The US in the Middle East

In The

MIDDLE EAST

 

IAS 5940-001, Fall 2004

Prof. Joshua Landis

  

MEETING:      PHSC 360. Monday 9:00-11:45

OFFICE:          DAHT 316       Office Hours: Mon. and Wed. 5:00-5:45

                        Phone: 325-6356         e-mail: landis@ou.edu

                         

BOOKS: To Purchase

 

Bickerton & Klausner, A Concise History Of The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Prentice Hall, 0-13-190004-8

 

David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace, New York: Avon Books, 1989. 0805068848

 

Patrick Seale, Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East, Berkeley, U. California P., 1988. 0520069765

 

Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah's Men, John Wiley & Sons; ( 2004) 0471678783

 

James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Doubleday Books; ( 2004)

ISBN: 0385506724

 

Rashid Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire,  Beacon Press; 2004. 0807002348

 

Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam, Random House Trade; 2004.

ISBN: 0812967852

 

REQUIREMENTS: Everyone will write three 8 to 10--page essays. Roughly two essays will be presented each week. The papers must be done by Sunday and emailed to the class no later than 4:00 Sunday afternoon the day before class so that everyone can read them and prepare comments on them before coming to class. The students will present their papers very briefly in seminar and answer questions about them.

 

1. Class preparation: Students are expected to attend all seminar meetings and to read the assigned texts before coming to class so we can discuss them.

2. Your grade will be based on the essays and participation in seminar

 

• Read the news of the Middle East daily, preferably the New York Times.
• Papers must be handed in on time.

 

Week 1

1) Mon. Aug. 23

Introduction: The Coming of World War I

·        David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace, pp. 1-111.

 

Week 2

2) Mon. Aug. 30

War Aims and promises: the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence and Sykes-Pico

·        Fromkin, pp. 111-252. [141]

·        Bickerton and Klausner, A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, pp. 3-35. [64]

 

Week 3

3) Mon Sep. 8 Labor Day – no class

 

Week 4

4) Mon. Sept. 13

The New Middle East and Peace Making

·        Fromkin, pp. 252-568 .  [315]

·        Bickerton & Klausner, pp. 35-45. [10]

·        Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire, pp. 9-30. [20]

* Why did Fromkin name his book “A Peace to End all Peace”? Is it a good title? Could there have been a Peace to end all War? Explain.

 

Week 5

5) Mon. Sept. 20

1948 War

·        Bickerton & Klausner, pp. 46-115. [65]

·        Landis, “Syria and the 1948 War,” [60] This will be on my homepage.

·        Avi Shlaim, “Israel and the Arab Coalition in 1948,” [30] http://www.fathom.com/course/72810001/index.html

·        Khalidi, Empire, pp. 118-127. [9]

·        Israeli Foreign Ministry, “History of The State of Israel: Foreign Domination,” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/History/HISTORY-+Foreign+Domination.htm#arab

And “The War of Independence,” by Natanel Lorch: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Centenary+of+Zionism/The+Arab-Israeli+Wars.htm#1948

·        Donald Neff, Fallen Pillars: U.S. Policy Towards Palestine and Israel Since 1945,” Chapters covering the 1948 War.

·        An overview of the Arab-Israeli conflict can be found at: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/2000-01/01cib06.htm#Dominance

*  Why did the Jews win a state in Palestine and the Palestinians fail to win a state?

  

Week 6

6) Mon. Sept, 27

Iranian Coup of 1953

• Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah's Men, [228]
• The CIA and the Fall of the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq, by Scott Koch, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/iran980600.pdf   This is on-line at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB126/ You don’t have to read it all, but get the main arguments.

*Is Kinzer right?  Or was the coup good for America and Iran?

 

Week 7

7) Mon. Oct. 4

The Suez Crisis, 1967 War, and Black September

• Bickerton, pp. 116-170. [54]
• Seale, pp. 1-169. [169]
• Raymond Cohen, “Israel's Starry-Eyed Foreign Policy,” Middle East Forum,  June 1994 • Volume I: Number 2: http://www.meforum.org/article/221
• “Operation Musketeer: Duel for the Suez Canal,” By Wilfred P. Deac in Military History Magazine, April 2001. (A good Military History from a British perspective)When Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain, France and Israel conspired to seize it by force. The result was a fleeting military victory--and a lasting political disaster. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/prm/blsuezcanal1.htm
• “Anti-Colonialism and Nationalism, 1945-1962.” By Steve Muhlberger, “Anti-Colonialism and Nationalism, 1945-1962,” 2. pages. http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/2805/anticol.htm
• “Myths & Facts Online: The 1967 Six-Day War,” Jewish Virtual Library, By Mitchell G. Bard http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf6.html
• “The 1967 War and the Israeli Occupation,” a Palestinian viewpoint.  http://www.allaboutpalestine.com/yabbse/index.php/topic,395.0.html
• Nasser speech: 1956: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1956Nasser-suez1.html

