Middle East Reflection

 Looking over the history of US foreign policy in the MIddle East, are there any patterns or overarching interests that have been manifest since the end of WWII?  (Your answer can be "no"...)

            Throughout the history of the United States, our foreign policy has had patterns of overarching interests. Since the end of WWII, we have supported certain governments and have tried to enforce democracy. The patterns that have been displayed have not really helped the United States in the long run as it has created instability within these regions. Now a days you can see that there is a deep sense of resentment towards the United States due to what we have done within these countries. The basic pattern that has happened is we intervene in one of these countries and then create an unstable environment with our interventions. We try to put into place democratic governments but it has only proven to be a problem for us. 

            The instability lasts and grows as the populations remembers the actions that the United States may have done. The Middle East has been unstable in many places that we have tried to intervene in. We have tried to change many of these countries and put in unstable governments and that resulted in the Governments falling soon after they were put into place. For example, we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11 and the United States created an absolute mess. Terror groups have also sprung up as they do not want the United States intervening in their country. Al Qaeda and the Taliban had power during this time. We invaded with the military and are still somewhat in these areas. The problem that surmounted from this was that ISIS came into play. This terror group gained support and only helped to cause the areas to get less stable. The resentment to the United States has grown. We have put our effort into these regions for our own economic gain as well as we care about oil which is produced in most of these areas. 

            In the events that occurred after WWII, the same kinds of things happened. We supported many different regimes to take over the governments of these countries which resulted in instability within these regions. This also helps to create resentment towards the United States as well. Something that we also have done is support proxy states and wars so that we could keep influence within the region. During the Cold War era, we had these proxy wars to try and stop the Soviet Union from spreading Communism. We used the countries as places to just try and fight the Soviet Union but left them unstable like we have done when we have tried to change regimes. The constant problem here is that we continue to create unstable countries that then build resentment towards us. Yet we continue to claim that we are trying to provide a stable government and spread democracy. 

            In most recent years during the Obama Administration, he tried to distance himself from this sort of thing. Although there is some change in what happened the US still stayed within the region trying to fix these problems. Syria then came about and we did nothing to stop what has happened there. The instability here caused ISIS to come into play. The United States response has been to have air strikes which have increased under the Trump administration. The pattern here though should also occur with Trump and his dealings with the Middle East. He is a strong supporter of using force to solve the problems. This in itself can help cause resentment within these regions due to threats which can only help to increase problems for the United States. 

            The pattern has been consistent since WWII, usually with the United States intervening in some sort of way which has resulted in instability. We go in for our own gain and in the end only make matters worse. The pattern should be continued under President Trump. The resentment can be seen to continue as younger generations will remember the things we have done to their countries. The pattern of instability within these countries will continue. The Middle East has become a much bigger mess with what we have tried to do for our own gain.