The recent events in Syria have once again brought the issue of US intervention in the Middle East to the forefront. On Tuesday, Donald Trump abruptly reversed course on his recent ban on immigration from some Middle Eastern countries, allowing Syrian refugees to enter the United States. As the debate on military action in Syria continues to rage on social media, particularly on Twitter, it is important to review the history of US involvement in the Middle East. It is a history that is both long and complex, filled with contradictions, errors, and missed opportunities. If we are to understand the roots of the conflict in Syria and how the US can best fight to end it, we must look at the past. Only by learning from the mistakes of the past can we hope to improve the future.
American ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ With the Turks
It was originally established in 1881, but was not until the 20th century that the United States would truly come to its full potential. The Middle East was then called “the spice rack” or “the little brown brother” of the United States due to the vast amounts of oil that were discovered in the region. The region’s only major export, besides oil, is Islamic militants. Since the end of the Cold War, the region has been the source of contention between the United States and Russia, as well as other powers, such as France and Great Britain. For much of the 20th century, the US mainly kept its distance from the Middle East, focusing instead on its “white” European neighbors. It wasn’t until the early 1960s that the United States would begin establishing ties with the Middle East, a region it had previously ignored. This came as a result of the Arab–Israeli conflict, which began in the mid-1950s and reached its peak during the Six-Day War in June 1967.
The Eisenhower Doctrine
While the United States maintained strong ties with Israel during the early years of the Arab–Israeli conflict, it did not take a direct role in the war. That changed in 1956, with the so-called “Eisenhower Doctrine,” which was named after the then-president of the United States. In a televised address to the nation on January 17, 1956, Eisenhower stated:
“I shall now read a statement that may well take on greater significance in the years to come. The defense of the Free World depends upon understanding the danger and meeting it with determined hostility. We must reject as a matter of policy any suggestion that an attempt be made to negotiate with the Soviets about limiting armaments or setting up a neutral zone in Europe. Moreover, it must be said that the first duty of any intelligent nation is to its own citizens, to provide them with security against hunger and unemployment, to give them freedom of speech and assembly, and to protect their human rights. This is the duty that we have undertaken, and it is a duty that we are determined to see carried out.”
The Domino Theory
After the Soviets successfully tested their ballistic missiles in 1956, forcing the US to reconsider its policy, the domino theory was born. The domino theory states that if one country in the region gets its act together and builds up its military might, then the rest will follow suit and also build up their military. If this happens, then all of Europe will be at risk of being taken over by the Soviet Union. In order to prevent this from occurring, the United States began to develop a closer military relationship with Iraq, one of the region’s most powerful countries at the time. The Arab states of the region began to see the domino theory as a real threat and the possibility of their falling to the Soviet Union as a result of America’s new found interest in the Middle East.
The 1958 Lebanon Crisis
During the 1950s and early 1960s, the region was calm for the most part, with the exception of the 1958 Lebanon Crisis. In October of that year, an internal conflict erupted in Lebanon between the pro-Western Christian forces and the Shiite Muslim forces. This conflict was actually caused by the Soviets, who were supporting the Islamic militant group Hizbullah, which later grew to become one of the largest and most powerful militant groups in the entire region. This incident set the stage for the next major conflict, the Six-Day War, which erupted in June 1967 and lasted for six days. With the onset of the war, the US became actively involved in the region, sending both military advisers and logistics personnel. The main military confrontation during the Six-Day War was between the Israeli Army and the Arab Nationalist Army (NLA), which was manned by Egyptians, Iraqis, Syrians, and Yemenis. The IDF was able to successfully defend most of Israel from being physically destroyed, and in some areas, they even managed to capture a lot of territory. This led to the Six-Day War being known as “the victory that kept on giving.”
The Nixon Doctrine
The Six-Day War was a turning point in American foreign policy, establishing a new approach to the Middle East that was aimed at preventing wars and creating stability. In response to the war and the increased American interest in the region, the Nixon administration adopted a “Nixon Doctrine” that focused on preventing the spread of communism and supporting “friendly” Arab regimes.
The doctrine relied heavily on the anti-communist sentiments of the time, coupled with the Arab–Israeli conflict, and the fact that the majority of the Arab states then belonged to the Soviet Union. After a series of secret meetings and an exchange of letters, the Soviet Union decided to withdraw their military from the region, ending the Cold War and the Arab–Israeli conflict. This effectively ended the Nixon Doctrine and the military cooperation between the US and Iraq, which had lasted for more than a decade.
The Reagan Doctrine
In the decades that followed, American involvement in the Middle East would slowly decline, as the region became less of a priority and more of a “residency ban.” The focus would then shift to Central America, where more US troops were deployed. However, in the early 2000s, the issue of Islamic militancy and 9/11 changed everything and the US would find itself actively involved in the region once more. When the terrorist attacks of September 11 occurred, the Taliban, which at the time was ruling Afghanistan, refused to hand over Osama bin Laden. This refusal led to the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States in October 2001.
Bin Laden was eventually captured and handed over to the US, which then began hunting down other Al-Qaeda leaders. The invasion of Afghanistan also led to the invasion of neighboring Pakistan, where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were based, establishing a new front in the War on Terror. The US would eventually go on to invade Somalia in December 1992, leading to the infamous Black Hawk Down incident, where 18 American soldiers were killed and 39 were wounded in a series of gun battles with Somalian soldiers in September 1993. The last invasion the US would conduct in the Middle East would be the 2011 Libyan Civil War, where a NATO led coalition attacked and eventually overthrew the government of Muammar Gaddafi, setting the stage for the country to become a major source of both oil and refugees. However, the civil war in Libya later split the country, with factions of the country’s armed forces battling each other for power and control of the country’s vast oil reserves.
The 2003 Invasion Of Iraq
The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the culmination of both the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. While the Taliban were willing to negotiate an end to the Afghanistan War, Saddam Hussein, the then-leader of Iraq, was not. In order to overthrow Saddam Hussein and get rid of the “weapons of mass destruction” he was believed to have, the US invaded Iraq, sparking the so-called “Second Iraq War.” The invasion was relatively bloodless, with a formal declaration of victory being made in June 2009, exactly ten years after the invasion started.
The ‘Arab Spring’ And Upcoming Conflicts
Since the end of the Iraq War and the withdrawal of foreign forces, the ‘Arab Spring’ has been a period of great instability in the Middle East, with several countries in the region, especially Syria, descending into chaos and civil war. This has, in part, been a result of the region’s oil boom, which saw several prominent leaders come to power during the Arab Spring. However, it has also been a result of foreign intervention, with several countries, particularly in the Middle East, turning to aggressive dictatorships in an attempt to remain stable. The most recent example of this is Saudi Arabia, where Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the bombing of a Shiite mosque last year, killing hundreds.