For every drop of oil, a refugee - A New Era - how conflict in Middle East serves U.S. interests - Brief Article

After September 11, more than a million Afghan refugees fled to Iran, Pakistan, or other bordering nations to escape U.S. retaliation. This refugee flow has deepened an already desperate humanitarian crisis, one that teaches far beyond Afghanistan's borders.

With 20 million displaced people and millions more in poverty, Western Asia is a region in desperate need of peace. However, peace is not something that these nations have been offered the opportunity to choose. The U.S. alone sent 40 billion dollars in weapons and military training to the region in the year 2000. These are the weapons that support virtually every war and ethnic conflict in the region, whether fought by Israel, Iraq, Iran, or the Taliban. Every one of these weapons sales has been approved or directly funded by the Pentagon or the State Department.

Providing the infrastructure for war and death in Western Asia seems contradictory to all-too-familiar presidential statements about the humanitarian nature of the Gulf War or the War on Terrorism. The truth, however, is in the numbers. The U.S. is the world's greatest military supplier, yet it is only 8th in provision of humanitarian aid, relative to GNP. And of this humanitarian aid, little goes to the people in Western Asia who are displaced or destitute as a result of war (see map).

Why would regional instability and conflict within countries serve U.S. interests? In the past, regional leaders have envisioned Pan-Arab nationalism as a way of achieving self-determination and control over oil reserves. Democratic governments have tried to nationalize oil reserves to build their economies. The U.S. has been quick to stifle any such threats to its cheap oil lifeline through covert actions, direct military intervention, or by fueling intraregional and intracountry conflict.

William Pittz, " No Safe Haven." Will recently completed a fellowship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is now a research associate at the Applied Research Center.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Color Lines Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group