Abstract
A small and weak state with few natural resources and no oil, Lebanon has not traditionally been considered a U.S. national security policy priority in the Middle East. In fact, with the notable exception of crises involving two military interventions, in recent decades Lebanon has been somewhat of a backwater of U.S. policy.
The U.S. can protect us from another superpower but not from a regional power like Israel or Syria. The U.S. is not ready to escalate the battle to the degree Syria is.1
—Former Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Abdullah Bouhabib
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
“World Strength of the Communist Party Organization,” Annual Report 10, Department of State Bureau of Intelligence & Research. (Washington, DC: DOS, 1958). Quoted in Erika Alin, “U.S. Policy and Military Intervention in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis,” in David W. Lesch (ed.), The Middle East and the U.S.: A Historical and Political Reassessment, 3rd edition (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003), p. 152.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Waging Peace (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1965), p. 265.
Yair Evron, War and Intervention in Lebanon (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), p. 200.
Ralph A. Hallenbeck, Military Force as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Prager, 1991), p. 34.
Nicholas Veliotes testimony before Congress, March 9, 1983, cited in John Kelly, “Lebanon: 1982–1984,” in Jeremy R. Azrael and Emil A. Payin (eds.), U.S. and Russian Policymaking with Respect to the Use of Force (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 1996).
For a more comprehensive discussion of this dynamic, see David C. Martin and John Walcott, Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America’s War against Terrorism (New York: Simon And Schuster, 1988).
Detlev Mehlis, Report on the International Independent Investigation Commission Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1595 (Beirut, Lebanon: United Nations, October 19, 2005), pp. 15–19
John Bolton, Surrender Is Not an Option (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007), p. 385.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Barry Rubin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schenker, D. (2009). America and the Lebanon Issue. In: Rubin, B. (eds) Lebanon. The Middle East in Focus. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230622432_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230622432_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37326-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62243-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)