Transcript US involvement in the ME

United States Involvement
in the Middle East
British Mandate
•Post WWI British colony
British Backed Monarchy
•King chosen by England
Dictatorships
•1958 Baath Revolution
•Secular (non-religious) government
•Uses oil $ for government projects
King Faisal I of Iraq
Original caption: Death of King Faisal. Faisal, King of Iraq, whose sudden death is just
announced.
Image: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS
Date Photographed:
ca. 1930
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Leader of Iran assassinated by CIA when he
began making oil deals with the USSR in the
Cold War
The US put a pro-Western Shah in power who
began a system of modernization in a very
traditional Muslim nation in the 1950s
In the 1970s, a revolution against the Shah
occurred by Muslim students who hated the
Western interference.
Led by the Ayatollah Khomeini
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A diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States
where 53 Americans were held hostage for 444 days
from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a
group of Islamist students and militants took over the
American embassy in support of the Iranian
Revolution.
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Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 following a long history of border disputes and
fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority
influenced by the Iranian Revolution.
For the next six years the war came at a great cost in lives and economic
damage - a half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers as well as civilians are
believed to have died in the war with many more injured and wounded.
Saddam Hussein was one of the leaders paid by the US government to
fight against the Iranians; especially since the humiliation of the hostage
crisis
As a member of the Baath Party, he began to eliminate opponents after the
war and seize power.
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Oil
Stop Terrorists
Spread democracy
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Iraq claimed the land
Claimed Kuwait was
stealing oil (“slant
drilling”)
$ owed to other
countries for
previous Iran-Iraq
War.
Hussein thought no
one would stop him
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Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, under the direction of
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi army took control of Kuwait in a very short amount of
time.
The United nations responded to the Iraqi invasion by demanding
that Iraq withdraw its troops from Kuwait.
The United nations asked other countries to cut off trade to Iraq
(Embargo) in an attempt to force them to withdraw, that attempt
failed.
The United States and thirty other countries formed a coalition
and began sending military troops into Saudi Arabia over the next
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The united Nations set a date for Iraq to leave
Kuwait, Iraq rejected the date and refused to leave.
The U.S. and their allies began attacking Iraq
through the use of air power then by a ground
assault.
After a devastating battle resulting in many Iraqi
deaths, the Iraqi’s were driven out of Kuwait.
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Although the war was a decisive military victory for the coalition,
Kuwait and Iraq suffered enormous property damage, and Saddam
Hussein was not removed from power.
In fact, Hussein was free to turn his attention to suppressing internal Shiite
and Kurd revolts, which the U.S.-led coalition did not support, in part
because of concerns over the possible breakup of Iraq if the revolts were
successful.
Coalition peace terms were agreed to by Iraq, but every effort was made
by the Iraqis to frustrate implementation of the terms, particularly UN
weapons inspections.
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Al-Qaeda seeks to rid Muslim countries of what it sees as
the influence of the West and replace their governments
with fundamentalist Islamic regimes.
“Al-Qaeda” is Arabic for “The Base.”
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Al-Qaeda grew out of the opposition to the 1979 Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan.
In the 1980s, bin Laden and the Palestinian religious scholar Abdullah
Azzam, recruited, trained, and financed thousands of foreign
mujahadeen, or holy warriors, from more than fifty countries. Bin Laden
wanted these fighters to continue the "holy war" beyond Afghanistan. He
formed al-Qaeda around 1988.
Al-Qaeda was funded by the U.S. during the Cold War in order to help
bring down communism
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There is no single headquarters.
From 1991 to 1996, al-Qaeda worked out of Pakistan along the
Afghan border, or inside Pakistani cities.
Al-Qaeda has autonomous underground cells in some 100
countries, including the United States.
Law enforcement has broken up al-Qaeda cells in the United
Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Germany,
Albania, Uganda, and elsewhere.
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It’s impossible to say precisely, because al-Qaeda is
decentralized.
Estimates range from several hundred to several thousand
members.
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Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group
Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen)
Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Iraq)
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir)
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Algeria) (formerly Salafist
Group for Call and Combat)
Armed Islamic Group (Algeria)
Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines)
Jemaah Islamiya (Southeast Asia)
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The February 2006 attack on the Abqaiq petroleum processing
facility, the largest such facility in the world, in Saudi Arabia.
The July 2005 bombings of the London public transportation
system.
The March 2004 bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains, which
killed nearly 200 people and left more than 1,800 injured.
