United
States Relations in The Middle East
Countries
tend to think of the United States as the world police. Throughout our very
short history the United States has been known to go into other countries and
force our help, whether they ask for it or not. The United States is divided
where some Americans think that since we have the resources and the man power
we should be helping other countries, while other Americans think we should
stay out of other countries problems and fix our own issues first. The United
States has a lot of interest and involvement over in the Middle East. Since
2011 the Middle East has been going through really hard times with countries
like Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria revolting against their government. The United
States has made its way to somehow get involved in each of these three
countries during the uprisings, shocking! Has the United States government and military
involvement been a positive or negative impact in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria?
Have we been helpful or caused more harm to these countries?
The United States has been very close
to Tunisia for many centuries. On March 26, 1799 The United States and Tunisia
concluded the first agreement of friendship and trade. This treaty was made to
end the attacks of the Barbary pirates on American commercial shipping in the
Mediterranean Sea. There was a small war between them because the pirates did
not hold up their part of the deal. After the small war was settled, there have
been generally positive relations between the United States and Tunisia
continuing from the middle 1800’s to the present day. In March 1957 the two
countries made an agreement for American economic and technical aid that was
signed in Tunis. Over 35 years the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) made available over $1.4 billion in low interest loans,
grants, technical assistance, and sales/grants of agricultural commodities in
Tunisia. (Embassy Tunisia)
On December 17, 2010 Mohammed Bouazizi set himself aflame
out of rage. He was selling fruit without a license and the authorities came
and took his scale. When approaching the police he was slapped across the face
and this led to what is known as the start to the Tunisia revolution, as well
as the Arab Spring. After years of the corrupted regime the people of Tunisia
had enough and were starting to take a stand in order to help their country.
Following Bouaziz tragic death, came protests from the citizens of Tunisia
their demands were to end Dictator Ben Ali’s rule and to have democratic
elections, this is a quote from Barack Obama to American citizens about our
involvement in Tunisia, “will be the policy of the United States to promote
reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy.” (Embassy of
Tunisia)
Ali had no desire to step down so he turned to
the police and the slaughtering of protesters had begun. One citizen told CBS
said, “Tunisia is one of the most peaceful countries you can ever think of.
Tunisia, people don't have guns. Even robbers don't have guns.” He continued to
say, “And then here we have the ruler, the government asking its police to
shoot its own people using snipers, shooting people with real bullets in their
heads," (CBS) The United States at first started to help the government
during the uprisings, they were still giving the government aid and money for
this revolts. However the United States was rumored to be playing both sides.
Two weeks after Ali fled America started to press its advantage to push for
democratic reforms in the country. According to some rumors in Tunis, the
country’s army chief consulted with Washington before withdrawing his support
from Ben Ali which then sealed the president’s fate (Global Research Tunisia).
In
1922 the United States and Egypt first established diplomatic relations. This
was following Egypt’s independence from the United Kingdom. Since then, the
United States has not only been giving military stability but foreign aid as
well. Between the years of 1928 and 2012 the United States provided Egypt with
$73.1 billion in bilateral foreign aid, including $1.3 billion a year in
military aid from 1987 to the present. (Sharp18). Military aid is the biggest
impact the United States has given Egypt. “U.S policy makers have routinely
justified aid to Egypt as an investment in regional stability, built primarily
on long running military cooperation.” (Sharp 20) However when Egypt started to
go through their uprising the Obama administration was for the people and not
for the government so to speak. In a speech he stated, “We must also build on
our efforts to broaden our engagement beyond elites, so that we reach the
people who will shape the future” (Obama’s speech).
Obama
had asked Mubarak to immediately resign as president on February 24, 2011. The protesters of Egypt took this in a positive way; Egyptians didn't like all of
the press and media that were capturing the revolution because they thought the
Americans were making them look like villains. So for Obama to openly ask the
president to step down was positive in the protesters eyes. It is a struggle
for the United States to support the youth and not the military of Egypt because we are at risk of losing one of our biggest allies. IF the Egyptian
Military were to step out of power the United States could be at a very high
risk in the future. However, if the US doesn't support the protesters than
America will look as though they are against the will of the people. (Newmax.com)
In
most recent news Syria has been having a lot of trouble in their country, and
it is not a safe place to be. There has been a lot of worry that the United
States was going to get involved by sending troops over, thankfully this doesn't seem likely. When Syria established freedom in 1944 from the French the
United States established a diplomatic relation with Syria. Since then the
United States and Syria have made several diplomatic relations in 1967, 1974,
and have been on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1979(US
Relations with Syria). When the revolution started in Syria the Obama
Administration had asked their president Bashar al-Asad to step down, of course
he refused.
Since
March 2011 when the revolution in Syria began the United States has contributed
more than $1.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to respond to the Syrian
crisis. The aid that the United States has provided has all gone to the support
of the protesters. The United States has however provided $260 million in
direct non-lethal support to the moderate Syrian opposition. This money is for
helping the Syrian Coalition, local opposition councils, and civil society
groups provide services to their communities and to extend the rule of law.
These funds are also being distributed to the Free Syrian Army.
From
this research it concludes that these countries have been receiving the United
States finical and military help for years. The aid that America has given
these countries has helped them in both positive and negative ways. The
military aid was a negative factor for the citizens of the countries but it was
positive for the government because America was financing their military. These
three countries might not be where they are today if it wasn't for the money
and aid that America has provided them in the past. The civilians on the other
hand, don’t seem to know why the United States is involved, and just see us as
the world police. The US is trying to maintain a good relationship with each
country for the future, to ensure our allies and previous agreements will still
be intact. Trying to maintain the relationships that we have seen grow in the
past is a major part of why America gets involved with countries. The United
States might seem like big bullies and the world police to some, but in all
they are trying to not only keep the status quo with their agreements, but also
to be there for the protesters in all three countries.
Work cited
"Egypt-US
Relations | Embassy of Egypt, Washington DC." Embassy of Egypt Washington DC.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
"Embassy
of the United States Tunis, Tunisia." Obama's
Speech on U.S. Policies in Middle East and North Africa [Tunisia]. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
"Embassy
of the United States Tunis, Tunisia." Tunisian
American Relations. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
"France
24 - International News 24/7." France
24. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.france24.com/en/20110205-obama-presses-hosni-mubarak-leave-office/>.
"Global
Research." Global
Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
"How a
Slap Sparked Tunisia's Revolution." CBSNews.
CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Obama’s
Speech on U.S. Policies in Middle East and North Africa. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2011/05/20110519124857su0.5616201.html#axzz2yimDB2sT>.
Pearlman,
Wendy. "The Argument Against U.S. Intervention in Syria... And Why It's
Wrong." The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-pearlman/us-syria-intervention_b_4823932.html>.
Sharp,
Jeremy. "Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations." N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33003.pdf>.
"US
Involvement in Egypt Must Be Wiser." Newsmax.
N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.newsmax.com/TawfikHamid/US-Egypt-Mideast-Mubarak/2011/11/27/id/419158/>.
"U.S.
Relations With Syria." U.S.
Department of State. U.S. Department of State, 20 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Apr.
2014. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3580.htm>.
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