The US and the Middle East

1. The US and the Middle East

2. Terrorism and the US • 2 basic schools of Terrorism • Terrorism can be deterred by striking back at its perpetrators and cowering them into submission • The only way to stop terrorists are to cure the conditions that cause it. • If you give in to terrorism, there will be more terrorist attacks.

3. Terrorism and the US Con’t • 1983: truck bombs kills over 214 US marines in Beirut barracks. US was there on NATO peacekeeping mission • 1989 – Airplane explosian in Lockerbie, Scotland (Libya) • 1993: bomb explodes in the New York World Trade Center killing 6. Plan was to have one tower fall into another. No retaliation • 1998: Within 9 minutes of each other US embassy’s in Kenya and Tanzania are hit by truck bombs

4. Terrorism and the US Con’t • US retaliate by cruise missile strikes at Afghanistan (camps) and Algeria (factory) • Middle East response is to love bin Laden more • 2000: Aden, Yemen; USS Cole is struck by two suicide bombers. 17 crew men dead • September 11, 2001: 3000 people dead

5. Soviet - Afghanistan War • 1979: Communist take over Afghanistan during the Cold War • US sees it as a chance to give Soviets their “Vietnam” • US supports the Mujahedin, Muslim soldiers from around the ME (250,000) • US gets help from a young Saudi, Usama bin Laden • 10 year war rages with the Soviets leaving • 1996: Taliban (Muslim religious group) takes over Afghanistan

6. Desert Storm • 1991: Iraq invades Kuwait • Saudi Arabia asks for the US to help • UN coalition decides attack is aggression and authorizes force to expel Iraq only • 100 hours war leaves the Iraqis on the run • Usama bin Laden sees US on Saudi soil as soiling holy land

7. Usama bin Laden • Mujahedin: roaming soldiers of Allah after Afghanistan war. Could not go home. • Become the moral and military guardians of the Islam world • Form terrorist coalition called Al-Qaida • Al-Qaida is well organize and establish 40 camps in Afghanistan to train terrorists

8. Usama bin Laden decrees that there is no difference between military and civilian targets in US • A Jihad is called: Holy war, war against personal vices, armed struggle, Crusade.

9. Other Terrorist Groups • Islamic Jihad: Terrorist group out of Egypt

10. 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan • After the 9/11 attacks – the US invaded Afghanistan and destroyed the Taliban October 2001 • Helped by the Afghanistan Northern Alliance • Failed to capture bin Laden in a cave complex in Tora Bora • 2010, Obama orders 30,000 more troops there • Currently fighting Taliban, and political corruption of the Harzi government

11. US Invasion of Iraq (Third Persian Gulf War) • March 2003 – US and UK invade Iraq with the goal of ending the Ba’ath Party rule and remove Saddam Hussein from power (Dec 13th) • Iraq insurgency turns popular opinion against the war in US • 2007, Bush putting General Petraeus in charge, sends additional troops to Iraq to restore security (Bush troop surge) it works • During the current transitional period – Iraq has been plagued by violence from Sunni insurgents and Al-Qaeda terrorist network. • August 2010, Obama declares armed role of US in Iraq over, troop levels fall to 50,000.

12. Main Causes of Middle East Conflict • Incomplete transition from religious communities to nation states • Many Middle East people believe that their governments are illegitimate • Quest for dignity and freedom from countries that have endured subjection and are determined never to lose independence again • Problems that come from outside governments that try to help but don’t • Growing concentration of highly destructive weapons in a region that is volatile and vulnerable