From Loonwatch: “This “three-decade war for domination of the Middle East” becomes apparent when we consider how many Muslim countries the peace-loving United States and her “stalwart ally” Israel have bombed.”
(I generally agree, but there are a couple of problems here, see below)
[I may be having a senior moment, but I actually don’t think the US has bombed Iran. It shot down an Iranian civilian air liner in 1988 and has backed the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) or People’s Jihadis to blow things up in Iran. It also gave tactical support to Saddam Hussein’s military in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, and so bombed Iran by proxy. But I can’t remember any direct US military strike on the country.
(Ooops. Yes, a senior moment. The US bombed an offshore Iranian oil platform in 1988, and I think that would count. h/t to Shannon in comments!)
Also, the US has had no base in Uzbekistan since 2005. I also questioned Turkmenistan but found this.
Finally, there is a logical fallacy because having a US base in a country is the result of a bilateral agreement and it isn’t always unpopular, even at the level of the person on the street. In the Cold War, Turks were very happy to have the US presence to deter the Soviets.
Still, that there are a lot of resentments because of knee-jerk US backing (since the late 1960s) for Israeli hawks and because of the way the US and its ally have sought hegemony in the region, so the mapmaker has a point.]
Dear Prof. Cole:
I don’t believe we (the US) have ever bombed Iran; however, I do know we maintained at least a small contingent of US Air Force people there in the late 60s and into the 70s because I had a girl friend in Teheran at that time whose father was an Air Force colonel attached to the base at Mehrabad Airport. If I recall correctly, he once mentioned that there were around 1,500 AF personnel in the country. I know there were enough that the Defense Department felt justified to maintain an AFRTS radio and TV station. It and BBC World Service radio were my sole sources of broadcast news at the time. (I was there between 69 and 72, by the way.)
Um, what does “the UK ‘and’ Israel” mean in this context? This map makes it look like Israel has bombed, say Sudan or Yemen. Or that it’s the same to bomb a country and to be at war with it (as in the case Egypt or Syria) – in which case a lot of these countries have bombed each other over the years! It seems a bit of an incoherent grouping.
Sorry I meant the US, not the UK, naturally.
The US bombed and sunk part of the Iranian Navy in Operation Praying Mantis in 1988, as well as striking at two Oil Platforms. This, I think, does qualify as a direct military strike.
Dick Cheney said yesterday that we should bomb Iran over the captured drone. This man is evil personified.
Cheney *said* the US should bomb Iran over a captured stealth drone, Clinton *did* bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade over a captured stealth fighter.
I believe the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was an accident. Does Daoud believe it to be otherwise?
Accidentally on purpose
I recall the US shelling some Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for attacks on Kuwaiti oil tankers back during the tanker war in the 80s
I found a citation for the US attack on Iranian oil platforms: link to en.wikipedia.org
On April 18, 1988 American forces struck the Sassan oil rig in the Persian Gulf. The rig was in Iranian territorial waters. The attack was in retaliation for Iran’s mining of the Gulf and subsequent damage to an American ship.
Juan, please comment on Dick Cheney’s advice to order an air strike that would destroy our drone now in the possession of the Iranians. What would be the repercussions of such a strike?
I’d appreciate a re-do of the map: red for USA bases; green for USA bombing/attack; purple for both; blue for Israeli bombing/attack; yellow for Israeli bases (hmm, Sheba’a Farms?); black for both; STRIPES for countries touched by both Israel and the USA.
Are there currently US bases in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Chad? I know there’s a substantial presence in Djibouti, but I thought that was more or less the extent of US bases in Africa. The map is missing the US forces stationed in Cyprus as well.
I agree with Pabelmont, the color scheme could be broken out into more detail. Although simplicity probably suits the producer’s purposes better.
[…] Worth posting: this map of American military activity in the broader Middle East (via Informed Comment). […]