The function of rogue states in U.S. Middle East policy

Middle East Policy

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 150-167

  Zunes, Stephen ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0031528862     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00271.x     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. Samuel Huntington, "Clash of Civilizations," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72; No. 3 (Summer 1993).
2. Cited in Michael Klare, "Making Enemies for the '90s: The New 'Rogue States' Doctrine," The Nation, May 8, 1995, p. 625.
3. Noam Chomsky, Pirates and Emperors: International Terrorism in the Real World, (Brattleboro, VT: Amana Books), 1990, p. 1.
4. Background briefings with Syrian and American diplomatic officials in Damascus, April 1994.
5. Robert Waller, "The US Struggles to Contain Iran," Middle East International, June 21, 1996, p. 19.
6. Donald Neff, "The Demonising of Iran," Middle East International, May 12, 1995, p. 9
7. Waller, op. cit., p. 20. A comparable situation would be U.S. training and support during the Cold War of various right-wing groups in Latin America which went on to engage in terrorist attacks against civilians. While certainly sharing some responsibility, the United States itself generally did not organize, plan or direct such attacks. One of the strongest cases the United States alleges to have regarding Iran's terrorist activities regards two major bombings of Jewish targets in Argentina: the Israeli embassy in 1993 and a Jewish community center in 1994, both resulting in scores of fatalities. Even here, the U.S. case is spotty. As with many such charges, the supposed evidence has not been released. Some argue that the evidence appears to point to extreme right-wing elements of the Argentine military, which has a notorious history of anti-Semitism. There have been a series of arrests in connection with the bombing, particularly among the carapintadas, a particularly seditious sector of the military responsible for as many as four coup attempts between 1987 and 1990. Virtually all of the suspects have since been released for "lack of evidence," fitting a pattern of expeditious vindication of well-connected suspects.
8. Milton Viorst, "Changing Iran: The Limits of Revolution," Foreign Affairs, November/December 1995, p. 74.
9. U.N. Security Council resolutions 748 (March 31, 1992) and 883 (November 11, 1993).
10. See George Joffe, "Facing New Sanctions," Middle East International, August 28, 1993, p. 9; and, "Qadhafi Ups the Ante," Middle East International, October 8, 1993, p. 9.
11. See George Joffe, "Facing New Sanctions," Middle East International, August 28, 1993, p. 9; and, "Qadhafi Ups the Ante," Middle East International, October 8, 1993, p. 9.
12. International Court of Justice, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya vs. the United States of America, Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures in the Case Concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie, April 14, 1992.
13. Joffe, op. cit.
14. Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes, nationally-broadcast news conference, April 14, 1985.
15. Sam Dillon and Guy Gugliotta, Miami Herald, November 2, 1986.
16. Lindsey Gruson, The New York Times, February 27, 1990.
17. International Court of Justice, Year 1986, June 27, 1986, General List No. 70.
18. See Thomas W. Walker, ed. Revolution and Counterrevolution in Nicaragua, (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.)
19. Bob Woodward, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), pp. 395-397.
20. Though the initial report of U.S. involvement made the leading front page headline of The New York Times and other American newspapers, it is rarely ever mentioned by so-called experts on Middle Eastern terrorism in the United States.
21. Andrew Rathmell, "The U.N.'s Special Commission on Iraq," Middle East International, March 15, 1996, pp. 20-21.
22. Gary Milhollin, "The Business of Defense Is Defending Business," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, February 14-20, 1993, p. 23.
23. Ibid.
24. Viorst, op. cit., p. 75.
25. James Bill, The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), p. 204.
26. Seymour Hersh, The Sampson Option, (New York: Random House, 1991), pp. 209-214.
27. Ibid., p. 268.
28. Cited in ibid., p. 283.
29. Ibid., p. 291.
30. Jane Hunter, "A Nuclear Affair," Middle East International, June 24, 1994, pp. 12-13.
31. Helena Cobban, "Israel's Nuclear Game: The U.S. Stake," World Policy Journal, Summer 1988, pp. 427-428.
32. Hersh, op. cit., p. 9.
33. See, for example, House Concurrent Resolution 9, 103rd Congress.
34. Zachary Davis, "Nuclear Proliferation and Nonproliferation Policy in the 1990s," in Michael Klare and Daniel Thomas, World Security: Challenges for a New Century, second edition, (New York: St, Martin's Press, 1994), p. 112.
