topic by
real watcher
5/15/2002 (15:25) |
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Amid all the outcry over Zionism and its evil deeds, best not to forget the role of plain old fashioned US imperialism. Western colonialists were ruthlessly exploiting the Middle East before the state of Israel was born.
U.S. Control - That is
the Goal
Tuesday, May 14 2002 @ 01:55 AM GMT
By Robert Jensen and Rahul Mahajan
For Palestine Chronicle
For all the talk of a 'special relationship' between the
United States and Israel, it's clear that for American
policymakers there's nothing particularly special about
their support for Israel or rejection of Palestinian rights.
For all the talk in Washington about peace in the Middle
East, it's clear that American policymakers are not much
concerned about peace.
Instead, the primary aim of U.S. policy in the Middle East
is U.S. dominance over the region and its oil resources,
through support for regimes that play our game and
through our ever-increasing military presence.
To the degree that U.S. policymakers believe backing
Israeli conquest and aggression in Palestine advances
U.S. long-term business interests, support for Israel
continues. To the degree that peace helps solidify U.S.
control, peace is acceptable.
But U.S. policy is driven neither by unquestioned support
for Israel nor concern for people's suffering in conflicts.
Any hope for real peace requires getting past this
rhetoric to the reality of U.S. policy.
That reality is clear: The central principle of every U.S.
administration since the end of World War II has been
that the resources of the region do not truly belong to
the people of the region, but instead exist for the
benefit of Americans.
It is not simply a question of who owns the oil, but who
controls the flow of oil and oil profits. Even if the United
States were energy self-sufficient, U.S. elites would seek
to dominate the Middle East for the leverage it brings in
world affairs, especially over the economies of our
primary competitors (Europe and Japan), which are more
heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil.
One component of this policy is support for the oil-rich
countries, such as Saudi Arabia. Saudi rulers take their
cut of the profits, channeling what remains into
investments in the West and the purchase of U.S.
weapons. In exchange, Saudi Arabia -- a monarchy that
could not exist independently -- gets U.S. protection.
In this system, Israel is a key pillar of U.S. strategy.
Especially after its impressive military victory over the
Arab states in 1967, Israel was a hammer that was used
to smash Arab nationalism, which could have upset the
system of weak, fragmented client regimes that the
United States favors.
Israel serves as a local cop on the beat, in the
terminology of the Nixon Doctrine, and an integral part of
the U.S. military-intelligence complex in that part of the
world. These roles became especially important after the
Iranian revolution in 1979, when the U.S. lost its other
main base in the region.
Israel also serves as a convenient foil for the United
States. Even though the United States has exercised
tremendous, repressive control over the region, until
recently the brunt of Arab anger was always borne by
Israel, with the United States representing itself to the
Arabs as a friend. The U.S.-backed Arab regimes use this
foil as well, diverting the anger of the so-called 'Arab
street' away from those states' corruption and
despotism, to Israel.
This analysis is often rebuffed by pointing to the
frequent tensions between the United States and
countries in the region, including allies. How is it that
these nations are our clients when they seem so unruly?
This simply reflects the complexity of maintaining control
in such a volatile region. It is common practice for
empires to set up client regimes in a region and then
play them off each other, which not surprisingly
produces tension, especially when the governments are
not representative of their people. That's what U.S.
diplomatic and military officials are paid to do -- manage
the tensions, always keeping an eye on the ultimate
goal.
U.S. control -- not peace -- is that goal. That is why
policymakers were happy to see Iraq and Iran at war
throughout the 1980s and gave various kinds of covert
support to both sides. Never mind the millions killed -- it
kept the two regional powers at each other's throats,
and hence weakened.
In Palestine, if the United States were serious about
promoting peace it would have long ago joined the
international consensus for a political settlement built on
a viable state for the Palestinians and security for Israel.
Instead, it has long blocked that consensus, such as
when it vetoed a 1976 U.N. Security Council resolution
that offered something much like the Saudi plan being
touted today as a solution.
U.S. leaders don't mind peace, so long as it is within a
system that doesn't threaten U.S. control. Yes, a Middle
East in a constant state of tension -- either engaged in
war or on the verge of war -- has been dangerous. But
that's a price the United States has been willing to pay.
These points are crucial to answering the claim that U.S.
leaders simply do Israel's bidding. Of course there are
well-organized and well-funded groups in the United
States lobbying very effectively for Israel. And of course
U.S. politicians feel pressure from vocal constituents who
support Israel. But those domestic political realities
alone do not drive U.S. financial and diplomatic support
that allows Israel to continue to defy international law in
its 35-year military occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has skillfully
used the 'war on terrorism' banner to expand further
the level of violence against Palestinians that the United
States will accept, and the expressions of reflexive
support for Israel in Congress have never been
stronger.
But in the end, the U.S. policymakers shape foreign
policy to benefit U.S. elite economic interests, not those
of another country.
The inevitable conclusion to draw from this is that United
States cannot be a positive force in the Middle East
without a fundamental shift in goals: The United States
must replace its quest for control with a commitment to
peace AND justice, under international law.
Never has it been more crucial that Americans
understand this. While Israel steps up the violence in
Palestine, the Bush administration plots a war on Iraq.
U.S. officials tell us Iraq presents a grave threat to the
world, though other nations (including Kuwait) don't feel
threatened and all the world (save Israel and the
always-loyal Tony Blair) rejects the U.S. plans.
It's not that other countries support Saddam Hussein's
brutal regime, but that they see that a war on Iraq will
deepen U.S. control over the region at the expense of
the Iraqi people. As U.S. officials talk about bringing
democracy and freedom to Iraq, they search for an Iraqi
general who can be trusted to follow U.S. orders if put in
charge. All this after more than a decade of economic
sanctions -- demanded by the United States, largely to
break Iraqi control of its own oil -- that have killed a
half-million Iraqi children (according to a comprehensive
UNICEF study).
The more the United States overplays its hand in the
Middle East, the more the rest of the world sees clearly
U.S. intentions. The question is, can we the American
people see the same, and demand of our government a
policy geared toward justice not domination.
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