History / government - Essay Example

Or, they could have an all-out war with the Middle Eastern nations and install regimes that would be more amenable to Western requirements. Such an act would allow the Western nations to establish a strong base in a geo-politically sensitive area, enabling them to oversee the political developments in Asia as well as Africa. In short, it could have resulted in the creation of another empire – an oil-driven empire this time. Contrary to popular belief, no particular nation can be blamed for the rise in terrorism since the 1970s.

The terrorist movement was a product of its times, which got support and sustenance from various sources. It may not be wrong to state that terrorism, as we know it today, began around the same time as the Yom Kippur war and the resultant oil embargo. A lasting effect of the oil embargo was the financial and commercial growth of the Middle East. Flush with oil money, these countries undertook many initiatives – some legitimate, some with not-so-good intentions. Massive amounts of oil money were used to illegally procure arms and ammunitions as each country vied with the others to maintain supremacy.

Western intervention, especially that of the US, into the politics of the region fueled anti-West antagonism in the region. Here are a few things that if avoided, could have contained the terrorist movement: One of the biggest areas of conflict was the US’ blind support of Israel. This support gave Israel a free hand in the region and allowed the country to practically get away with murder. This in turn strengthened Arab movements like the PLA, Hezbollah, and Hamas among others. Policy makers in the West made wrong calculations with their overt support of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq.

In the 1980s, USA and UK backed Saddam in the Iraq-Iran war and provided the dictator with intelligence support, weapons of mass destruction, and funds. Flush with support, Saddam invaded Kuwait in