United States relationship with the Middle East
The United States has, for a long time, been involved in the idle. The cold war enhanced the involvement, but unlike Europe and other regions that have had a longstanding interest in the Middle East, the fruits of this interest are yet to be realized. Cultural ties and trade relations between the United States and the Middle East remain weak, and the region’s military authority is marginal. The energy supplies and regimes of the middle east played a vital role during the cold war that involved the united states and the then soviet union. In the 1990s, the United States enhanced its security presence in the idle east because it wanted to contain the Saddam Hussein regime and the regime in Iran. Also, it was in the 1990s that Washington tried to bring peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors unsuccessfully. After the 9/11 attacks, the involvement of the united states in the region grew greater. For instance, the US enhanced its counterterrorism cooperation with its allies lie Egypt and Jordan. It also sought the cooperation of some regimes that were previously not its allies like Yemen and Libya.
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq hence triggering a revolution that caused sustained US presence in Iraq until 2011 when the country agreed to remove its troops from Iraq. However, after the US forces left Iraq, a group is known as the ‘Arab Spring’ took over the region, and they negatively impacted United States allies since they created civil wars in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen. Another country that the Arab Spring triggered a civil war was Syria. The Obama administration tried to resist large scale US military operation commitment in the region despite the civil wars. However, with the growth of the Islamic states in Iraq, the United States began airstrikes against the Islamic State forces to help its regional allies and the local partners who were against the group. Currently, the United States still has a considerable interest in the Middle East. The interest is primarily in five areas that are prevention of nuclear production, ensuring a free flow of oil, making sure Israel is secure, fighting terrorism, and ensuring democratization. The Islamic State, other terrorist groups and Iran pose a significant threat to these interests. Therefore, the US continually faces critical challenges in the Middle East that need high-level attention and the commitment of substantial military, diplomatic and economic resources. The essay compares and contrasts how two united states administrations Middle Eastern policy and identifies factors that can explain both examples of success and failures in American Middle Eastern policy with examples.
Presidents Barrack Obama and George bush have different policy approach towards the Middle East despite these approaches having some similarities. The differences were particularly evident because of their conflict resolution strategy. For instance, while President Bush was a war president, President Obama liked to negotiate with the Middle East countries. While President Bush went to war with Iraq because of the 9/11 attacks, President Obama preferred to negotiate with Iran about their nuclear weapons and began to withdraw the united states, troops from Iraq. The horrific 9/11 attacks on the US completely changed the course of the Bush presidency. Until today, it is debatable if war with Iraq would have been part of his foreign policy if the attacks didn’t occur. Before the attack, the first Middle Eastern policy in the Bush administration was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and if peace could be attained. After the attack, the Bush administration became committed to fighting terrorism by advocating for a regime change in Afghanistan. He also delineated the nation he considered to be evil, and they were North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. Also, the war in the Middle East would not have been successful without the US ally Saudi Arabia. Yet, President Bush was not keen on enhancing the relationship with this nation. The Bush administration justified its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by saying that they were significant for the national security of the country since the wars helped democratize the Middle East, and only democracies would not promote terrorism. However, his critics argue that the two wars were illegal and failure in America’s Middle East policy. Furthermore, the Bush administration says that the primary objective of their Middle East policy was to protect Americans in the region. Other purposes were to drive terrorists and illegal militias out of the area and restore basic security to Iraqi.
When Obama was elected president, the United States had been involved in two illegal and costly wars in the Middle East hence prompting the development of the Arab Spring, which is a militia group. Also, despite Iran being one of the nations that contributed to instability in the Middle East, it still had a fir alliance with United States allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. President Obama was likewise expected to continue the legacy of President Bush of enhancing democracy in the Middle East. In his first months in office, President Obama worked towards ensuring that the economy of the US doesn’t collapse. In 2010, Arab nations experienced mass unrests and this included countries that Bush had hoped to democratize. The initial approach of the Obama administration was to speak favorably about the Middle East. However, as the unrests became detrimental to the nations, Obama unlike his predecessor used a more diplomatic and multilateral approach to deal with the issues. He was also sceptical about the use of military force than President Bush and worked through partnerships, diplomatic engagements and institutions that were led by America. It is why the NATO together with the US invaded Libya. Other Middle Eastern nations are also part of NATO, and they are Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan, and this gave credit to the invasion of the US in Libya. However, the intervention is arguably the lowest point of the Obama presidency, and he even admitted that his failure in foreign policy was the intervention of Libya because the United States didn’t have a plan for the Libyan people after the death of their dictator Gaddafi. Also, just like his counter Bush, Obama’s middle east policy was significantly challenged by terrorism.as a president, Obama observed a rebirth of terrorism in the Middle East and, in particular, the Islamic state. Under Obama’s watch, the Islamic state grew vastly in Iraq and Syria hence threatening the peace of Israel and the Middle East in general. In summary, President Obama tried to shift from the Bush foreign policy since he depended a lot on the techniques of the United Nations and tried not to make the mistakes made by President Bush. He made the historic Iran nuclear deal with Iran, who is a known enemy of the US.
A majority of foreign policy experts believe that the United States has failed in its strategy in the Middle East. For instance, the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 has never worked in favor of the US. The invasion drove Saddam Hussein from power hence ensuring massive military victory, but the US had no plan of what would happen after the removal of Saddam Hussein. The failure of US strategy is primarily because the United States lacks consistent plans and actions that go beyond the current events. Also, the United States doesn’t have workable objectives in its efforts to develop a stable post-conflict Iraqi or even in the least show that it serves the interests of Iraqi persons. Currently, the Iraqi military forces are crippled, there are more ethnic divisions, Sunni extremists have been empowered, and there is the threat of the creation of new wars because terrorist groups have made Iraq its base. The inability of united states to deal with political and economic crises in Iraq has led to emergence of groups like ISIS that have threatened to destabilize the middle east.
Additionally, over the years, the US has steadily lost confidence in its Arab strategic partners in the Middle East region. With the increasing threat posed by Iran, the US is not listening to the advice of its partners in the area, and it is enhancing its military presence in the era. The major success is that the United States has been able to protect Israel from the Arab nations in the region. For instance, the United States has made sure that Palestine doesn’t become a significant threat to Israel peace by having its troops in the gulf region. Another success is that of killing Osama bin laden, ultimately wakening the strength of AL Qaeda. Al Qaeda is arguably the dominant terrorist group of the 21st century, and it caused a lot of damage and deaths across the world. With the killing of its leader, the US was able to contain the group.