Notes from the minefield: United States intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958

Abstract

Notes From the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958, by Irene L. Gendzier. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xxii + 378 pages. Notes to p. 422. Bibl. to p. 444. Index to p. 470. $39.95. This is a comprehensive study of the first 15 years of post-World War II American diplomacy in the Middle East and its impact on developments in Lebanon. Irene L. Gendzier has amassed valuable information to research the factors that led to the landing of the US Marines in Beirut in 1958, and has given the reader a clear picture of Washington's relations with the Arab world at an important phase in the Cold War. Notes From the Minefield is divided into five chapters. The first, Setting of U.S. Policy, defines the historical and political fundamentals of US global interests and describes the formation of Lebanon as a modern state. The second focuses on the role of Lebanon's political elite in structuring that country's external alliances, as well as on the United States' economic and political stakes in the Middle East during the Truman administration (1945-53). The third chapter provides a detailed account of the relationship between the Eisenhower administration (1953-61) and the regime of Lebanese president Camille Sham`un (1952-58). The fourth chapter looks at the events that preceded the decision to dispatch American military troops to Lebanon. Finally, the dynamics of US military intervention in Lebanon and the implications of that intervention-internationally and regionally-are the topics of the last chapter of the book. The author raises the question, What is the meaning of 1958 in the context of U.S. Middle East policy? (p. 365). She disagrees with the official National Security Council memorandum (NSC 5820/1), which criticized America's identification with conservative and pro-Western regimes as detrimental to US influence in the Middle East. According to Gendzier, Washington adopted a very flexible response to the different elements pertinent to the brief 1958 civil crisis. While the United States feared Egyptian president Jamal `Abd al-Nasir's popularity in the Arab world and the radicalism of his brand of Arab nationalism, it appreciated his anti-communist stance. Although America supported President Sham`un, this did not preclude it from demanding reforms of the confessional system in Lebanon. British-American differences over the merit of US intervention in Lebanon subsided in favor of a wider Western strategic scheme to strengthen Britain's ties with Jordan and the Persian Gulf states. Notes From the Minefield contains important de-classified material in the form of National Security Council memos and a number of State Department documents. In addition, it depicts well the interplay among the different departments and agencies of the national security apparatus in the US government. This approach is commendable, since most accounts of US diplomacy in the Middle East depict it as a reflection of the values and disposition of a small cluster of 'Arabists' who worked to balance US relations with the Arab world in the face of the efforts of Israel's sympathizers. …