US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Janice J. Terry

Description

Millions of dollars are spent every year by companies and special interest groups attempting to influence government policy. They work behind the scenes, lobbying politicians to represent their interests. From tobacco companies, to energy companies, from anti-abortion campaigners to civil rights campaigners, the list is vast. And nowhere is their influence more keenly felt than on the issue of the Middle East.



Israel is America's key ally in the Middle East, and helps maintain US dominance in the region. This book shows how pro-Israeli lobbyists and domestic interest groups have been hugely successful in creating government and financial support for Israel. By contrast, Arab-American groups and Arab governments have had less success putting forward their agendas.



Janice J. Terry shows how special interest groups work, and why certain lobbying techniques are more effective than others. She sets this within the wider cultural context, showing how the US media -- and the general public -- view the Middle East.



To explain how lobbies work, Terry draws on case studies including the Sinai accords and Camp David under Presidents Ford and Carter, the Conflict between Greek and Turkish lobbies over Cyprus, and the major campaign against the Arab boycott.



Making use of primary sources, and unpublished material from various presidential libraries, this is a fascinating expose of the role that lobby groups really play in determining US foreign policy in the Middle East. It will be of interest to students of American politics, and Middle East studies.

Sujets

• Political Advocacy
• Political Process
• Political Science
• Advocacy group
• International relations
• Middle East

