Boy what a problem we have there. Up front, let�s just admit it, the west�s Middle East policy has been a total, absolute and utter failure since at least the 1940s. Let�s start with our misguided re-establishment of Israel. When one group (the Jews) are treated badly (WWII) it is always best to pay them back by dumping on another group (the Palestinians, who were living in Israel when we gave it to the Jews). Why no one realized that this was a plan rife for animosity and war is a mystery to me.
Pretty much every policy from this time forward failed. They failed largely due to the motives from which they appeared to spring. There have been three main themes to our Middle East policies. First, we must defend Israel at all cost against all logic because we created it in the first place. Second, they have oil and we want it. Third, those backwards people don�t know how to live, so we must going in and give them the benefits of our knowledge of what is the right way to live.
While I, in no way, condone the actions of 9/11, I can understand how our Middle East policy led to those attacks. A more recent theme for Middle East policy developed after the attacks. This may be the only justifiable motive for our Middle East policy. The theme is to attack terrorists and those who support and hide them. It started out with the legitimate attack of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, while this motive was legitimate, it led us to the illegitimate Iraqi War.
Boy this is the be all end all screw up in Middle East policy. Let�s invade a sovereign nation on bad intelligence and try to force our ideals on them. Then let�s not plan well, staff adequately, or equip sufficiently for success. Then let�s blindly adhere to the belief that we did the right thing. If someone was trying to design a plan to make our Middle East relations all but terminally un-repairable, I am not sure they could have done better.
The first thing we as a nation need to do is own up to the fact that we have made many mistakes in our Middle East policy. We need to say this publicly, loudly, and often. Then we need to bring every legitimate power in the Meddle East together, along with leader from the west and figure out what we can do to fix our relations. Oh, and we need to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible.
We also need to do what we can to fix the Israeli/Palestinian situation. I believe we need to establish separate sovereign nations with fairly defined boarders. I believe that either side that makes any offensive movement across the border should be severely sanctioned by the UN. While what happened to the Jews during WWII was an atrocity, so was the treatment of the Palestinians in the establishment of Israel, and we need to own up to that fact.
Finally, I believe that oil has been the largest driving force behind our excessive and misguided Middle East policies. To this end, we need to develop alternatives that are viable and sustainable replacements for oil. The next section will deal with this goal.
Alternative Energy