Reimagined Communities

In Chapter 1, Henry Luce is quoted as saying “that the United States was destined to be the Good Samaritan and the powerhouse of the ideals of Freedom and Justice in the postwar period”. However, when it came to the Middle East the United States appeared to simply be in a search for power. The State Department’s quest to “support the leaders of the Middle East, simply showed that the United States was more powerful than Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. The United States used the weak nature of the Middle Eastern governments to show their superior strength and to ensure that they remained the strongest.
McAlister states that the United States needed the Middle East for oil and religious traditions. However, the most important thing that the United States needed the Middle East for was power. The US flexed its muscle using the Middle East as its stage. Without the Middle East, the US would not have convinced every other nation of its power. Without the US, the Middle East would have been colonized thus strengthening Britain, France, and the Soviet Union and in the process overthrowing the United States as the most powerful nation. The decision to back the Middle East was simple and necessary for US power.
The most contradictory occurrence throughout these chapters is the way the United States viewed the Middle East. On one hand the “Orient” was viewed as weak and very feminine. On the other hand, the Middle East was a place of great religious tradition and viewed as wealthy and luxurious through the eyes of Hollywood. This contradiction shows the American superiority complex. The Americans can see someone as well off and heroic in a movie, but in reality they can never admit that a foreigner is more powerful or masculine than an American. They even used actors in with British accents as villains in these epics to make it clear that the Middle East should not be colonized by other nations.
The United States used the Middle East on many occasions to show its power. During the formation of Israel, “Truman (competed) with the Soviet Union to be the first nation to offer recognition to the new state”. This solidifies US ownership and guardianship rather than Soviet. The US believed that by making sure no one colonized the Middle East, they personally would own it. Even when Britain and France were going to invade Egypt, the US stepped in as Egypt’s ally. The only reason the US would do this is to remain the most powerful nation in the world.
The US foreign policy towards the Middle East clearly showed that they realized by not invading the Middle East and making sure that no other nation did, they would be able to rule the disarray of nations in the Middle East. The US claimed to be a big brother protecting helpless nations from ruthless colonization, but in the process of this the US came to win a war over the rest of the world and rule over the Middle East. The US power both in the world today and during the post World War II period was due mostly to its rule over the Middle East.