A Review of the US Middle East Policy from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton
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Issue 34, January 2021 United States: A Review of the US Middle East Policy from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton Kardo RACHED Salam ABDULRAHMAN Abstract: Since the Second World War, the Middle East has been mentioned in connection with policy in the Middle East from Truman to Clinton on the premise that the US foreign policy has contributedthe national tointerest creating of America a breeding manifested ground for by dissatisfactionUS presidents. Thistoward paper the looksUS In atthis the context, US foreign the paper focuses on the doctrines in use from the time of President Truman to Clinton. Thus, every American president has a doctrine, and this doctrine tells what political line the president fol- lows regarding domestic and foreign policies. Keywords: Middle-East, Israel, US national interest, Soviet Union, Natural resources, ideologies. Introduction Kardo RACHED Sakarya University, Turkey startedIn the showingwake of interest the Second in the MiddleWorld East.War E-mail: [email protected] With(WWII), Harry the Truman’s United States uncompromised of America (US)sup- Salam ABDULRAHMAN port for the newly created state in Palestine, University of Human Development, Iraq Israel, the Middle-East became an essential E-mail: [email protected] part of the US global policy. The US isolation policy that advocated non-involvement in Issue 34, January 2021, pp. 45-65 entanglement in international politics dur- Conflict Studies Quarterly ingthe theEuropean 1930s, andgave Asian space conflicts to Britain, and France, non- DOI: 10.24193/csq.34.3 and Germany to act actively and indepen- Published First Online: 05 January /2021 dently in the Middle East. However, the dev- 45 Conflict Studies Quarterly astating economic consequences of the WWI and its impact on the US economy pushed WWII, a radical change occurred in the USpolicy towards the Middle- East to preserve itsthe vital policymakers security interests in this country there. Three to rethink essential their pillars isolationist have played policy. aIn crucial the aftermath role in the of US Middle East post-war policy: 1. Preventing the Soviet threat and its impact on the region, 2. Keeping Israel secure, 3. TheMaintaining Concept of Civilisationstability in the and area American to ensure Foreign oil flow Policy to the US and the West. The 20th century can also be called the American century. In the second half of the 20thcentury, the US became dominant in world politics and the global economy. US dominance was based on a combination of economic, political, and military power and on an ideology that the US stands for values that the world should take to heart. To recall ex-president“There is George a value W. system Bush youafter cannot the 11/9/2001 compromise assault, with, who and itsaid: is the values we salute. Moreover, if these values are good enough for our people, they should also be good enough for others, not to impose it because they are God-created values. They are values of freedom and human rights and maternal love for th The Americantheir children power (Andersen, in the second 2003, half pp. of the46-47)”. 20 century was used to promote American communism. It has indeed been the US self-perception that they must subjugate the values worldwide, first in a showdown with Nazism and Japanese militarism, then with Bush said in the presidential campaign in 2000, “Our nation is chosen by God and com- non-civilized areas and give them part of American values (Rose, 2000). As George W. missionedDuring the by Cold history War, to American be a model politicians to the world” managed (Nielsen, to convince 2003). many traditionally of life. We may also remember that America helped to motivate European counties after WWIIisolationist to establish (Nye, 2014) a military Americans alliance that to communism defend their was common a threat interests. to the American In 1948, waythis alliance was first called the Western Union and later became known as NATO (Yost, defence2014). International program and responsibility foreign policy. and There participation was a radical in NATO change were in American observed security reverse andorder Middle the US East wanted policy to when make Ronald the world Reagan safe, came but to also power because because it was Reagan’s part of view US self-was that the war against communism must be won at any cost. Therefore, the war against communism had priority over all other things. 