How American Intervention in the Middle East Undermined Foreign Policy Goals: Part 1

Starting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s covert coup against Iran’s prime minister in 1953, American foreign policy towards the Middle East has consistently represented a series of imperialist intrusions that have actually acted contrary to America's foreign policy goals.

In 1953, Eisenhower ordered the newly-formed CIA to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran., in response to British allegations that he was leading the country in a communist direction. This was a flat-out lie — Mossadegh was actually strictly anti-communist — inspired by Britain’s desire to maintain their oil fields that Mossadegh was threatening to nationalize, which meant Britain would lose revenue. Though multiple attempts by the CIA to remove Mossadegh failed, they persisted, and their propaganda eventually led Iranians to protest against Mossadegh and proclaim Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a CIA-handpicked lover of Western ideals as their new leader.

But even though Pahlavi economically modernized the country and encouraged women’s education, he was a brutal dictator who created a police state and jailed and tortured dissenters. America, seeing him as a necessary evil to defend against communist influences, supported his regime. Pahlavi’s oppressive measures over two decades culminated in the violent Iranian Revolution of 1979, which replaced the pro-Western Pahlavi monarchy with an Islamic fundamentalist autocratic theocracy. Anti-western sentiment was now reflected in the Iranian government, and the revolution would lead to such sentiment spreading to other neighboring countries.

Later in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Again fearing the spread of Communism, America aided and supplied $40 billion worth of arms to the Sunni Muhajideen rebels that fought against the USSR and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. These rebels were the Taliban, and included a man named Osama Bin Laden. They triumphed, and became Afghanistan’s government, which resisted America’s demand for Osama Bin Laden after 9/11, and would fight America in the bloody Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2014.

In another part of the Middle East, the Iran-Iraq War raged from 1980 to 1989. The Reagan administration provided Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s tyrannical leader, with arms and logistical support because they thought he would defeat the new Iranian fundamentalist regime and roll back the changes that had been caused by the Revolution. The effort failed, and America’s aid to Iraq solidified Iranian anti-Western sentiment even further. Furthermore, American aid enabled Hussein to invade Kuwait in 1990, which George H.W. Bush had to respond to by launching Operation Desert Storm and placing troops in Saudi Arabia. Though the operation was successful in repelling the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, it created more anti-Western sentiment and would solidify the start of Osama Bin Laden’s war against America.

The history of American foreign policy in the Middle East is convoluted, and the situation there today reflects that. American actions have consistently undermined their political power, sparked massive conflicts, and solidify dictatorships. These events would pave the way for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the Arab Spring, and other conflicts like the Yemeni and Syrian Civil Wars. Stay tuned for Part 2 for a discussion on more recent interventions.

Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/us-and-middle-east-since-1945-2353681
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/08/james-ostrowski/american-intervention-middle-east/
http://fpif.org/u-s-interventions-dismembered-middle-east/