35. At the same time, such labels may actually be believed by policy makers.
36. Glen Davies, Department of State Press briefing, June 4, 1996. See also Louay Bahry in this issue.
37. Barry Rubin, Paved With Good Intentions: The American Experience and Iran, (Middlesex, UK: Penguin, 1980), p. 133. The British also gave support for the Iranian takeover of Abu Musa, Greater Tnubs and Lesser Tnubs, which occurred just days before the UAE became independent from Great Britain.
38. See Michael Klare, "Arms and the Shah," The Progressive, August 1979.
39. See Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1987.
40. Klare, "Making Enemies for the '90s," op. cit., p. 626, citing The Military Balance, 1994-95 edition, from the Institute for Strategic Studies.
41. U.N. Security Council resolution 380 (November 1975), deploring the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara, and U.N. Security Council resolution 384 (December 1975), deploring Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.
42. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, A Dangerous Place (Boston, M.A.: Little, Brown and Co., 1978), p. 247.
43. Foreign Operations Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations, Justification of Budget Estimates, Country Summary Tables, 1975. Under pressure from human-rights and international law advocates, the United States has suspended direct military aid to the Indonesian dictatorship in 1994, but arms sales and some military training continue.
44. Boston Globe, June 9 and June 17, 1982.
45. Phyllis Bennis, "Command and Control: Politics and Power in the Post-Cold War United Nations," in Bennis and Michel Moushabeck, eds., Altered States: A Reader in the New World Order, (New York: Olive Branch Press, 1993). The cut-off of aid came just three days after the resolution passed. A U.S. representative was overheard on the U.N. broadcast system telling Yemeni ambassador Abdallah Saleh al-Ashtal minutes after the actual vote, "that will be the most expensive 'no' vote you ever cast!"
46. Jeffrey Laurenti, The Common Defense: Peace and Security in a Changing World, (New York: United Nations Association - USA, 1992), p. 6.
47. United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (December 1975).
48. United Nations Charter, Chapter VI, Article 33.
49. Security Council Resolutions 687 and 688 (March 1991).
50. Indeed, the severity of the humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq in 1991 was greatly exacerbated by Turkey's refusal to allow Kurdish refugees fleeing the Iraqi army into their country, a clear violation of international legal standards regarding refugees. The Kurds have long distrusted the United States, which has on several occasions offered support only to abruptly withdraw it, based on its geopolitical interests in the region. U.S. concerns over the fate of Iraqi Kurds also contrasts with the support of Guatemala's military government in the 1980s during its attacks against its Indian populations, which were comparable in their severity to Iraqi attacks against the Kurds.
51. See, for example, Sarah Graham-Brown, "Security Council Conflicts Over Sanctions" in Middle East Report, March-April 1995,
52. and Ian Johnstone, "Aftermath of the Gulf War: An Assessment of U.N. Action," International Peace Academy Occasional Papers Series, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1994).
53. Saeed Barzin, "Iran: Election Results," Middle East International, March 15, 1996.
54. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996.
55. Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, Section 11.
56. A growing number of left-wing Zionists - both in Israel and the diaspora - are wary of large-scale military aid to the Jewish state. They point to the costs to Israelis of maintaining such an infrastructure, the effects of militarization on Israeli society, and how the close military dependence on the United States undermines Israeli sovereignty and the Labor Zionist tradition of nonalignment. See my article "Zionism, Anti-Semitism and Imperialism," Peace Review, Vol. 6, No. 2; Spring 1994.
57. See, for example, Thomas Dine, "Testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations," March 1, 1993.
58. See my article "The Strategic Functions of U.S. Aid to Israel," Middle East Policy, Vol. 4, No. 4, October 1996.
59. Klare, op. cit., p. 625.
60. Ibid.
61. Robert Vitalis, "Gun Belt in the Beltway," Middle East Reports, November-December 1995.
62. See, for example, Najm Jarrah, "Arab Allies Dismayed," Middle East International, May 12, 1995, p. 10.
63. See my article "Arab Nationalism and the Persian Gulf Conflict," Peace Review, Vol. 3, No. 2; Spring 1991.