US Must Change Its Mideast Strategy: Iran Daily

Tehran, Aug 5, IRNA - ˈIran Dailyˈ on Tuesday suggested that the US needs to urgently review and change its policies, strategies and goals in the Middle East if it must succeed to guarantee security and stability in this region. In addition, if it also stops its policy of ignorning Iran as a powerful and influential player in the region, both countries can play a pivotal role in guaranteeing regional peace, security and stability after resolving their own disputes over a period of time, added the English-language newspaper in its Opinion column. Undoubtedly, Barack Obama’s rise to power in 2009 was the result of rationalism by top decision-makers in the US to compensate for his predecessor George Bush’s mistakes which mainly focused on foreign policy rather than domestic economy. The Obama administration was rather successful in leading US economy, which affects global economy, out of recession. Obama’s most important cost-cutting measure was scrapping the war-mongering policy of the Republicans and slashing heavy costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which were borne by US tax payers, noted the daily. However, the change in the policy put the US in a dilemma, which become thornier when a wave of revolutions began to sweep through a series of Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010. The purse strings should be loosened in order to implement any policy. Washington cannot maintain an effective presence in various parts of the world, especially the Middle East, without a huge budget dedicated for the purpose. The US can meet the cost of war or occupation of a country from sources within the occupied country itself (like Iraq’s oil), or by selling arms to the neighbors of the occupied country. There is a third way and that is putting the financial burden of the war on regional allies (like Saudi Arabia and Qatar). If the last is opted for, then the US will not have good leverage to carry out its policies in the targeted country. It means the US could get stuck in a quagmire due to mistakes by the countries it seeks to use to pursue its policies. That’s because these third parties lack the necessary capabilities for carrying out America’s policies in the intended countries. The quagmire of the war on Syria, which was masterminded and funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, is a glaring example of US failure from this point of view. International relations are not so easy to allow the US to wage or end a war whenever its wants, stated the paper. Washington formulated a dual fundamental strategy long ago, which the paper termed as ‘the big vision’ and ‘the small vision’ for its foreign policy and economy. Based on the big vision, the situation of the international community is set by America’s unilateral dominance in the world’s political, economic, and cultural arenas. The US is making a dreadful mistake in implementing this policy and rejecting the help of influential countries in areas it tries to keep its presence. Because of this wrong attitude, the US has not been successful in bringing stability to these regions for economic development and establishing democracy. Based on the small vision, the US seeks make political, economic and geopolitical changes in the world, the Middle East in particular. Washington pursues two major goals in the Middle East that are maintaining and strengthening Israel’s security, and securing oil and gas flow from the region. In order to achieve these objectives, in the first phase, the region’s political geography must change in the desired way. The US begun to implement this policy in 2011 in the aftermath of the Arab spring in the Middle East and North Africa, whose consequences will arise in near future. In light of the above, the daily concluded by reminding the US once again to change its strategy or face the consequence of its measures in various parts of the world and assume responsibility for them./end