rld economy. Its price is set in theMiddle East, which both contains most of the world’sreserves and is its most troubled political region” (Rustow,1982, p. 19). Although the United States appears the mostvulnerable to the economic dangers of a gas crisis, and thepolitical dangers from the Middle East, it also have thegreatest potential to impact the economy of oil and thepolitics of the Middle East than any other single nation.According to Rustow, “More than half the arms currentlystockpiled in the Middle East were made in the UnitedStates. And if somehow were Americans could wean ourselvesfrom oil imports, we could deprive OPEC of its best customerovernight” (Rustow, 1982, p. 20).Although the United States had always come to the aidof the oil-producing countries it depended on, it was duringthe late 1970s and early 1980s that the government of theUnited States began to vehemently fix its foreign policy onsolving the oil crises it found itself facing. For example, according to Rustow, “In 1968 HenryKissinger had proved oblivious to the problems of thePersian Gulf; by 1980 Jimmy Carter was to declare the Gulf aregion of ‘vital interest’ to the United States” (Rustow,1982, p. 19).This vital interest was most clearly delineated duringthe 1991 Gulf War and the crisis that led to it. SaddamHussein’s attack against oil-rich Kuwait proved just howvital the region was to not only the United States, but tothe entire world. Oil is one of the main reasons we are inthe Persian Gulf indefinitely. According to Hoagland,“Saddam's threat to Saudi oil fields triggered thesignificant escalation of stationed American troops in theGulf that has apparently enraged Saddam, Saudi domesticextremists or whoever set off that truck bomb” (Hoagland,1996, p 5B). As recently as this year, President Clinton had to dealwith the threat of Saddam Hussein. And, although he hasretreated for the time bein...
