Lords of the Desert

Title: Lords of the Desert – Britain’s Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East

Author: James Barr

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2018 (First)

ISBN: 9781471174032

Pages: 401

The US and the UK are bosom friends in everything from culture and commerce to international policy. What pervades this all-weather friendship is the unquestioned dominance of the US in every sphere of activity you can think of. But this was not always like this. There was a time when Britain enjoyed its metropolis status over the destiny of a vast empire in which the sun never set and ruled the waves of all oceans on the planet. The US never had a colonialist hinterland though the nation itself was almost a continent on its own size. The Second World War changed the imperialist status quo. Though Britain and her Allies prevailed over their Axis enemies, the victory was a Pyrrhic one. The economic backbone of the empire was broken and its compulsion to cede independence to the colonies severely curtailed British prospects of ruling the world again. The US stepped in as a replacement to Britain, and turned out to be much more powerful in a different role. During the transition period, the British and the Americans struggled for supremacy in the Middle East, which contained the most promising commodity of the twentieth century – oil. From 1942, until Britain’s exit from the Gulf was completed in 1971, the two countries were invariably competitors in the Middle East and often outright rivals. The two issues of oil and Israel always stood ominously behind the violence in the region. This book is the story of how the Americans rose to prominence while Britain’s star was gradually eclipsed. James Barr is a British author of a number of historical works on the Middle East and is currently a visiting fellow at King’s College London.

Barr examines the economic perspective which pitted both countries against each other. The war effort absorbed sixty per cent of the industrial output in the US. After the World War, the demand would fall away leading to mass unemployment. Increase in exports was the only solution to tide over the crisis but this would place the Americans on a collision course with the British because a successful American export drive in the Middle East would be detrimental to British interests, which in the meanwhile had flooded the markets with British products under the guise of war-time shipping restrictions. Britain almost went bankrupt at the end of the war, resorting to food-rationing to feed its population. Liberal economic aid poured out of the US, but each incoming dollar constrained Britain’s independent maneuverability against conflicting American interests.

Israel was a turning point in Middle East history. Right after the defeat of Turkey in World War I, Zionists had identified Palestine as the place to house the Jewish diaspora. With Nazi persecution of Jews, inward migration reached such a pitch as to alarm the Arabs. Understandably, the Arabs opposed further migration, but their opposition had only a religious basis engendered by notions of jihad. Jews exerted an organized and carefully calculated influence in US politics. Under fire from the Zionists for failing to do more for Jewish refugees, Roosevelt tried to court the Jewish vote during the presidential campaign of 1944. He promised to bring about the establishment of a free and democratic Jewish commonwealth in Palestine. This opened the floodgates of illegal migration to Palestine. Some Jewish organisations even engaged in terrorism, targeting British troops and officials who oversaw the Mandate there. Fundraising continued unabated in the US and the Administration was reluctant to clamp down on them, fearing Jewish backlash in the ballot box. Britain left Palestine on 14 May 1948 and Arab-Israeli war broke out the next day. A Jewish state was declared and Truman promptly recognized it. The book depicts Britain as a staunch opponent of the Jews who in turn directed their physical violence against it. People often accuse the US for aligning their foreign policy in line with their business interests. But in the case of Israel, supporting them cost the US dear in terms of Arab goodwill, but still they continue to steadfastly support them against all odds.

The author accurately analyses the efforts to control the flow of oil to its western markets. Iran and Iraq were traditionally under the control of Britain while Saudi Arabian oil was managed by the US. No effort, howsoever unsavory, was spared to ensure the flow of oil. Bribes were used universally across the region. Aramco laid an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast at great peril. It freely bribed Syria’s politicians for transit rights. When that proved insufficient, they organized a military coup to bring down a non-pliable civilian government. When Iranian premier Mossadegh nationalized the British-owned oil company, he too was brought down. Taking his cue, Egypt’s Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. Britain attacked Egypt but had to withdraw ignominiously when the US opposed the move in a surprising turn of events. During this time, they dramatically increased Saudi oil production and provided its king vast wealth. The windfall from oil often astonished the British as well. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s concession in Iran was termed by Churchill as a ‘prize from fairy land far beyond our brightest hopes’. They massaged the profit figures of the enterprise to cut down on the dividends payable to the Arabs.

A noted aspect of American foreign policy is its stated desire to spread the idea of democracy around the world. Usually, this turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and an attempt to make the right noises to please its clients at home and abroad. The US persuaded Britain to grant more autonomy and freedom to India but didn’t follow through with coercive measures when it became evident that they had no immediate plans to do so during the war. In the 1950s, this policy underwent a subtle shift in the Middle East. Abandoning their quest for democracy, they actively hunted for competent leaders who were somewhat favourably disposed to the West. With it went the hopes of democracy transforming the Arab states.

The Middle East is dominated by the Arabic language which is spoken in an unbroken chain from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. Apart from faint spattering of Christians, the people are overwhelmingly Muslim. In the face of these obvious uniting factors, the readers of this book would be astonished at the total absence of cohesion among the people and the very high levels of mutual distrust and suspicion. The monarchs are jealous of each other’s ambitions while demagogues orchestrate to uproot other elected leaders and also monarchs. Arab nationalism appears to be so fractured and fragile that it never rises above tribal aspirations and prejudices. The Hashemites cashed in on the rout of Ottomans while the Saudis displaced them from Arabia proper. The Hashemites further subdivided into Jordanian and Iraqi branches and then tried to outwit the other. Gamal Abdel Nasser rose up as a promising leader who could unify the Middle East. But he was not above resorting to underhand deals and military interventions in other countries. Anyhow, with Egypt’s miserable defeat at the hands of Israelis in the 1967 war sealed his fate. The Arab world continues to be divided even now.

The book is very informative and pleasingly readable. The narrative is witty with lots of side comments that freshen up the reader. In these 340 pages, Barr condenses the entire story of the Middle East for a quarter century. Obviously, he has used much declassified documents which present some shocking details. King Hussein of Jordan is claimed to have received considerable sums of money from the CIA every month as part of their effort to keep the local rulers in good humour.

The book is strongly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star