46 Issue 34, January 2021 Since the Second World War, the US government has faced many problems in the Middle East, among which was the continuing conflict between the Zionist state in Palestine stilland activethe Arab in thestates. region, This the conflict Arab countrieswas the reason were ledwhy by the conservatives. Arab world becameHowever, divided in the between conservative and radical states. In 1945, when the European influence was following decades, the power was taken over by radical forces in Syria (l949), Egypt (1952), and Iraq (1958). In the middle of the 1960s, Palestinians in exile founded the group known as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which aimed to work forFollowing the formation this, the of US a Palestinian government state developed (Spiegel, three 1985). primary objectives in the Middle East. First, it defended the right of Israel to exist. Behind this attitude were mainly domestic political pressure, humanitarian and theological terms, and the need for a reliable strategic ally in the region. Second, it supported peace in the region on the as- sumption that war and unrest would allow the Soviet Union to gain political or military influence. Finally, the US continually sought to reduce the spread of revolutionary Arab withnationalism the power for thebalance sake thatof Western existed strategic between and Israel, economic the conservative interests, includingArab states, access and theto oil radical and preventing Arab states, Moscow the US policiesfrom gaining often soughtpolitical to influence strengthen (Rubin, both Israel2002). and Faced the conservative Arabs. Truman and Eisenhower’s Middle East policy recognitionThe first US Presidentof the new to state. recognise The president Israel as aparticipated state was Harry as a facilitator Truman. On when May Israel 14, 1948, was after an eleven-minute meeting with the Zionist leaders, he officially announced his Zionist claim that 100,000 Jewish refugees should be allowed to immigrate to Palestine, atfounded the same during time his thousands first presidential of Palestinians term. Inwere August forced 1945, to leave he publicly their homeland. supported After the the presidential election in 1948, Truman pledged the US support for Israel and granted worsening of the US relationship with the Arab governments and those who opposed a loan of $90 million (Bar-Siman-Tov, 1998). His support for Israel was the cause of the the extensive immigration to the Jewish state in Palestine. For the first time, terrorists- tractedcarried aout great a bomb sentiment attack of on anti-Americanism. the American theatre Thus, in the Cairo, US was in which seen as five a Neo-Colonial people were power,killed. Truman’s replacing support the old forEuropean Israel also colonialists. challenged the Arab nationalist ideology and at After Truman, Eisenhower came to power at a time when the centre of gravity in the of Egypt with a pan-Arabism ideology depicted the Western countries and the US as US-Soviet rivalry moved to the Middle East thanks to the Nasser who was the president 47 Conflict Studies Quarterly needed to convince the Arabs that the US policy was impartial and neutral, while at the mainsame reasontime, he for was the trying Arab nation’shard to placatebackwardness the Arab (Robby, states 2020).so much Then, that Eisenhower they would refrain from providing facilities to the Soviet Union. It was clear that unrest would lead to afriendly weakening governments of Western in influence the Middle in the East, region especially and possibly those threatenedincrease Soviet by the influence Soviet Union’s(Spiegel, expansionist 1985). In March foreign 1957, policy. Eisenhower The doctrine pledged was intendedfinancial aidto: and troop support 1. Prevent Moscow from gaining a foothold in the Middle East, 2. Placate growing nationalism and control modernisation, and 3. The Maintainproblem accesswith Eisenhower’s to oil and otherwise doctrine stabilise was that the it gave region the (Yaqub, US the right2006). to interfere in the entire region with no regard for the Arab National sovereignty. His doctrine did not improve US relations with the Arab world because the doctrine was utterly contrary to Arab interests. There was widespread support in the Arab world for the Egyptian leader Nasser, Israel’s primary opponent. He led a media campaign against the conservative states of the Arab world, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. There was a popular rebellion against King Hussein, and the rebels were about to overthrow his regime. However, Eisenhower sent $10 million as emergency aid and moved the US Navy to the Mediterranean to prepare for a possible military intervention in Jordan. Jordan was essential for the United States because King Hussein had a moderate policy Johntowards F. Kennedy Israel, and and he Arabwas against nationalism nationalism (Spiller, 1981). The American relations with the radical Arab states were beginning to improve during the presidential term of John F. Kennedy, who had a subjective understanding of Arab by sending diplomats to Cairo. The Arabs initially rejected his plan for the Middle East nationalism. He was the first president who was seeking a rapprochement with Nasser Israelibecause plan. he proposed As the mid-term to finance elections the settlement of 1962 approached, of Palestinian Kennedy refugees eased in Iraq the and US Syria.pres- The proposal, which was justified by Israel’s overpopulation problems, looked like an Richardsure on Israel, Nixon and and the the refugee Cold War crisis remained unresolved (Spiegel, 1985).