The Reasons for the Strained US Foreign relations in the Gulf Region - Coursework Example

Topic: The Reasons for the Strained US Foreign relations in the Gulf Region Part1: Introduction The US interest in the Persian Gulf region appears to have a historical past. In particular, the Middle East Gulf region has been the epicenter of the geopolitics involving oil production and violence that saw US adopt the Carter doctrine of 1980 (Atkinson 81). Some critics of the US insurgence into the region have argued that the primary interest is to control the valuable petroleum that comes from Kuwait, United Arabs Emirates, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. However, the proponents of the insurgence argue that the US government activity in the Gulf region is anchored on the pursuit to promote global peace and political protection of emerging economies. Goal of the Paper The main aim is to establish sound stand on the impact of US incursion on the foreign relations. Besides, the paper will examine how the relationship of the US and Middle East countries, has over the years transform into a suspicion and mistrust. In addition, the paper will examine how the interplay of Middle East wars, oil production and the global market. Purpose Statement There has been a growing concern about the role of the US in the Gulf security, military activity, and governance. In essence, the United States has become a prominent player in the Persian Gulf because of its status as a leading military power in the modern times. Some critics have argued that the US incursion to the Middle East and oil-rich Gulf region has been motivated by the pursuit to stamp its authority and control the valuable oil product and energy in the global market. In this paper, I argue that the US foreign policy has been severed by its military activities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia border and the Iraq wars. Besides, the interplay of war against terror has significantly polarized the Muslim-dominated region leading to perpetual mistrust and frozen relations. The US involvement has been marred with controversy, the advent of the crisis and political reactions appear to have been provoked by the 1990s Gulf Wars (Hahn 123). In this study, the critical components of the incursions including the reasons and the consequences of the incursion too the foreign relations will be critically analyzed. Many political scientists agree that the geopolitics revolving issues to do with global peace, energy reserve control and ideological divergence of the US and the Middle East are important causal factors that have strained the US and region political stability. Although varied stands exist between those supporting the incursion and those opposing, it is now certain that the US and its relations with world leading energy producers including UAE, Kuwait and Qatar. In the recent past, there has been growing interest to unravel the future of the US diplomacy and foreign relations in the Muslim-dominated nations. One of the major development in the US and East relations was the September 11 terror attack in the US. Immediately, the US response focused on the Middle East. According to the US President then, George Bush, the Middle East was the hub and territory of the heinous groups (Romutsindela 234). As it is, the incursion has been argued as a pursuit for terror groups including the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). One of the perceptions the US has over the entire region is the support of terror groups. Notably, the Kuwait open support for Islam Brotherhood terror activities angered the US leading to several episodes of incursions (Byman and Matthew 231). It is therefore crucial to view the US foreign policy and diplomatic suspicion from the war on terror policy adopted by the US after the September 11, 2001. However, the UAE and Saudi Arabia monarch has enjoyed a substantial cordial relationship with the US government. Since the end of World War Two, the US as both leading economy and military leader, its activities appeared to have a substantial focus on the region. Hence, the 9/11 incidence was not the sole motivator of the entry into the Gulf region (Karim 67). Part 2: Literature Review Energy, Security and Ideology One of the leading contentious issues about the US and the Middle East continued conflicts is the oil and energy reserves. As it is today, the Gulf region remains highly volatile region because of the incursion from the US and the existence of the extremist groups. After the Gulf War of 1990s, the US relations with almost every nation in the Gulf relation began to face foreign relation doldrums resulting in overt opposition from the Islamist nations (Byman and Matthew 231). The common perception has been the ingenuity of the US operations and the perceived goals of patronage over the governments of the region. On the side of the US, the pursuit is purely a global mission to eliminate terror groups and help oust those governments supporting and financing terror groups in the region (Atkinson 83). Certainly, the region vast oil reserves are the cause of conflict between the US and the Gulf region. The US involvement in the Middle East, critics as consistent with the western security policy have argued particularly the Persian Gulf. However, the US interest in the Middle region gained prominence in the post-Cold War era (Byman and Matthew 232). Its ideology that was consistent throughout the period of establishment of liberal democracy was instrumental in stirring political war with the region ideology of absolute Muslim state with conservatism as the pillar of their political system. Confronted with conflict of interest of national ideology and global ideals, the US policy-makers have continue to demonstrate a clear agenda of peace and stemming out the terror groups as a global goal. From the recent Iraq war, 2003 the Americans demonstrated US policy in the Gulf region as driven by the penchant of formulating policies through military conquest of existing regime (Romutsindela 234). This was perhaps the most controversial activity considering the lack of international body ratification. Because the region has been the habitat of autocratic governance, the regional leaders felt threatened by the pattern of the US activities that date back to the early 1990s. Arguably, the ousting of Saddam Hussein of Iraq and establishment of a regime with aid from the US will go down as the peak of the US political activities in the region (Hahn 123). Unique US Foreign Relations in United Arabs Emirates Unlike the volatile Iraq and Kuwait oil and political disputes, the UA has held strategic relationship with the US that dates back to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. At the height of the regional conflict, the UAE signed an agreement with the US allowing a military base of the US at the Emirates soil in 1992. Following this diplomatic development, the UAE was seen as a strategic location to the US activities in the region. Despite the Middle East and the global opposition to the US operations, the US ten years later embarked on the war against Iraq. During this period, the UAE allowed limited military activities at the Dhafra Air Base, Jebel, and Fujairah naval base (Romutsindela 236). In addition, the US and UAE seem to have special ties that make