Toward a Policy for the Middle East

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IF THE United States is to pursue its objectives successfully in the Middle East it must understand that the decisive social and political force at work there is Arab nationalism, and must come to terms with it; and it must also accept realistically the fact that the Soviet Union now plays an important rôle in Arab affairs.

The strategic importance of the Middle East as a route to Asia and as an area of contention between Russia and Western Europe is not new. The Eastern Question preoccupied the Powers throughout the nineteenth century. Today, with the protagonists infinitely more powerful, the competition continues; and to the stakes have been added three-quarters of the world's proven oil reserves. What may be even more significant is that rival philosophies and ways of life are competing in the Middle East also, and the outcome there will have a profound influence on the still uncommitted peoples of Africa and Asia.

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A necessary first step in formulating an American policy for the Middle East is to identify the basic American objectives there. In doing so, a clear distinction should be made between objectives and the means to achieve them and between essential objectives and those that are merely desirable. The importance of this is emphasized by Western experience in recent years. A concept of "vital interests" has always underlain British policy: for example, the use or usufruct of such facilities as the Suez Canal and the refinery at Abadan were regarded as of vital importance. But in practice the vital interest itself has often been understood to include the ownership, control or even military occupation thought necessary to secure it. Particular means have tended to become ends, and rigid adherence to them has in the long run often jeopardized rather than safeguarded the interest itself. Thus, we have seen that the means which Britain used to assure navigation in the Suez Canal and a continuing flow of petroleum to Europe worked against those vital interests...