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US Foreign Policy

Decent Essays

The United States has a complicated history with the Middle East, and this has often been reflected in foreign policy decisions. The significance of the region has always remained strong, even as the main goals and methods of accomplishing those goals have twisted and evolved over time. In recent decades, dealing with increasing opposition to US interests by those in the Middle East has become a more prominent concern. This was drawn into the forefront of citizens' minds in 2001. While the 9/11 attacks did not serve as a major turning point in the US’s foreign policy towards the Middle East, they did act to accelerate a decision path that the United States was already on.
For a substantial amount of time, US policy had been focused on Iraq. …show more content…

The Bush Doctrine of 2002 was the first to explicitly state “our security will require all Americans…to be ready for pre-emptive action when necessary”, a condition which was later used to justify subsequent actions in the Middle East. While this was a concrete change from previous policy methods, it was also one which had been debated before 9/11. Six years earlier, the Project for the New American Century had advised the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to follow their own policy beliefs and “adopt the rights of ‘hot pursuit’….‘roll back’ threats…and adopt the policy of ‘peace through strength’” (Khalidi 51). Clearly, pre-emptive action becomes necessary in order to successfully fulfill all of those objectives. If they were delivering this advice to US allies, then the objectives were ones which must have been considered valid for those aligned with the US and, by extension, the United States itself. Furthermore, on 9/11, Rumsfeld had been in a defense meeting, wanting the “best info fast; judge whether good enough to hit [Saddam Hussein] at same time, not only bin Laden. Go massive. Sweep it all up” (Anderson 70). Even if it wasn’t official policy at the time, key figures were already ruminating on possible anticipatory action. However, it is likely that without the 9/11 attacks, the US would not have been so quick to bring their new strategy into the public view. Soon after the tragedy, Congress voted to give the president “all necessary and appropriate force to respond to the terrorist attacks” (Anderson 71). This allowed the acceleration of newer approaches already in place, something the Bush administration promptly made use

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