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What
was Gates’ Middle East tour aimed
at? |
Posted By Emma Sabry
Western and Arabic media stated
several reasons for the U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates’ Middle East
tour. Although Defense officials said
the official aim of the visit was to
counter Iranian influence in the
region and drum up support for the
Iraqi government, there seemed to be
other hidden motives.
Gates’ tour, which started on
Monday, took him to Jordan, Egypt,
Israel and ended yesterday with an
unannounced visit to Iraq after a
series of deadly bomb attacks in
Baghdad killed at least 200 people on
Wednesday.
The fact that this is the Defense
Secretary’s third trip to the Middle
East since he took office last
December indicate that Iraq’s
deteriorating situation, Iran’s
nuclear program and the larger Middle
East dominate his work in the
Pentagon.
In Egypt and Jordan, Gates sought to
rally support for Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri Maliki's government in order to
prevent “Iranian dominance of the
region,” an unidentified U.S.
Defense official told the Los Angeles
Times.
"We hope to hear they would
continue their support for the Maliki
government," he said. "We
truly believe that is the most
important way to mitigate Iranian
pressure."
The officials’ comments indicate
that the Bush administration wants
Arab and Gulf states to continue to
oppose what Washington charges is
Iran's quest for nuclear weapons and
support for the resistance groups
Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Hamas, in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
But an article on the London-based al-Hayat
daily argued that the U.S. wants to
create an Egyptian-Jordanian alliance
against Iran and at the same time
ensure that Cairo and Amman would
contain the repercussions of a feared
U.S. attack against Tehran’s nuclear
facilities.
Although the Americans continue to
deny that they’re planning to attack
Iran, there remains a "misleading
diplomacy to spread rumors of
assurances over Tehran" --
perhaps to use the element of surprise
to strike the Islamic Republic, the
daily said.
"It seems the American
coordination with Amman and Cairo is
important to contain the repercussions
of such a strike,” it argued.
Washington’s campaign against Iran
was also the focus of Gates’ talks
with Israeli officials. “The first
thing that the secretary will want to
do will be reassure Israel vis-à-vis
the Iranian issue and the nuclear
issue,” a senior U.S. Defense
Department official told AFP before
Gates arrived in Israel.
Gates also sought to allay Israeli
concerns over Washington’s possible
sale of advanced weaponry to Saudi
Arabia and other Arab states, arguing
that helping “friendly Gulf
states” boost their arms could curb
Iran’s influence in the region.
Israel, which is believed to have the
Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal,
is particularly concerned that the
possible transfer of precision-guided
weapons to Saudi Arabia could erode
its military superiority in the
region. The U.S. has sold such weapons
to Israel, which used them last year
in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon,
but has never sold them to any other
country in the region.
"The Israeli complaints have
introduced a new uncertainty into the
administration's plan to beef up
Persian Gulf militaries as a bulwark
against Iran and as a demonstration
that, no matter what happens in Iraq,
Washington remains committed to the
Sunni Arab governments around the
region," The Times reported
earlier this month.
Analysts say the U.S. arming of its
Gulf allies could have possible
complications for the American
alliance with Israel, which is
formally shunned by most of the Arab
world. This is why Gates reaffirmed a
long-standing U.S. commitment to
maintaining Israel's military
superiority during his visit, while
stressing that Israel’s fears over
Washington bolstering its Gulf Arab
allies were misplaced.
Despite the assurances, Israel is
still concerned the Bush
administration's plan for a
U.S.-Sunni-Israeli coalition allied
against Iran might not materialize.
But it seems that the Bush
administration is determined to form
such an alliance, further raising
fears that it would resort to military
force to curb Iran’s nuclear
program, a move that would alienate
Washington's allies in a region
already suffering from two
U.S.-initiated wars and a decades-old
conflict with Israel.
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