Did America ever have a plan for the Middle East? | The Economist

What is it about this. region that's meant America's. had to be so involved for so long? Some of it is oil, obviously. Some of it is going. back to the Carter Doctrine, trying to ensure the flow of oil. out of the Middle East. Some of it is Israel, not just pressure from Israel, but the sentimental. ideological attachment. that many American politicians, many Americans, have to Israel. I think that's certainly had a. distorting effect. on American policy in the region. But I would also say. it's been decades. since America. really had a coherent.

Middle East policy. George W. Bush had one, trying to bring. democracy to the region. It wasn't a good policy, it didn't work. But there was an overarching idea. I would say every president. going back to 2011. has just been reactive, Since the start of the Arab Spring. Things happen in the Middle East. America needs to do. something about them. and so America intervenes. But what is the broader. policy or the broader goal. that America is trying to achieve? No one really had an answer. And what's quite weird about this, which you point out. in your briefing this week, Gregg, is that it's not.

that America and the. Middle East. or particular countries. in the Middle East. share an ideological. viewpoint that. America is trying to. bring into place. It's not like Europe post. the second world war. It’s the liberal democracy, the ideas that America claimed. to be trying. to bring in various. of its interventions. It's not something that they're. sort of working together on. It's a really oddly disconnected. I find myself wondering. it's not partly. a historical accident. It so happens. that France and Britain grabbed.

bits of the Middle East. after the first world war. rather than. honouring their promise. to give Arab countries. independence as a reward. for having fought alongside them. And then after Suez, it was clear. that Britain and France. really didn't have the wherewithal. to manage this. And America. kind of inherited it. I wonder if, in the 1920s. actually they'd got independence, whether the whole. history of the region. would be completely different. I think also, let's. give the countries of the region.

a bit of agency in this. Why was America. so involved in the Gulf. in particular? Because Gulf states. wanted it to be, because they were happy. to outsource their security. to the United States. and make this. oil-for-security bargain. with the US. So it wasn't totally the Americans. that did this. It was also. a number of Arab countries. that encouraged this.