Middle East Militarization - Essay Example

Militarization Middle East Militarization The Middle East has been for a long period of time been a war zone. The reason is getting the supreme power. Be it amongst the countries themselves, or to get the power over oil. Oil has been a major source of economy for the Middle Eastern countries. One of the current lists which have been collected by the Associated Press says that out of the top 20 oil-producing countries Iran is at No. 4 on that list, which produces about 4.0 million barrels of oil per day.

The oil production of Iran is critical for the world. But we have seen what exactly happened to Iran during and after the war. The whole concept of militarization in Iran brought its own doomsday.Though there has been many international arms control process and there has been numerous discussions on the weapons of mass destruction-free zones in the Middle East, the key powers in the province have seen biological, radiological, chemical, and nuclear arsenal as means of power. The same holds true for the long-range rocket systems, like missiles.

Iran has been quite aggressive towards the United States since fundamental, spiritual forces overthrew the administration in 1979. Iran is primarily an Islamic Republic which has ties with the Soviet Union, from whom it purchases most of its military arsenal. However, during the 8-year Iraq-Iran war, the United States gave support to Iraqi President Saddam Militarization 2Hussein in order to topple the Iranian administration. And in a bizarre turn of events, the United States solicited Iran for support of Operation Desert Shield.

However from the year 1987 to 1988, the U.S. warships made certain that the tankers that carried oil through the Persian Gulf had a safe passage. The U.S. forces engaged in combat with the Iranian navy and also attacked the Iranian oil sited in the Persian Gulf. The most spectacular use of the arms of mass annihilation in the Middle East took place between the years 1980-1988 during the Iran-Iraq War. Iran had an armoury of the Soviet SS-1 (Scud-B) missiles and wanted to develop their own surface-to-surface missile system.

Iran had plans to purchase the Chinese M-9 missile, which has a 600-kilometer range. Iran claimed that they can manufacture their own adaptation of the SS-1. They had produced an edition of the Chinese Type 53 missile rocket, which they called the Oghab, which had a range of 40-kilometers. Iran was also building an unguided missile which they called “Iran 130”. This had a range of 130-kilometers. All these missiles are being manufactured to be custom fitted with the chemical warheads and at the same time the conventional warheads.

The United States also believed that Iran had a sufficient stock of phosgene and mustard gas and was also in the process of acquiring the nerve gas. Most of the Middle East countries had tried or is trying to acquire the CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) weapons irrespective of their ruling stature. The following can be attributed for the cause:Militarization 3The hunt for position and prestige, and the truth that the CBRN weapons have a key "glitter factor" in the region which has made haste to buy the most advanced weapons, irrespective of their capability to use them effectively or handle them properly.

In order to discourage the other countries and also the uncertainty of truly understanding the actual force of the CBRN arsenal that the proliferators have.The requirement to improve their war fighting potential and become superior to the conventional artillery. To use CBRN irrespective of the U.S. sanctions or international objection. The CBRN weapons are the most authoritative tools for terrorization, even though it is never used in the war. The result of the lack of any arms control system.

Even after the downfall of Saddam Hussein, the Middle Eastern countries continue to use weapons and militarization as their way towards the supremacy.Militarization 4Reference:1. The evolving threat from weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Anthony H. Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair for Strategy Center for Strategic and International Studieshttp://www.parstimes.com/news/archive/2002/wmd_me.html2. EMERGENCE OF THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES http://www.tpub.com/content/advancement/14144/css/14144_28.htm3. Cold War Studies - PRE COLD WAR OIL: THE ANGLO IRANIAN OIL COMPANY.

Lisa Reynolds. February 23, 2011. http://www.coldwarstudies.com/2011/02/23/pre-cold-war-oil-the-anglo-iranian-oil-company/