 

*Compare 1956 to 1967 – Why did Gamal Abdul Nasser and Arab Nationalism win in the first and lose in the second?

Week 8

8) Mon. Oct 11

The 1973 War, Oil and the Camp David Accords

• Seale, pp. 169-314. [144]
• Bickerton, pp. 170-199. [30]
• Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren, “Time to Lay the 1973 Oil Embargo to Rest,” October 17, 2003. http://www.cato.org/dailys/10-17-03-2.html
• Lizette Alvarez, “Britain Says U.S. Planned to Seize Oil in '73 Crisis,” New York Times, January 2, 2004. http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/blogger/archive/2004_01_08_archive
•  

* How did the 1973 War and the Camp David Accords change the balance of power in the Middle East? What did it mean for each of the actors? Consider the fortunes of Egypt, Syria, Israel, the US, the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinians. What did it mean for Pan-Arab Nationalism?

Week 9

9) Mon. Oct. 18

Civil War in Lebanon, the Intifada and the Syrian State

• Seale, pp. 314-496. [180]
• Bickerton, pp. 210-244. [80]
• Thomas Friedman, “Hama Rules,” (on Syria) and “the Earthquake,” (the Intifada) in From Beirut to Jerusalem, pp. 76-106 [30]& 366-424 [56]

*Why did Israel and the US fail to bring peace to Lebanon?

*Was the outbreak of the Intifada a direct outgrowth of Israel’s Lebanon adventure? Explain

Week 10

10) Mon. Oct. 25

The Peace Process: Where Will it Lead?

• The al-Aqsa Intifada ("Uprising"), 2000 - 2004
• Adam Hanieh and Catherine Cook, A Road Map to the Oslo Cul-de-Sac (May 15, 2003), MERIP, May 15, 2003.

"The Disintegration of Palestine" by Edward Sheehan, NYRB April 2004, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17056   or

 http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/blogger/archive/2004_08_29_archive#109378544066720766

• see maps at http://scoop.agonist.org/comments/2004/7/15/7182/43520/1
• Jeffrey Goldberg: Among the Settlers - Will they destroy Israel? From the New Yorker, 2004. http://middleeastinfo.org/article4620.html
• Amos Elon, Israelis & Palestinians: What Went Wrong? The New York Review of Books, december 19, 2002, Volume 49, Number 20. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15935
• Israeli Settlements In The Occupied Territories: A Guide, A Special Report of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, March 2002

      http://www.fmep.org/reports/2002/sr0203.html

• Tony Judt,” The Road to Nowhere,” New York Review of Books, 9 May 2002. http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/articles/article0002206.txt
• Tony Judt, "Israel: The Alternative,"  New York Review of Books, volume 50, issue 16, 23 October 2003. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671

Also see the Exchange, about An Alternative Future: By Abraham H. Foxman, Amos Elon, Michael Walzer, Omer Bartov, Reply by Tony Judt: In response to Israel: The Alternative (October 23, 2003) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16824

• Interviews from Gaza: What Hamas Wants   Abd Al-Aziz Rantisi / Sheikh Ahmed Yassin / Ismail Abu Shanab / Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Middle East Policy, Volume IX, December 2002, Number 4 http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_vol9/0212_gaess.asp

• “Engage American Jews, all else has failed the Arab world,” By Youssef M. Ibrahim, the Daily Star, Friday, August 27, 2004 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=7776
• Gershom Gorenberg, At What Price? West Bank Settlements, July/August 2003 Issue

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/28/ma_443_01.html  (Look at the interactive map)

• "The Peace Process," from and Arab Perspective: http://www.allaboutpalestine.com/The_peace_process.html

Noam Chomsky, "Peace Process" Prospects,” July 27 2000 : http://www.zmag.org/chompeacepro.htm

American Jewish Contributions to Israel: http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/blogger/archive/2004_05_01_archive#108343584084464814

“The Peace Process” from an Israeli perspective: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/peace%20process/guide%20to%20the%20peace%20process/   And

• Dr. Ely Karmon, “The Role of Terrorism in the Breakdown of the Israeli - Palestinian Peace Process,” International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, May 25, 2003: http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=485 And
• http://securityfence.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/document.asp?SubjectID=45214&MissionID=45187&LanguageID=0&StatusID=0&DocumentID=-1

*Why did the peace process begun with the Oslo accords and pursued so assiduously by President Clinton break down? What went wrong?

