by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*
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Map: Syria and Iran |
However, Governor Romney was clearly out of his comfort
zone when talking about foreign policy. Considering that two-thirds of the
entire debate was devoted to the Middle East and the Islamic world, I expected
an exciting and informative debate. However, I lost hope in hearing a
substantive discussion of the Middle East policy when I heard Governor Romney
say that, “Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to
the sea.” Even after years of teaching courses about the Middle East to
young men and women who had just graduated high school, I cannot recall seeing so
many errors in so short of a statement.
First, Romney seems to imply that Iran is isolated in the region (the Arab world), a common mistake. Iran is not an Arab country. the majority of Iranians
are not ethnically Arab, and they do not speak Arabic. Their connections to
Arabic is the Arabic script they use to write their language, Persian, which is
Indo-European. In fact, linguistically speaking, Persian is closer to English
and other Germanic languages than it is to Arabic. Like the majority of Arabs,
they are also Muslims. But even their religion is disputed by Arab Sunni puritans
from Saudi Arabia who label them Shiite rafidis (rejecters of faith).
Second, Iran now has Iraq as a close ally--which is holding the rotating leadership of the Arab League. It also had deep economic, military, and political relations with Sudan since the 1990s. It recently upgraded its relations with Mauritania and Algeria. Even in the Gulf Region, Iran maintains special relations with the Sultanate of Oman.
Second, Iran now has Iraq as a close ally--which is holding the rotating leadership of the Arab League. It also had deep economic, military, and political relations with Sudan since the 1990s. It recently upgraded its relations with Mauritania and Algeria. Even in the Gulf Region, Iran maintains special relations with the Sultanate of Oman.
Third, Iran and Syria share no borders. If Governor
Romney were keeping up with the events of that region, he would have known of
the administration’s criticism of Iraq’s government for allegedly allowing Iran
to use its airspace to transfer weapons to Syria. If Iran had any shared
borders with Syria, it would not have needed to use Iraq’s airspace to reach
Syria. Deductive and inductive reasoning aside, Governor Romney should know the
geography of a region so critical to U.S.’s interests, especially given that he
sees Iran as the biggest threat to U.S. security.
Fourth, both Syria and Iran have direct access to the
sea. Neither of them needs the other to get access to the sea. Parts of Syrian’s western
border opens onto the Mediterranean Sea. Iran’s south western border opens onto the Persian
Gulf which leads to the Indian Ocean and to the waters beyond.
Criticizing Governor Romney for lack of knowledge
about a critical region such as the Middle East does not absolve President
Obama. Foreign policy cannot and should not be judged by the soundness of the
opponent’s relative erudition about the subject. It ought to be judged by the absolute
level of the challenge a region poses: the higher the challenge the higher the
standard.
Unfortunately, President Obama’s current foreign
policy in the Middle East, too, is not adapting quickly enough to the changes
taking place in that part of the world. As a candidate five years ago, he
promised to adopt new approaches to dealing with the Islamic world for example.
With his first term in office ending in a couple of months, the U.S. is still entangled
in wars, relying on sanctions, and depending on dictators to preserve its
influence in the region. The U.S. foreign policy is still stuck in the Soviet
Union Era. If re-elected, he ought to raise the standard. He ought to overhaul U.S.
foreign policy before the “80’s asks for it back,” to paraphrase one of his "zingers."
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