The May 2003 car bomb attacks on three residential compounds in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The November 2002 car bomb attack and a failed attempt to shoot
down an Israeli jetliner with shoulder-fired missiles, both in
Mombasa, Kenya.
The October 2002 attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen.
Several spring 2002 bombings in Pakistan.
The April 2002 explosion of a fuel tanker outside a synagogue in
Tunisia.
The October 2000 U.S.S. Cole bombing.
The August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya,
and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
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While the nation was concerned with Clinton’s
scandals, many terrorist organizations gained
strength.
The government knew about several threats,
including Al-Qaeda and had the opportunity to
assassinate bin Laden.
Clinton was unwilling and unable to do
anything due to his lack of popularity
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On September 11, 2001, alQaeda attacked two
targets in the U.S.
They hijacked four
airplanes and
intentionally crashed two
of them into the World
Trade Center in new York.
The third plane was
crashed into the Pentagon
in Virginia and the fourth
crashed in rural
Pennsylvania in route to
its target, the White House
in Washington, D.C. The
terrorist attacks on that
day killed nearly 3,000
people.
• The reasons that Middle Eastern terrorists have
targeted Americans are as follows:
For supporting the wealthy Middle Eastern
kingdoms and families through the oil industry
 For spreading Western ideas and threatening
traditional values
 For supporting Israel
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After al-Qaeda’s
September 11, 2001,
attacks on America, the
United States launched
a war in Afghanistan to
destroy al-Qaeda’s
bases there and
overthrow the Taliban,
the country’s Muslim
fundamentalist rulers
who harbored bin
Laden and his
followers.
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Osama bin Laden was blamed for the attacks, U.S. President
George Bush called on other countries to help wage a war on
terrorism to crush al-Qaeda.
In October 2001, U.S., British, and Canadian forces invaded
Afghanistan in search of bin Laden and to destroy al-Qaeda
and their allies the Taliban (Operation Enduring Freedom).
Although bin Laden was never found the grip of the Taliban
and al-Qaeda on Afghanistan was broken.
The U.S. let forces still struggle to control portions of the
country.
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The President also moved to
combat terrorism at home. Less
than a month after the 9/11
attacks, Bush created the Office
of Homeland Security.
A year later, in a major
government reorganization, the
Bush administration created a
new cabinet-level Department of
Homeland Security.
Patriot Act was passed as well
In the State of the Union Address
in January, 2002, President Bush
sent a warning to hostile nations
to stop developing weapons of
mass destruction.
He declared that Iraq, Iran, and
North Korea were an “axis of
evil,” recalling the United States’
enemies in World War II, the
Axis Powers.
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Saddam Hussein was still president of Iraq at the time of the
Afghanistan invasion.
Officials in the U.S government feared connections between
Hussein and al-Qaeda and the allegations that Iraq was building
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s) in the form of Nuclear,
Biological, and Chemical weapons.
The United Nations sent inspectors to Iraq to check for WMD’s
however Iraq failed to allow them to complete their inspections.
In response the U.S. Congress passed an Iraq War Resolution that
authorized the president to go forward with a war in Iraq.
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In march 2003, the U.S. began bombing targets in the
capital of Baghdad.
British, Australian, Polish, and American soldiers
invaded Iraq and defeated the Iraqi army.
Saddam Hussein was captured, put on trial for
crimes against humanity by the Iraqi’s, and later
executed.
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In November, Saddam Hussein
allowed UN weapons inspectors
to resume their search for
weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq.
Two months later they reported
finding no banned weapons.
Despite this report and lack of
support from several key allies,
President Bush declared war on
Iraq.
The war began on March 19th,
2003.
Three weeks, later American
tanks arrived in the Iraqi capital,
Baghdad.
Later that year, Bush declared
the War in Iraq over, though
many of the toughest battles
were still to come.
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Having gone to war in Iraq to
overthrow a tyrant and eliminate
the possibility of weapons of mass
destruction being given to
terrorists, the U.S. found itself
trying to suppress an insurgency,
prevent a civil war, and establish a
new Iraqi government.
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If America pulled troops out too
soon, Iraq might fall into civil war
and provide a safe haven and
breeding ground for terrorist
groups.
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The longer the U.S. stayed, the
more its presence might stir
resentment and support for the
terrorist groups.
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The best solution seemed to be to
get a functioning and democratic
Iraqi government up and running
as fast as possible and then train its
forces to take over the security of
the country.
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Weapons of Mass Destruction were never found in Iraq.