it unique from its Gulf region counterparts. In 2000, the US sold arms worth $8 billion in the UAE including weapons and ammunition (Karim 71). This showed that despite the increased suspicion and mistrust ailing the US in the Gulf region, there exist special relations with the UAE. Other significant ties include the UAE embassy in Washington, the US consulate in Dubai and embassy in Abu Dhabi. These are clear signs of special economic and mutually beneficial ties. However, this US operation and cordial ties were the primary reason for strained relations with Iraq and Kuwait leading to the Kuwait demonstrations. During the demonstration, the core issue was increasing disunity of the Arab nations on handling issues common in Arab countries. Top on the subject was the pattern of UAE and American ties. Besides, the call of Arab unity and the pan-Arab calls have been largely motivated by the growing US influence in the regional military and economic activities (Hahn 124). Qatar, Kuwait and US War on Terror There is no doubt that Qatar has been another anchor and ally of the US in the Gulf region. According to David Cohen, the US Treasurer in department of terrorism and intelligence, Qatar and Kuwait have shown recent support to the Muslim goodwill and Hamas (Romutsindela 237). Notably, Qatar has been implicated for financing the outlawed and most wanted group by the US intelligence groups. Consequently, the US-Qatar relations have been severed after a long period of mutual trust and respect. In Kuwait, the US has always had conflicts with the country, and the support of Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood was largely expected, after being helped to restore its territorial integrity, analysis argues that Kuwait was expected to show anti-terror political commitment, but it has since failed. Kuwait from the start sorts the US intervention to salvage its territorial boundary that was being carved away by the Iraq adamant administration (Hahn 130). As a result, the US military operations against Iraq helped to restore the Kuwait after the 1994 boundary agreement. The military operations served to severe, the already destroyed reputations between the US and Iraq. Despite the concerted effort by the US to restore normalcy in the region, many critics remain skeptical on the commitment of the US presence in the region. Part3: Discussion Although the US has been perceived to be in pursuit for national goal as a leading military and economy, its strategy to pursue terror groups and eliminate extremists in the region has been solid. Many have argued that the US presence in the region since early 1990s has been the cause of the continued regional stability, however, this is unfounded. It is certain that its war against terror served to increase the hatred and frozen relationship with the Middle East governments of Iraq and Kuwait whose activities has shown substantial support of the terror groups (Romutsindela 238). However, serious diplomacy issues amongst its Arab, members, had embroiled the Middle East region. Notably, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991and subsequent Kuwait invitation of the US government to salvage the situation is the display of the commitment of the US to foster peace and protect the sovereignty of each nation as part of global goals of fostering peace and mutual respect in modern foreign relations (Yadzan-Fam 18). Historically, the war in the Middle East unleashed powerful and contradictory forces that have never been experienced in history. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, each nation was determined to expand its military and territorial boundaries with total disregard to the existing international protocols. In addition, the Middle East and specifically the Gulf region remain uncommitted to end the wrangles. Power and conflicts culminated in the Kuwait-Iraq and Iraq-Iran wars. In both cases, Iraq was the intruder, during the same period extremist groups and anarchy was rife in the region (Coutler 147). Hence, the US movement to the region was motivated by the Kuwait gesture. As an established economy, the strategic oil reserves and instability in the region became the determinants in decisions. Carter Doctrine 1980 In order to secure the region from aggression and political stability, the US president signed the Carter Doctrine on 23 January 1980 that stipulated that the US would enter into the Gulf region with military if necessary if its interest is in jeopardy (Atkinson 87). Although the doctrine stirred international relations concern, strategist saw it as an important back-up plan that will secure US as a political power in the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Evidently, the Gulf region was declared a United State national interest after the World War Two. During the national oil crisis in 1979 July, President Carter turned to the region for the energy supply thus increasing the regional strategic importance. However, due to the aftermath of the war, the interest became evident during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Byman and Matthew 243). Modern US-Gulf Region Relations Today, the Gulf region has faced a modern international concern of terrorism and the groups such as Al-Qaeda, Taliban, the Muslim Brotherhood, and ISIS (Romutsindela 244). The growth of suspicion heightened after the September 11 terror attack in the US. After President Bush embarked on the Afghanistan mission and subsequent outing of the government that was supporting terror groups, the US-Gulf region relations experienced doldrums for the second time in the recent history. Karim (88) observe that the gravity of terror is substantial; the Kuwait and Qatar support of the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed terror group has severed their foreign relations with the US. However, the UAE and Saudi Arabia relations in the modern times remain relatively cordial and limited to business. Conclusion After a period of renewed relationship with the Middle East, the events of 9/11 triggered the war on terror policy adopted by the US that culminated in the military incursion in the region. As a result, the US suffered a bad picture in the region. The ousting of the Afghanistan government, despite opposition from the Arab Union was seen as deleterious step that has continued to freeze US-Middle East relations. Works Cited Atkinson, Rick. "War and US Foreign Policy in Middle East." Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. 81-90. Print. Byman, Daniel, and Matthew C. Waxman. Confronting Iraq: U.s. Policy and the Use of Force Since the Gulf War. Santa Monica: RAND, 2000. 231-46. Print. Coulter, Ann H. Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. New York: Crown Forum, 2003. 145-48. Print. Hahn, Peter L. Missions Accomplished?: The United States and Iraq Since World War I. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. 123-31. Print. Karim, Wazir J. "Stratagems and Spoils in US Policy in the Middle East." Globalizations (2011): 67-89. Print. Ramutsindela, Maano, Takashi Yamazaki, Chris Gibson, and Virginie Mamadouh. "Interventions on the meanings of the Obama presidency for US relations with global regions." Political Geography (2010): 234-45. Print. YAZDAN-FAM, MAHMOUD. "Persian Gulf Oil: US Challenges and Policies." (2007): 12-19. Print. Read More