Professional Documents
Culture Documents
US Interests in The Middle East
US Interests in The Middle East
Regional Stability
U.S. policy in the Middle East from the
1940s through the 1960s was a defensive
measure to protect its own interests in
the area and prevent countries from
becoming hostile to the U.S.
Twin Pillar Strategy: U.S. maintained
close relationships with Saudi Arabia and
Iran, fell apart when Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan
Dependency on Oil
Middle East Reserves make up 80%
of worlds known reserves
U.S. dependency on the Middle East
make up about 8-12%
Western Europe imports about 33%
of its oil from the Middle East
Japan imports about 50% of its oil
from the Middle East
Weapons of Mass
Destruction
A. Nuclear Weapons: Israel, Iran, Iraq,
Libya have the ability or have
already developed nuclear weapons
B. After the Persian Gulf War, the U.S.
was amazed to discover just how
advanced the Iraqi nuclear, chemical,
and biological weapons programs
were
Human Rights
1. Defining human rights among different
regions in the world (for example: if a
religion teaches that women should be
subservient to men, are their rights being
violated?)
2. Deciding what policies the U.S. should
implement (for example: should the U.S.
apply political or economic pressure on a
country to change its human rights
practices?)