America and the Playground of the Middle East
Zak Mudie
Obama, Trump, Biden… It doesn’t matter who is President, failed states in the middle east are always playgrounds for American Foreign Policy.
It seems the initiation for American President’s has been committed once again, Biden has ordered air strikes against a failed state in the middle east. Only a few days ago, The Pentagon confirmed it had launched successful missile strikes against Iranian Backed Militias. What is being considered as a responsive measured which was coordinated through “diplomatic measures”, such as consulting coalition allies.
Only ten days prior, a civilian contractor had been killed with other contractors and service members sustaining injuries at a US-Coalition Airbase in Irbil, which had been hit by missiles. The Irbil Airbase is the only recent attack, with other coalition forces or diplomatic missions under assault from extremists or Iranian backed militias. An example of this would be the rocket attack against “The Green Zone” in Baghdad which houses the US Embassy and other diplomatic missions.
The Syrian Government has condemned the attacks, yet the Biden Administration believes it is a “proportionate military response”. The situation in Syria is dreadful, and the Middle East has seen a significant rise in instability, with governments like Iraq and Syria coming under massive pressure from ISIS, before it was pushed back by US forces alongside other rebels.
US involvement in the Middle East truly began in the invasion of Kuwait back in the 90s and since has played a major role, many argue in destabilising the region. Following the 9/11 attacks, the US waged war in Afghanistan, Iraq and carried out missions in Pakistan, such as the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. The US government also rapidly increased its airstrike capacity, and what was considered commonplace under Obama was the significant increase in the use of drone strikes to target enemies of the US.
It is recorded that under the Obama Administration there were 563 drone strikes carried out against foreign states/ hostile militias. Obama carried out more drone strikes in his first year than his predecessor George Bush did in his two terms. The US supposedly carried out even more drone strikes under Trump, however it has been reported that Trump made the number of drone strikes carried out top secret, although what was reported was supposedly larger than Obama’s record with a suggested 176 airstrikes in Yemen alone in the first two years, with only 154 in Yemen throughout Obama’s tenure.
Joe Biden’s foreign policy is often suggested to be one of his main areas of expertise, having served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a total of ten years, for many of those years chairing the committee. He had worked as a diplomat with some successes during this time. He supported both the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq; however, he changed his mind thereafter and was against the war. He also was against the surge of troops to the middle east in 2007. What is interesting to note is that he was against the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, so his foreign policy when it comes to the military is varied, and he was been quiet on the use of drone strikes. Biden’s stance on retaliation is clear, but for many it doesn’t seem to matter who’s at the end of the attack. The Middle East will continue to be unstable, fuelled by people who have lost everything, and for some of those people the US is the one responsible for the destruction of their livelihoods.