While the championing of freedom, liberty, human rights and other democratic principles is often used as justification for U.S. presence and policy in the Persian Gulf, the pursuit of oil creates biased policy that often enriches policymakers at the cost of human rights in the region. Both the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations were responsible for putting Saddam Hussein into power, providing him with economic and military aid in order to establish U.S. presence in the region. As Klare (2002) argues, ôOil is linked to conflict and violence through its role in spawning and nurturing authoritarian regimes,ö (419). Once Hussein attacked Kuwait, however, Hussein became an adversary. It was at this point the first Gulf War was launched and U.S. retaliatory actions against Hussein and Iraq included policies responsible for human rights abuses in the region. Such abuses are a considerable reason for anti-U.S. sentiment in the region and terrorist attacks against U.S. targets in the region and worldwide.
The ongoing air attacks on Iraq after the end of the Gulf War, the stringent U.N. sanctions imposed by the U.N. at the strong encouragement of the U.S., and economic and political instability have taken a heavy humanitarian toll on the people of Iraq. A great deal of the blame for such costs may be laid at the feet of U.S. policymakers. The Gulf War not only destroyed the Iraqi military complex but along with it much of the civilian infrastructure. Harsh sanctions were imposed against Iraq by the U.S. as a deterrent to HusseinÆs regime regarding development of weapons of mass destruction. Like many policies aimed at the Middle East, the sanctions backfired by strengthening support for Hussein among Iraqis and motivated a call to lift sanctions by many in the international community. These outcomes were the direct result of the impact of the sanctions on Iraqi civilians, with as many as 5,000 people, primaril
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