Premium
T he O rigins of A merican P ower in I raq , 1941–1945
Author(s) -
O'Sullivan Christopher,
Damluji Manaf
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0130.2009.00553.x
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , charter , politics , power (physics) , iraq war , political science , great power , tying , bunker , middle east , spanish civil war , law , economic history , history , archaeology , economics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , microeconomics , coal , physics
Utilizing archival sources in both the United States and Britain to describe the changes in American policy in Iraq during World War II, and tracing the emergence of the United States as an important factor in Iraq's politics and history, the authors challenge the notion that the United States was a passive bystander to events there during the war. Washington initially followed the British lead, but, beginning in 1942, the United States became more assertive in its relations with Iraq, with American diplomats, State Department officials, postwar planners, and intelligence officers promoting the ideals of the Atlantic Charter while simultaneously aiming to secure Iraq's petroleum and tying it into a network of Western alliances. Iraq's vital strategic position and its rich petroleum resources made it an important part, along with Saudi Arabia and Iran, of the American effort to secure, militarily and economically, the oil‐rich Gulf region for the West in the postwar era.