The need to implement the idea of American freedom and increase U.S. globalization increases U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. When the U.S. initially inserted itself into the Middle East, it was even said that they would stay as long as they needed to. There was never a goal to leave in a certain amount of time or even specifically where they would be fighting. The U.S. began to defend their involvement in the Middle East by claiming they were fighting for freedom for the citizens. Post World War 2, the United States was the most dominant country in the world and there was an implemented ideal that the U.S. has a responsibility to fight against injustice, even if it had nothing to do with the U.S. This ideal was clear as the U.S. got involved in the Middle East and tried to implement “American freedom”. American freedom meant implementing a government system similar to that of the U.S., having leaders that the U.S. liked and did things that they liked, and had a similar culture to the U.S., in order to better serve the people and give them more freedom. The U.S. also wanted to increase their globalization by increasing their involvement in the Middle East, especially for oil. The U.S. is one of the largest consumers of oil and as a result have always been looking for ways to get cheaper oil and protect where they get their oil from. When oil was suddenly under threat, or close to being cut off to the U.S., the U.S. took it upon themselves to go and stop that.
Freedom at home and empire abroad are connected through how the U.S. foreign policy stays strong in the Middle East. The need to protect “American freedom” leads the U.S. to stay in the Middle East to create an empire abroad. Protecting American freedom means having constant access to large amounts of oil and trying to assert U.S. approved democracy into countries in the Middle East. This creates an empire abroad as the U.S. stays in other countries trying to control things.
I am not sure if there is a way out for the U.S. from the “forever wars”. The U.S. would have to commit to getting oil elsewhere, which in of itself is incredibly difficult. The U.S. would also have to be able to find peace with the countries they are currently involved in without giving military support. This would most likely be incredibly difficult as many countries are now reliant on U.S. military aid or support to fight against other countries or terrorist organizations. While I do think it is important that the U.S. is able to exit the Middle East so we can better use our resources, the implications would be heavy. We would be leaving innocent people resourceless against terrorist organizations and weak governments.
Will Wright 