* Can America make peace between Palestinians and Israelis? How?

 

Week 11

11) Mon. Nov. 1

The Iranian Revolution and Gulf Security

• Zbigniew Brzesinski, "After the Carter Doctrine: Geostrategic Stakes and Turbulent Crosscurrents in the Gulf," in H. Sindelar & J. Peterson, ed., Crosscurrents in the Gulf: Arab Regional and Global Interests, London, 1988,  pp. 1-9. [9]

• Murray Waas & Craig Unger, "Bush in the Loop: Bush's Secret Mission," in The New Yorker, pp. 64-83. [20]

• Gary Sick, "An American Perspective," in P. Jabber, ed., Great Power Interests in the Persian Gulf, New York, 1989. pp. 16-42.  [26]
• Scott Armstrong, "Eye of the Storm: The $200 billion reason we had to go to War in the Middle East," in Mother Jones, Nov.\Dec. 1991, pp. 30ff.  [8]
• Iranian Revolution by Richard Hooker, http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/SHIA/REV.HTM
• Iran: 25 Years Later: Roundtable organized by MERIA: http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2004/issue2/jv8n2a3.html
• Iraq Oil - History of Iraq, Middle East and Oil. http://www.museumstuff.com/articles/ar195391067858888.html

Additional readings will be assigned.

*Why was Iran so important to the US and how has the US sought to compensate for it’s loss?

 

Week 12

12) Mon. Nov. 8

• Rashid Khalidi, Empire, All
• Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror. [170]
• Martin Kramer, "Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity," Daedalus, Summer 1993, pp. 171-206. http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ArabNationalism.htm

 

*Why do they hate us?

 Week 13

13) Mon. Nov. 15

Iraq and the first Gulf War The Gulf War

• Khalidi, Empire, Chapter 3: “The Middle East: Geostrategy and Oil,” pp. 74-117. [37]
• Sheldon L. Richman, “‘Ancient History’: U.S. Conduct in the Middle East
  Since World War Il and the Folly Of Intervention,” Cato Policy Analysis No. 159: August 16, 1991, http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-159.html
• Nimrod Raphaeli, “Saudi Arabia: A Brief Guide To Its Politics and Problems,” MERIA, Volume 7, No. 3 - September 2003, http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2003/issue3/jv7n3a2.html
• The Thirty-Year Itch By Robert Dreyfuss March/April 2003 Issue
  http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/10/ma_273_01.html
• Amatzia Baram, "The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait: Decision Making in Baghdad," in Baram and Rubin eds., Iraq's Road to War, New York, 1993, pp. 5-37. [30]
• Video, "The Gulf War," by "Frontline" of the Public Broadcasting Service.

• “Saddam key in early CIA plot,” By Richard Sale, 4/10/2003, UPI,
  http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030410-070214-6557r
• Roger Morris. "A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making," New York Times, 14 March 2003. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/morris.htm

• Yitzhak Nakash, The Shi'ites and the Future of Iraq, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2003 http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030701faessay15402/yitzhak-nakash/the-shi-ites-and-the-future-of-iraq.html
• The Great Terror. In northern Iraq, there is new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds—and of his possible ties to Al Qaeda, by Jeffrey Goldberg, The New Yorker, From the Issue of 2002-03-25 and Posted 2002-03-25. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020325fa_FACT1

• Murray Waas & Craig Unger, "Bush in the Loop: Bush's Secret Mission," in The New Yorker, pp. 64-83. [20]

• Gary Sick, "An American Perspective," in P. Jabber, ed., Great Power Interests in the Persian Gulf, New York, 1989. pp. 16-42.  [26]
• Scott Armstrong, "Eye of the Storm: The $200 billion reason we had to go to War in the Middle East," in Mother Jones, Nov.\Dec. 1991, pp. 30ff.  [8]

*Why did Saddam Hussein Invade Iran and then Kuwait? Why did he think he could get away with it?