It is difficult to determine how many Iraqis have died since
the invasion, but as of 2007, more than 500,000 Iraqis may
have died according to one study.
Many deaths are due to sectarian violence.
Over 4,000 American soldiers were killed and over 20,000
were wounded in Iraq.
All combat troops were withdrawn by 2010 though sectarian
violence continues.
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To escape the post-9/11 U.S.-led
war in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s
central leadership is believed to
have fled eastward into
Pakistan, securing a safe haven
in loosely governed areas there.
The loss of focus in Afghanistan
due to the Iraq war allowed the
Taliban to rebuild in Pakistan
and extended the war in
Afghanistan to the longest war
in U.S. history.
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Besides being detained, several senior leaders in the network
have died or have been killed in the U.S.-led war against
terrorists.
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At the top was bin Laden. He was killed during a US Special Forces
raid on May 2. 2011 in Pakistan.
A senior al-Qaeda commander, Muhammad Atef, died in the U.S. air
strikes in Afghanistan.
Media reports said Abu Obaidah al-Masri, a senior al-Qaeda leader
believed to be involved in the 2005 London subway and bus bombings
and in planning attacks in Afghanistan, died of hepatitis in Pakistan in
April 2008.
In April 2006, Abdul Rahman al-Muhajir and Abu Bakr al-Suri, two of
al-Qaeda's top bomb makers, were killed in Pakistan.
In January 2008, Abu Laith al-Libi, al-Qaeda’s senior military
commander and a key link between the group and its affiliates in North
Africa, was killed in Pakistan’s tribal areas in a secret U.S. missile strike.
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Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Egyptian Islamic
Jihad, was thought to be bin Laden's top lieutenant
and al-Qaeda's ideological adviser: killed by a US
drone attack.
Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan who was captured by
Pakistani authorities in 2002 but managed to escape
from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005, has
emerged as the public face of al-Qaeda and another
top-level leader. Some counterterrorism experts
consider him a top strategist and a theological scholar,
arguing that his religious scholarship makes him one
of the most effective promoters of global jihad. This
article quotes Jarret Brachman, a former analyst for
the Central Intelligence Agency who is now research
director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West
Point: “I think he has become the heir apparent to
Osama bin Laden in terms of taking over the entire
global jihadist movement.”
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Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian, was an original
member of al-Qaeda's leadership council and had
been a trusted adviser to bin Laden for more than a
decade. He served time in prison in the early 1980s
with deputy leader al-Zawahiri for their role as
conspirators in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat. He was killed June 1, 2010.
Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian, who is believed to be
under house arrest in Iran along with some other top
leaders of the organization. He remains one of the
FBI’s most wanted terrorists.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, an Egyptian and
financial officer of al-Qaeda
Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son and possible
successor, believed killed by a missile attack in 2009.
Adel and Abdullah are wanted for their role in the
1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people.
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The Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who
established the Sunni Muslim extremist group alQaeda in Iraq (AQI) and directed a series of deadly
terror attacks in Iraq—including the beheadings of
kidnapped foreigners—was also associated with alQaeda. Zarqawi pledged his allegiance to bin
Laden in October 2004, and bin Laden praised
Zarqawi as "the prince of al-Qaeda in Iraq."
Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike near
Baghdad in 2006.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri, one of al-Zawahiri’s disciples
since joining the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1982,
succeeded Zarqawi as AQ #1 leader until he was
th
killed on April 18 , 2010
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U.S. officials say several top al-Qaeda leaders are in their
custody. These include a senior lieutenant, Abu
Zubaydah, who was captured in Pakistan in March 2002,
and Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a senior commander in
Afghanistan.
In March 2003, the alleged mastermind of the September
11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and al-Qaeda's
treasurer, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, were also
captured in Pakistan.
They, along with four others detained at Guantanamo
Bay, were charged with murder, terrorism, and violating
rules of war in February 2008.
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Current directions in foreign policy by the Obama
Administration have concerned the use of
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Unmanned drones to strike suspected Al-Qaeda targets
Special forces, like the Navy SEALs, to strike specific targets
Get away from using “boots on the ground”
Problems with the policy include:
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Assassination of “enemy combatants” in territories where we do not
have the right to conduct military operations, like Pakistan
Assassination of U.S. citizens without a trial in foreign territories
Depersonalization of war and foreign targets
Ability to discern military from civilian targets using remote devices
like drones
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Council for Foreign Relations.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/9126/
Retrieved May 13, 2009