Introduction
The USA has its forces stationed in large number of bases in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Jordan. There are thousands of US troops and equipment in these bases. It is identified that more than 15000 troops has been deployed in the Kuwait in several areas of the country including Camp Arifjan and Al jabber air Base. In UAE, there are about 5000 US troops are deployed and majority of them are belonged to the air force. It is said that there are about 200 US air force personals are operating since 2004 and they are stationed in the air bases of that country. Bahrain is one of the longest presences of the US troops in the Middle East. The numbers of the troops reach to 7000.They are stationed to support the Navel establishments and other activities of the USA and Bahrain. Although the US had withdrawn bulk of its forces form Saudi Arabia there is a considerable number of soldiers in that country. There are some US air forces personals are based on Qatar. They are there to manage the combined operations of the two countries (Herrmann, 1991).
The Syrian conflict has given the opportunity to station more than 1500 troops in Jordan with some ballistic missiles. There are about 1600 US forces re there to support the Iraqi government after incident of the ISIS invention. There are several reasons for the development of the forces of the USA
‘ Offer the immediate protection from insurgents and invader (Iraq Jordan)
‘ Offer protection to the civilians and international organizations
‘ Give training to these friendly nations
‘ Protect the diplomatic missions
‘ Support the governments and maintain joint military operations and training programs
‘ To protect the interests of the USA
The final concept is the number one in the agenda of this program but the success if not so satisfactory as the USA has to pay a lot more than its gains in the process of the deployment of the forces in the Middle East sector (Kelly, 2014).
Thesis
Although it is a must to deploy the US forces in order to keep the peace and political and economic objectives of the country, the results of the decision is not satisfactory and it is the time for the revision of the decision of keeping the US forces in the Middle East.
Background
The US foreign policy has not been able to achieve most of its objectives in keeping the US forces in the Middle East sector. One of their highlighted aims is to establish long lasting peace in the sector but in reality the US foreign policy is a failure in that aspect. In most of the areas the US troops were not able to establish the normalcy or they have been the reason for the development of the issues. The USA has invaded Iraq and Libya in order to overthrow the governments which were ruling at the time. The USA had the opportunity of the Arab spring or the uprising of the Arab in Iraq to invade. It has become one of the costly processes for the USA and the battle lasted longer than expected killing both troops and injuring. The civilians had to suffer a lot too. According to independent analysis millions were displaced and thousands were killed. The USA led forces were able to capture the country overthrowing Sadam Husain, the president of the Iraq. The USA was able to establish a government and it had to offer funds and stationed troops to support the troops of the Iraq (Maasoglu , 2013). The situation has changed in Iraq as the civil conflict erupted and suicide bombers have started to target innocent civilians. The country has become a place without hopes for the civilians and they claim that the normalcy will be far away and the situation was better when the late president was in power (Sadam Husain). The USA has to allocate funds to look after the country in both military and civilian aspects and it has to waste billions for the troops stationed there. It has become a great burden to the tax payers of the USA.