*Why did the US go to war against Iraq and why did it stop short of overthrowing Saddam Hussein?

 

Week 14

14) Mon. Nov. 22 – No Class.

 

Thanks Giving

Week 15

15) Mon. Dec. 29 

 Why Did the US Invade Iraq?

• James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Doubleday Books; ( 2004)

• Killing in the Name of Islam: Al-Qaeda’s Justification for September 11   Quintan Wiktorowicz / John Kaltner, Middle East Policy, Volume X, Summer 2003, No. 2.  http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_vol10/0306_wiktorowiczkaltner.asp
• “U.S. 'empire' debate revived by Iraq war: Experts disagree on meaning, exercise of American dominance,” by CRAIG GILBERT From the May 11, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/may03/140037.asp
• Jessica Stern, The Protean Enemy, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2003. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030701faessay15403/jessica-stern/the-protean-enemy.html
• The Stovepipe, by Seymour M. Hersh, How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq’s weapons. From the Issue of 2003-10-27 and Posted 2003-10-20 http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031027fa_fact
• Selective Intelligence, Donald Rumsfeld has his own special sources. Are they reliable? by Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact

• Nicholas Lemann, How It Came to War, When did Bush decide that he had to fight Saddam? New Yorker, From the Issue of 2003-03-31 and Posted 2003-03-24. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030331fa_fact

• “The Next World Order” by Nicholas Lemann
  The Bush Administration may have a brand-new doctrine of power. Issue of 2002-04-01 Posted 2002-03-25
  http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020401fa_FACT1
• “After Iraq” By Nicholas Lemann
  The plan to remake the Middle East.
  Issue of 2003-02-17 and 24 Posted 2003-02-10
  http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030217fa_fact
• “Tinker, Banker, Neo-Con, Spy: Ahmed Chalabi's long and winding road from (and to?) Baghdad,” By Robert Dreyfuss Issue Date: 11.18.02
  http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/dreyfuss-r.html
• Ahmad Chalabi: the Manipulator, by Jane Mayer - May 29, 2004, The New Yorker http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/blogger/archive/2004_05_31_archive#108602189042631954

* Why did the US decide to invade Iraq? What had changed from the Gulf War a decade earlier?

 

Week 16

16) Mon. Dec. 6

The Middle East and US Empire: An assessment

 

• John Ikenberry, “Illusions of Empire: Defining the New American Order,” March 16, 2004, From the March/April 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs. Good piece on Empire debate. March 21. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040301fareviewessay83212a/g-john-ikenberry/illusions-of-empire-defining-the-new-american-order.html
• Norman Podhoretz on “World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win,” in Commentary Magazine, September 2004, “This essay puts together for the first time the full story of the war and the case for the Bush Doctrine, answers the arguments of the critics, and lays out what is at stake in the struggle ahead.’ http://www.commentarymagazine.com/A11802017_1.pdf
• Salim Lone, “The Dangers of Making the United Nations Subservient to U.S. Goals,” Washington Post, August 29, 2004; Page B05. http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/blogger/archive/2004_08_29_archive#109378544066720766
• Was the US alliance with Israel an important factor in the decision to go to war? Two views

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, “Likudniks and neocons seem to agree on 2 grand strategies: Saturday, July 17, 2004 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=6335

Dore Gold, The Likud-US neoconservative cabal is a myth,” Tuesday, July 20, 2004 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=6404

• Juan Cole, “The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of America’s would-be allies,” in Boston Review, October/November 2003 http://www.bostonreview.net/BR28.5/cole.html
• Ronald D. Asmus and Kenneth M. Pollack, The Neoliberal Take on the Middle East, Tuesday, July 22, 2003; Page A17. http://www.cfr.org/reg_index.php?id=6|||1

·         Stanley Hoffmann, America Goes Backward, New York Review of Books, Volume 50, Number 10 · June 12, 2003.  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16350

·         On Neoconservatives and Their Foreign Policy Thinking (By Searching Around The Articles On This Site You Can Find Out Who The Neoconservatives Are

Empire Builders: Neoconservatives And Their Blueprint For American Power

Http://Www.Csmonitor.Com/Specials/Neocon/Spheresinfluence.Html

 

*Is the US an imperial power and should it be one?

*What is new about the neoconservatives and their ideology?