships with Saudi Arabia and support of the invasion of other nations such as Yemen made the US a recipient of additional criticism.

Concerns on high levels of disregard in the Middle East

Radicalism and anger were geared to America after the involvement of the US into the Middle East, and the distraction of the United States from other areas that seemed to have a positive change regarding constructive prospects. Since the 1970s, the role of the U.S has expanded, making the tension omnipresent this was supported by the fact that the U.S built up military resources to help mitigate hostile Iran’s or the Soviet Union from controlling the region.

After the terrorist attacks of 2001, many U.S citizens have complained about the involvement of the United States in the Middle East. Citizens have often complained about massive military spending, which is usually contrasted with a lack of basic amenities for a significant number of people in the United States. Besides, conflicts in the Middle East have often led to an influx of refugees in the US, alongside other nations. The involvement of the Middle East is a distraction that also enhances radicalism. As such, it has become necessary for the United States to focus on other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Africa for trade and borrowing, peace and military deals, and political influences.

In conclusion, the paper has argued that America’s interest has grown in the Middle East due to crude oil and terrorist group interests. However, recent studies reveal that the U.S is turning to other countries for partnership. The Middle East has proven to be a threat and a distraction. Thus, some factors cause America to be interested in the middle east, but some factors cause them a lack of interest.

Works cited

Energy Information Agency. (2019). “What countries are the top producers and consumers of oil?” EIA, https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=709&t=6

Karlin, Mara, and Tamara Wittes. “The Enduring American Presence In The Middle East.” Foreign Affairs. N.p., 2019. Web. 23 Nov. 2019.

Simmons, Matthew R. Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Print.

Leng, Russell J. Bargaining and Learning in Recurring Crises: The Soviet-American, Egyptian-Israeli, and Indo-Pakistani Rivalries. United States of America: The University of Michigan Press, 2000. Print.

Tucker, Spencer, and Priscilla M. Roberts. The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Internet resource.