The same thing took place in the Libyan story. The USA claimed the certain activities of the late Mohammad Gadhafi, to intervene the politics of the country. The Kurdish insurgency has become one of the bliss for the USA to invade the country with other global super powers and same situation has taken over of that country too. The Arab Spring has become one of the reasons for the invasion. Now the dictator is dead but the country is in calamity. The economy is severely affected and the threat of the ISIS is there. The political situation of the country is fragile, so investors are not ready to invest and the people have to suffer more than in the past. The new Libyan government has to face several problems such as the economic downfall, threat of the ISIS, the group revelry and the suicide attacks of especially places with western interest. After 5 years of getting rid of the dictator, the country is still in trouble in many areas such s security, economy and political aspect. The country is in a political deadlock. The trust for the government has long lost and the relevant parties are not in even in a position to develop a government structure for Libya .They have lost the ability to deploy forces to control the infrastructure and the much valued oil resources. This situation has taken by the ISIS and other extremists to operate freely in the Libyan soil (“LIBYA: Political and Economic Crisis”, 2013). The civil organizations are trying their best to form a government that can answer the needs of the whole population but it is not a possible task with the escalating security and economic issues of the country (“The Current Situation in Libya”, 2016). These facts show the inability of the US led campaigns to ensure the peace in the sector. Instead of bringing peace to the nations the US operations have brought dead and disaster to the civilians and the wastage of billions of Dollars from the tax payers of the USA. These activities have become catalysts for the anti ‘Americanism in those areas and it has brought the hatred of the Muslim community towards the USA. The situation has put the US society in danger in several aspects. The travel has become risky in those areas as the Americans are targeted by the extremists in many countries. This has become one of the great shocks for the host countries and the local tourists. They are not in a position to visit the places, as they did in the past. The war has reached the USA as the country is infested with many members of the extremist groups and they are waiting for their time for destructions. The police and the FBI have an additional task of beefing up the security in the country. They have to allocate more funds to cope with the situation. The US economy is deteriorating and the expenditure for the foreign deployment of forces has become one of the significant features for the decline of the economy. The foreign policy of the USA has to be reanalyzed as there are several disadvantages for the country so it is very wise to withdraw the forces from the Middle East for the benefit of the USA. There are some other disadvantages too in this decision of keeping forces in the Middle East sector (Hubbell, 1998).
The New York Times has revealed one of the newest plans of the Obama government to establish modern and lasting military bases in the Middle East. This decision is closely associated with the rise of the ISIS and other militant groups. The US government is in the process of building establishments to protect the governments and the civilians of these countries from the extremist groups such as Al-Qaida but the success of such moves is very minute. These fortifications are not able to protect the extremist attacks on the civilians or the suicide attacks on the forces. The activity of the Al-Qaida and other groups are continuing and they are intensifying their attacks on both civilian and military targets in the respective countries. The expected gains are not possible with the building of the strong fortifications of these countries. The US has to add more soldiers and other supporting staff to man these places and that cost money and the men. The lives of the US soldiers are at a great risk as well as the lives of the hosting nations. It is more than 36 years the US has been creating strongholds in the particular area. The project is funded with tens of billions of dollars and to support undemocratic states such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These countries have created lot of calamity it their respective area including the invasion of Iraq. These bases are the places with radicalism, anti-Americanism and they the places where the entire militant are getting shelter and funds. Although these military buildups are to support the democratic governments of the countries the uses of the places have become very low. As these base have been towards as the threat to the holy land and they have inspired to create anti American ideas in the community. It has become one reason for the al Qaeda to recruit young Muslims to their cadres. The 9/11 incident and the suicide attack in Lebanon in 1983 can be identified as strong examples. Afar considering the cost and the gains of the projects it is not satisfactory and encourages building further in these sectors. The government is in a quagmire as the going back or giving up is not possible at the time. The economy of the USA is heavily affected by this decisions and the government must pay attention to the continuous growth in the anti ‘Americanism in these areas. The situation has become very hostile towards the USA. The US soldiers have to face the risk of their lives and the probability of getting victimized by the enemy is growing. The corrupted government officials and armed personals of these countries are supporting the extremists. It is a fact that the enemy gets most of the information related troops and mobilization from such official and armed personals so it is very dangerous for the lives of the US soldiers. The US soldiers have to die for nothing in those conflicts and the people in the US have to bear the