65,398
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
SW: →Carter Doctrine: add
In his [http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml 1980 State of the Union Address], President [[Jimmy Carter]] "stated it clearly: 'Any attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States. It will be repelled by the use of any means necessary, including military force.' Though it came in the wake of the [[Islamic Revolution of 1979|1979 Islamic revolution]] in [[Iran]], this Carter Doctrine was a product of the [[Cold War]]. In striking his pose, Carter was self-consciously emulating a Democratic predecessor, [[Harry S. Truman|Harry Truman]], who once had a speechwriter delete references to how important the 'great natural resources' of the Middle East were 'for the very existence of our own economy' in favor of generic support for 'democracy' in the region."—Joe Stork, "The Carter Doctrine and US Bases in the Middle East," MERIP Reports 90 (September 1980); quotes from Stork’s ''Middle East Oil and the Energy Crisis'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1975), pp. 39–45.
:*Also see the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine Carter Doctrine] in the ''Wikipedia''. "When President Carter issued this edict," [[Michael T. Klare]] [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11862 wrote] January 14, 2007, for ''TomDispatch.com'', "the United States did not actually possess any forces capable of performing this role in the Gulf. To fill this gap, Carter created a new entity, the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF), an ad hoc assortment of U.S-based forces designated for possible employment in the Middle East. In 1983, President [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] transformed the RDJTF into the [[U.S. Central Command|Central Command (CENTCOM)]], the name it bears today. CENTCOM exercises command authority over all U.S. combat forces deployed in the greater Persian Gulf area including [[Afghanistan]] and the [[Horn of Africa]]. At present, CENTCOM is largely preoccupied with the wars in [[Iraq]] and Afghanistan, but it has never given up its original role of guarding the oil flow from the Persian Gulf in accordance with the Carter Doctrine."
===The Role of [[NATO]]===
