Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has been heavily entrenched in the day to day affairs of the Middle East. In many regions of the world, the United States has had a very specific goal for the duration of our relations. For example, in Latin America, the United States has focused their efforts on creating their own sphere of influence and being able to exploit it. This was first seen with the Monroe Doctrine and then again flared during the Cold War during WWII with the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the Middle East, however, a similar overarching theme cannot be found. Based on the time period the United States interests have been vastly different. Initially, our interest was to stop the spread of communism, it then shifted to an interest in oil, and today the United States primarily supports the prevention of terrorist activity as well as democracy promotion.
The United States initially became interested in the region because of it was viewed as easily influenced. Even though most Middle Eastern countries existed as they do today prior to the end of the war, the region was still very young. This made it a prime target for proxy wars throughout the Cold War. The best example of one of these proxy wars was the action which the United States took in Turkey. Both nations believed it was very important to keep the Russian influence at bay, so the United States took direct action in the country under the cover of the Truman Doctrine. This action, however, was not unique to the Middle East though as the United States took similar action in Greece as well. Keeping the USSR from becoming a world power was not simply a goal in the Middle East, but in all regions of the world.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States shifted their focus from keeping the USSR from taking over to selfishly acting in our own interests. Most of the action taken by the United States during this time was to foster a US-led region. For example, the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq had hoped to nationalize the country’s oil supply instead of leaving it in the hands of private corporations. This threatened the United States who believed that with the nationalization of oil, Iran would ramp up the prices. To prevent this from happening the United States supported a coup to oust Mossadeq. The US also intervened in the Lebanese Civil War and a coup in Iraq when they tried to nationalize oil. The United States continued to intervene in the region through the Carter presidency with other famous examples including the Iran Contra during Reagan’s presidency where the United States sold weapons to Iran in hopes of bringing home Iranian held hostages as well as increasing American influence in the region.
Today, the United States’ mission in the region is completely different. Instead of simply trying to remove the political leaders of these countries in order to further the interests of the United States, they try to fix the corrupt regimes present in order to create a safer world environment. Since September 11th, 2001 the Middle East has become known as the home to the majority of terrorist activity thanks to the presence of major terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS among others. By promoting the spread of democracy, the United States is hoping that the people of these nations will select morally just leaders that can be trusted by the international community. If these nations are to elect immoral leaders who abuse their power, then the people will be able to elect a new candidate during the next election. By having the power to determine their own fate, a peaceful transition of power is much more likely. When the United States interferes in the political affairs of another nation chaos tends to result and places both nations in more danger than they were prior to American intervention.
In the 73 years which have passed since the United States first became involved in the Middle East, there have been no obvious interests or patterns that the United States have pursued. The initial goal was to prevent the spread of communism, from the 1950s to the 1990s when Cold War tensions in this region eased the focus became on acquiring more oil, and today, the United States is trying to create peace and stability in the region to make the world a safer place. One could argue that the United States has tried to pursue their own agenda through the region, but that is the goal of every policy agenda. There is no unique aspect to the United States’ policy in the middle east that distinguishes it from any other region.
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