pains of losing their loved ones. The death is bearable if there is a cause but dying in a foreign country for nothing is not a something that we can agree with. The most important thing is that the government has to take the decision of pulling back the US troops from the Middle East sector. The expenditure for the construction of the strong fortifications and bases in those areas cost lot of money. They expenditure comes in Billions of Dollars. The US society is in the middle of severe economic crisis. The country is not in a position to afford the basic requirements of the population. The rate of unemployment of the country is rising. The percentage of unemployment is 4.9% in 2016 and it is about 7.4 million. This is a great burden to the society and the government must take necessary actions to alleviate the sufferings of theses people instead of fighting the wars of other people using the tax payers’ money. The society has become corrupted with drugs and other antisocial activities as there are not employments for the considerable amount of young people. These people can be attracted to any anti-social activities due to lack of proper occupations , so the government must pay its attention on these issues and should allocate money to upgrade the lives of these individuals rather than looking after problems of the others (“Social issues in America: an encyclopedia”, 2006). Another aspect of the problem is the growing threat of the anti ‘Americanism. The American society is consisted of many races and the immigrants are enjoying a considerable segment of the population. The recent incidents of the Middle East have increased the hatred of the Muslims in the Middle East and it is similar in the USA too. The Muslims of the society have enjoyed close relationships with the others and the recent development of the political arena has acted adversely on the relationship between Muslims and the others in the US society. The non-Muslims tend to look Muslims as the terrorists or the extremists. It is very bad situation for the integrity of the society. The suspicion is growing day by day and there are some racial discrimination reported too. This shows the futility of keeping the US forces in the Muslim countries. The US should allow these nations to solve their conflicts by themselves. The intervention of the US has created lot of issues that the civilians of the USA have to suffer.
The USA is the largest consumer of the petroleum oil and it needs about 13.5 million barrels per day. The states imports certain amount of oil from the other nations and 63% of the oil comes from the Middle East countries (Bina, 2016). The crude oil is imported to the USA and refined. The consumption is great, so the local production of the oil is not enough to quench the need of the country. The America has the wrong concept of using military influence to protect the oil supply to the country. It may be a truth according to the ideas and the economic situation of the past. The OPEC was so powerful and it was able to control the oil market. The situation has changed and the oil market is no longer controlled by the OPEC or any other organizations. The nations who need money increase their supply of crude oil and the supply of oil decides the price in the competitive market. The crucial values or the impact of oil is declining. The non-traditional oil producers are in the market too, so there are many opportunities for the USA to purchase oil from the competitive market rather than depending on the traditional oil exporters in the Middle East. There is no need for the USA to have its soldiers and bases in the oil exporters’ countries in order to secure the supply of the oil. The money that is wasted on such practices can be allocated to the development of the nation. The USA will be able to save billions of Dollars and that can be a great boost to the declining economy of the country. The emerging new market in the African sector can support the need of the American industries and it will be more beneficial to the nation than wasting billions of money in vain. There are some alternative strategies that can be used instead of crude oil. The new sources of energy can be used at larger scale than present and that will increase the demand for the imported oil. The local production of oil can be used carefully for the industrial and other needs of the country. It will take time but it is the most beneficial and environmental friendly strategy that can be used to save the money and the environment. Such practices can help the nation to save money and use the resources in the perfect manner so there will not be any use of keeping forces in the Middle East. The withdrawal of the US forces will turn a new chapter in the relationships between the Middle East and the USA. The Americans will be able to live in much security and the economy will flourish with the saved money.
Conclusion
The USA has the duty to take care of the world but it does not give the opportunity or license to act as the global police man. There are lots of opportunities for the USA to solve the conflict in democratic manner. The UNO and other organizations are enough to cope with the crisis of the nations. The US has to face lot of difficulties in the case of deploying forces in the Middle East, so it can get rid of these issues by withdrawing the forces. The issues in those nations should be handled in democratic manner. The USA has its own responsibility to handle in both local and global economic and political arenas. The issues in the US society should be addressed first before looking into the matters of the other countries. The declining economy of the country should be improved and it is possible with the money which has to be wasted in the military exercises in the Middle East sector. The hatred of the Muslim world and anti _Americanism have become critical issues for the security of the country, so the government has the responsibility of handling such issues and it is a must to improve the friendship and the harmony among the nations in the country as well as with the other nations.