Relations impacts and cp’s

US-Kuwait relations good – Patriot system: Israel/prolif

Download 1.27 Mb. Page 79/90 Date 01.06.2018 Size 1.27 Mb. #52708

Navigate this page:

• AT: Kuwait not key

US-Kuwait relations good – Patriot system: Israel/prolif US troops and arms commitment to Kuwait demonstrates strong relations that prevent an Israeli first strike on Iran and prolif in the region Irish Times 2010 [2/2, Obama's sabre rattling, lexis] The old Bush-style diplomacy seemed to reassert itself over the weekend when it emerged the United States is planning a major expansion of military aid to Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf allies including the deployment of anti-missile defences on ships in the Gulf and on land in Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. It also involves speeding up arms sales and rapidly upgrading defences for oil terminals and key infrastructure to thwart attacks by Iran or al Qaeda. The initiatives, including a US-backed plan to triple the size of a 10,000-man protection force in Saudi Arabia, are part of a broader push that includes unprecedented co-ordination of air defences and expanded joint exercises between the US and Arab militaries. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are leading a region-wide military build-up that has resulted in more than $25 billion in US arms purchases in the past two years alone. The move, taking up where President Bush left off, is a response to Iran s rebuff of President Obamas six months of diplomatic overtures over its nuclear arms programme. Iranian stalling has compounded concerns arising from the recent identification of a secret nuclear plant underground near Qom and suspicions that there are other clandestine facilities. The US is struggling, and may not succeed because of the Chinese, to get an agreement at the UN Security Council on further sanctions, but there are regional fears among US allies and Israel that these would do little to deter Tehran anyway. The timing is unfortunate Mr Obamas decision will be a welcome propaganda coup for the Iranian leadership of President Ali Khamenei and prime minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which has justified its brutal crackdown as a response to an international conspiracy against Iran. Evidence of the latter is scarcely what the opposition needs ahead of a major rally on February 11th to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. But the US administration also has to play a delicate balancing game in which restraining Israel and reassuring Arab allies may be as important as the dangers of inflaming the internal Iranian dynamic. It would also be wrong to characterise the Obama initiative as simply a continuation of Bush s significantly more aggressive strategy. Mr Obamas intention in building up the region s defences is clearly to send a strong signal to Tel Aviv that a direct strike against Iran, either by the US or Israel itself, is both unnecessary and would be deeply politically counterproductive. It would prove so not only in Iran itself and its allies in Lebanon and Iraq, but also in the region more widely, in potentially destroying the goodwill of sympathetic Arab states whose public would be outraged by an attack on Iran. Part of the rationale is also to strengthen anti-proliferation arguments within Arab states tempted to say that they too need their own nuclear programme to respond to either Iran or Israel. AT: Kuwait not key Kuwait has a key position in the Patriot missile system – maintaining military relations is key to prevent Iranian and Israeli aggression and prolif in the region The Guardian 2010 [2/5, Guardian Weekly: US and the Middle East: Obama's Gulf missile shield sends warning to Tehran, lexis] Tension between the US and Iran heightened this week with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect US allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran. The US is sending Patriot defensive missiles to four countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait - and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations. US officials said the move was aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat. The deployment comes after Obama's attempts to emphasise diplomacy over confrontation in dealing with Iran - a contrast to the Bush administration's approach - have failed to persuade Tehran to open its nuclear installations to international controls. The White House is now trying to engineer agreement for sanctions focused on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, believed to be in charge of the atomic programme. Washington has not formally announced deployment of the Patriots and other anti-missile systems, but by leaking it to US newspapers the administration is evidently seeking to alert Tehran to a hardening of its position. The administration is deploying two Patriot batteries, capable of shooting down incoming missiles, in each of the four Gulf countries. Kuwait already has an older version of the missile, deployed after Iraq's invasion. Saudi Arabia has long had the missiles, as has Israel. An unnamed senior administration official told the New York Times: "Our first goal is to deter the Iranians. A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don't feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well." The chief of the US central command, General David Petraeus, said in a speech 10 days ago that countries in the region were concerned about Tehran's military ambitions and the prospect of it becoming a dominant power in the Gulf: "Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front." Petraeus said the US was keeping cruisers equipped with advanced anti-missile systems in the Gulf at all times to act as a buffer between Iran and the Gulf states. US presence is key- Patriot is part of a broader package of military exercises, assurances, and surveillance—withdrawal would bring down the whole thing for Kuwait, which is a key country Wall 2005 [Robert, Paris Bureau Chief for AVIATION WEEK, Before joining AVIATION WEEK, he compiled and served as managing editor for the Worldwide Directory of Defense Authorities. Robert holds an M.A. in international relations from the George Washington University, Gulf Links, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 12/5/2005, Vol. 163, Issue 22, ebscohost] Several Persian Gulf region militaries are looking to upgrade their multinational sensor-sharing network, aiming to be better prepared to handle ballistic missiles. In parallel, there's also continuously growing interest in adding new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, with procurement of new unmanned aircraft and manned airborne systems on the agenda to extend sensor coverage throughout the region. The six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (comprised of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates) has already established an extensive sensor network, but it needs to be enhanced to deal with ballistic missiles, says Maj. Gen. Khalid Al Bu-Ainain, commander of the UAE air force and air defense. The upgraded version would also allow for improved teleconferencing between members and the exchange of more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. The current system gives the UAE military surveillance coverage where its own sensors can't see, including Egypt and Jordan. Operationally, too, there is a greater emphasis on missile defense. For instance, this year Saudi Arabia was an observer in the U.S. annual Roving Sands air and missile defense exercise. And the U.S. Army has conducted integration exercises with its Kuwaiti counterparts, Army Brig. Gen. Richard L. McCabe, commanding general of the 32d Army Air Missile Defense Command, told a regional air chiefs conference organized by Defense News. U.S. and Kuwaiti air defense tics were strengthened during the Iraq war in 2003 when Kuwaiti forces fired their Patriot batteries to destroy Iraqi ballistic missiles. The U.S. has already been in talks with both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia about the potential sale of the Patriot Advanced Capacity (PAC-3) system. UAE also has expressed missile defense interest, although in the more capable Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system program, that would intercept longer-range missiles with higher closing speeds. The UAE talks are still in a very early stage, though, a U.S. official says. BUT, ALONG WITH establishing a large sensor network, militaries are trying to boost the surveillance input. Among the highest-profile programs is a UAE initiative to purchase airborne early warning and control systems. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 1.27 Mb. Share with your friends: