>>>if we weren't a 'presence' in that region, all hell would break out within a year - and don't think Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates aren't acutely aware of it.<<<
Israel is politically unto itself in relationship to America, and very different from the other nations you mentioned, most of which have royal families needing US support to stay at the top. I also noticed you left out Palestine.
Anyway, rather than fire up some language from myself which I suspect will impact you the wrong way, here's some interesting reading, excerpts from some interesting sites:
>>>Concerned about growing Soviet influence in Iran during the Cold War, the U.S. toppled the regime of Iran's elected prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq, who intended to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. The U.S.-backed coup against Mossadeq in 1953 reinforced the power of the young Mohammed Reza, Shah of Iran.<<<
>>>The U.S. supported Iraq's Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when Iran's new post-revolutionary Islamic regime appeared to be the region's biggest threat.<<<
>>>Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. dollars and military assistance continue to flow to regimes cited by human rights monitors for violations of human rights or lack of democracy, including Saudi Arabia (where a Wahhabi regime limits women's rights), Turkey (which has suppressed the movement for Kurdish autonomy), Israel (which doesn't enforce equal rights for its Arab citizens), and the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak (where an Egyptian American was jailed for encouraging voter participation).<<<
>>>he U.S. also supported the military coups in Tunisia (to depose President Bourguiba) and in Algeria, when the Islamists appeared close to winning a national election -- and winning it fairly. Recently, the U.S. supported the transfer of power in Syria from the late Hafez al-Asad to his son despite Syria's supposedly republican form of government.<<<
pbs.org
>>>Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, all these countries, Libya, North Africa. Millions and millions of people see American officials at peace [who] support, prop up extremely corrupt, crumbling regimes in the Middle East, regimes that have no sympathy for any democratic notion in their countries. They have no notion of support in any kind of human rights for their own people.
But they see Americans appeasing them. They see Americans supporting them -- and I'm talking about the American officials here, many administrations. This is not only restricted to the current administration. So they view this as an act of hostility towards the people of these countries.<<<
>>>The other factor, which is also specific to Saudis, is that they always look at America as conspiring with their leaders, with the royal family in looting the country's resources. Who can believe that a country pumping nine million barrels a day with a small population, between 15 million and 20 million, is in a $200 billion debt now? Why would this country go into this debt? This country has had an income of $3 trillion in the last 25 years, 20 or 25 years. Why would we end up with a $200 billion debt, 130 percent of our GNP?
Why would this happen unless their people say unless there is a massive loot of our resources by a conspiracy between the royal family and the Americans? So that is a specific reason for hate inside Saudi Arabia.<<<
pbs.org
>>>Continuing American military power and domestic lifestyles depend on available access to Middle Eastern oil and reasonably low world petroleum prices. Thus, U.S. foreign policy initiatives work to support the stability of pro-U.S. governments, prevent anti-U.S. powers or blocs from forming, and reduce tension and potential armed conflict in the region.<<<
>>>Because the Middle East has the world's largest deposits of oil (55 percent of the world's reserves) in an easily extracted form, Middle Eastern oil continues to be necessary to the United States. American dependence on foreign oil has grown steadily over the years; currently about 55 percent of the oil consumed in the U.S. is imported. This reliance on foreign oil leaves the country vulnerable to unilateral political and economic acts by oil producing countries. For example, although the U.S. advocated economic sanctions against Iraq after the Gulf War, 9 percent of the oil used by Americans after the war still came from Iraq, shipped through other countries.<<<
>>>Uneven distribution of petroleum deposits has created a disparity of wealth and power in the Middle East. Gulf countries with relatively small populations have the most oil. When workers from countries with large, poor populations, such as Egypt, come to the Gulf region to work, they are often treated as second-class citizens. Meanwhile, wealthy Saudis and Kuwaitis may vacation in Egypt, openly drinking alcohol and displaying other behaviors that would not be permitted in their home countries. Even within oil-rich nations themselves, there is a large gap between rich and poor.<<<
>>>Oil will continue to be an important regional and global issue. In fact, some question whether one reason the U.S. seeks to maintain influence in Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban is American interest in Central Asian oil and a possible pipeline through Afghanistan. Some estimates show that by 2050, landlocked Central Asia will provide more than 80 percent of the oil distributed to the U.S. As a result, the control of pipelines through Afghanistan or Turkey to distribution centers will be of increasing importance to the United States.<<<
pbs.org
Meanwhile, this, too, is grim:
allahuakhbar.com |
