U.S. Middle Eastern Foreign Policy

The truth: that the United States' Middle Eastern foreign policy is inextricably tied to its domestic economic policy vis-a-vis maintaining a steady and low-cost supply of oil to the American industrial and consumer market.

The truth: a major percentage of U.S. oil consumption comes from foreign sources primarily located in the Middle East.

The truth: the concepts of "democracy" and "freedom" as understood by the American people and the industrialized democracies (Western Europe, the U. S., Canada and Japan, primarily) are not a part of the political dialogue in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - the two countries invaded and threatened, respectively, by Saddam Hussein's armed forces.

Nevertheless, in this age of worldwide media coverage, the policymakers in the Administration of President George Bush attempted to level with the public in their first responses to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. They had little choice: with Saddam Hussein letting it be known that the Emir of Kuwait was an "undemocratic monarch" whose people Iraq intended to liberate, news media fr

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fuels, fuels dependent upon a plentiful Middle Eastern supply in order to remain cheap, a major interruption of the Iraq-Kuwait sources would send a cold shock through the American economy. (Indeed, events have proven the Bush Administration's analysis on the mark: from the August 2, 1990 invasion of Kuwait until the end of the Persian Gulf War, the U. S. economy was brought to a virtual standstill, sending it into a deep recessive cycle which from which recovery is still not realized. The Middle Eastern situation was not the only cause of the recession - indicators had already indicated a sluggish economy - but the ill effects wrought by the crisis shattered consumer confidence for months, killing the major retail sales period of Christmas 1990, as well as the construction and automotive industries' sales, among others. The ripple effect of those wounds was profound.) The problem was - truth being told - no one particularly wanted to rally 'round an economic cause. Baker's "American jobs are at stake" fell flat. Realpolitik again: although wars are often attributed to economic crises - notably such moves as Nazi Germany's aggressive expansionism being defended by apologists of the time as a way out of the country's doldru
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Eastern, War Nazis, Nazi Germany's, Moreover Department, Gulf War, Ibn Saud, United States', Iraq Kuwait, Kuwait United, George Bush, invasion kuwait, middle eastern, iraqi invasion kuwait, persian gulf, iraqi invasion, united states', economic crisis, economic threat, foreign policy, inc 1991, george bush, gulf york time-warner, persian gulf york, war persian gulf, time-warner inc 1991,
Approximate Word count = 1524
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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