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783719594
• Langue: English

Extrait

U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East
The Role of Lobbies and Special Interest Groups
Janice J. Terry
First published 2005 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Janice J. Terry 2005
The right Janice J. Terry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7453 2259 X hardback ISBN 0 7453 2258 1 paperback ISBN 978 1 7837 1959 4 EPUB eBook ISBN 978 1 7837 1960 0 Kindle eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in Canada by Transcontinental Printing
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Introduction
1 The Libretto: Making Foreign Policy
2 The Score: Media and Popular Culture
3 The Stage Set: Images and Attitudes
4 Production Aspects: Lobby Techniques and Finances
5 An Overture: The Case of Cyprus
6 The Cast: Pro-Arab Lobbyists and Interest Groups
7 The Cast: Jewish Americans and Pro-Zionist Lobbies
8 Act One: The Ford Administration
9 A Major Production: The Arab Boycott Campaign
10 Act Two: The Carter Administration
11 Curtain Calls: Present and Future
Notes
Bibliographic Essay
Index
Acknowledgements
Many people and institutions contributed to making this book a reality. The Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter Presidential Libraries and their outstanding staffs were unfailingly helpful and forthcoming with suggestions for further avenues of research and documentation. At the Ford and Carter Presidential Libraries particular thanks go to Drs. Don W. Wilson, David A. Horrocks and Dr. Don Schewe, Director, and archivist, Dr. James A. Yancey, Jr., respectively. Eastern Michigan University granted Faculty Research Leaves and a Sabbatical from teaching to provide the blocks of time necessary for research and writing. Dr. Gersham Nelson, Head of the EMU History and Philosophy Department, also encouraged the project. I am also grateful for a Grant-in-Aid award from the Rockefeller Archive Center to conduct research in their extensive holdings.
The late Egyptian diplomat, Tahseen Basheer, provided an overview into Arab responses to U.S. policies as well as introducing me to a very wide range of professionals involved in influencing foreign policy. A generation of scholars and journalists owe him a profound debt of gratitude for his assistance and direction. Ambassador Clovis Maksoud was similarly generous in sharing his vast knowledge and experience in the fields of diplomacy and foreign policy. Many other individuals involved with lobbies and pressure groups shared their inside knowledge and perceptions, but preferred to speak off the record.
Sally Marks is one of the main “angels” who persistently, but ever so gently, prodded me to complete the research and to synthesize the material into what hopefully is a cogent whole. However, all errors are mine alone. A round of applause is owing to Roger van Zwanenberg and Rebecca Wise of Pluto Press for their suggestions and editorial advice and to Martha Wade of Wade Management for her knowledge of all things musical. Finally, a standing ovation goes to Donald Burke, who is simply the best.
Abbreviations and Acronyms AAI Arab American Institute AARP American Association of Retired Persons AAUG Association of Arab American University Graduates ADC American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee ADCRI Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute ADL Anti-Defamation League AEI American Enterprise Institute AFSC American Friends Service Committee AHEPA American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association AHI American Hellenic Institute AIPAC American Israel Public Affairs Committee ATFP American Task Force on Palestine AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System AZEC American Zionist Emergency Council CAIR Council on American Islamic Relations D-North Dakota Democrat – North Dakota, etc. GFL Gerald Ford Library IRMEP Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy JCL Jimmy Carter Library JDL Jewish Defense League LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson Memri Middle East Media Research Institute MERIP Middle East Research and Information Project MESA Middle East Studies Association MPAC Muslim Public Affairs Council NAAA National Association of Arab-Americans NSC National Security Council OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries PACs Political Action Committees PHRC Palestine Human Rights Campaign PLO Palestine Liberation Organization R-Cal Republican – California, etc. R&D Research and Development Rep. D. Representative Democrat TRNC Turkish Republic of North Cyprus UHAC United Hellenic American Congress UJA United Jewish Appeal WINEP Washington Institute for Near East Policy ZOA Zionist Organization of America
Introduction
How does Washington decide upon and implement its foreign policy in the Middle East? What domestic and international factors are taken into consideration before decisions are made and put into practice? These questions have been hotly debated among experts and have befuddled much of the U.S. public for decades. In the aftermath of the obvious failures of U.S. foreign policy following the 9/11 attacks, the need to answer these questions has taken on even greater immediacy.
As an historian, my original approach in the search to understand and explain the process was to study the policies toward the Middle East adopted by the Ford administration, using the Ford Presidential Library as the main source of documentation. However, this soon proved impractical because most of the key documents – and indeed, the majority of everything having to do with Henry Kissinger, who was the main architect of policy during the 1970s – remain classified. But there is a wealth of material on the attempts by lobbyists and outside interest/pressure groups to influence and structure U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Entering through the backstage door opened up corridors for the fruitful investigation of how lobbyists operate and how the government, in particular the White House, responds to and/or ignores a myriad of lobbyists and pressure groups.
Although it is regrettable, the sensitivity of the times seems to demand a full disclosure of my own background with regard to this topic. I come to the subject as an outsider with no ethnic, religious, national, or familial ties to any of the states or peoples in the Middle East. However, my entire academic career has been devoted to the study of the region, with a particular emphasis on political development and the role of the media during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This study does not detail the internal working dynamics or history of any specific lobby, interest group/organization, or individual. Nor is it an analysis of only one specific policy decision, or of a single Presidential administration. Since there are essentially no domestic U.S. lobby groups dealing with Iran, that vital nation is not included; this is not to imply that Iran does not play a key role in U.S. policy considerations, but is rather to emphasize that most decisions regarding Iran are made in coordination – albeit sometimes at cross purposes – by the State Department, Pentagon, CIA and White House. This study does provide a historic overview with specific “case studies” to explain how policies are made and what role, if any, lobbyists and pressure groups have in influencing and guiding U.S. policies in the Middle East.
I have used opera as an accessible analogy to illuminate the exceedingly complex interrelationship between the players who create foreign policy. The case studies used to underpin the analysis are taken predominantly from the Ford and Carter administrations. I have also been fortunate enough to interview numerous professionals, paid lobbyists, pressure group leaders and career foreign service officers and experts from the Middle East (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Israel and Palestine), as well as Washington insiders. These experts have been unfailingly helpful in sharing their personal experiences and observations. The Ford and Carter presidencies are particularly appropriate choices for the study of lobbies and foreign policy. Each was a one-term president, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. Both dealt with the same or similar foreign policy issues. In spite of their very different personal styles and backgrounds, Ford and Carter ended up adopting analogous policies in the Middle East.
Ford’s major involvement regarding the Middle East entailed the two Sinai disengagement accords, the courting of Anwar Sadat out of the Soviet orbit, the anti-Arab Boycott campaign and the ongoing occupation and division of Cyprus following the 1974 Turkish invasion. Cyprus provides an instructive contrast to the influence of lobbies/pressure groups on policy outside the parameters of the highly emotive Arab Israeli conflict. Under Carter the main issues were the Camp David Accords and subsequent Egyptian Israeli peace treaty, the ongoing Arab Israeli conflict, Cyprus, Iran and, to a much lesser extent, the anti-Arab Boycott campaign.
The analysis critiques lobbyists – their failures and successes – as well as specific policy decisions. The failures and the comparatively fewer successes of pro-Arab groups are examined in a critical light. Israeli and Zionist lobby campaigns and policies are held up to similar scrutiny. In their desire to prevent debate on the highly emotional history and impact of the Arab Israeli conflict, some supporters of Israel have sought to equate any criticism of Israel or Zionism with anti-Semitism. While this has serve