US Security Cooperation in Mideast Must Account for Human Security: Col. Dahouk

During his speech at the annual National Council on US-Arab Relations conference in Washington DC, the Former Senior Military Advisor to US Department of State and Member of the Board of Directors of the National Council on US-Arab Relations, Colonel (Ret.) Abbas Dahouk, spoke about the US security cooperation in the Middle East.

Based on his long experience as a recipient of security cooperation in Lebanon during the late 1970s and 1980s, and then as an operator at the US military and US State Department for almost 30 years, Col. Dahouk explained what is security cooperation and how the US policy in the Middle East has changed over time.

Security Cooperation

“Security cooperation has long been a vital tool of US foreign policy and it’s important for the US, especially in the Middle East region. Historically, this has been a source of strength for the US building a network of partners and allies, and addressing common problems beyond which the US may be able to accomplish its mission alone,” Col. Dahouk said.

Therefore, security cooperation is “a way to ensure US superiority in this era of strategic competition,” he added. Col. Dahouk noted that the US traditional approach to today’s security cooperation in the Middle East, which is a state-centric approach, “is no longer sufficient to meet its stated objectives.”

Col. Dahouk thinks that the US security cooperation “must account for a human security,” not just security assistance or government security, and “local ownership,” which gives people some ownership of this security cooperation. This security cooperation must also account for “a good defense government, in terms of effectiveness and accountability on both sides,” the US and the other side.

US Policy in the Middle East

Col. Dahouk pointed to the changes in the US policy in the Middle East over the last three decades. “Over the last three decades, the US policy towards the Middle East has changed from dual containment of Iraq and Iran, under President Clinton, to “regime change and democratization” under President Bush,” he said.

“And from pivoting or rebalancing to Asia under President Obama to burden sharing and somewhat pay for security under President Trump. With this administration, the main focus on security is what is called integrated deterrence strategy under Biden, where both the US and partners and allies have to work together to project deterrence against common enemies,” he added.

Defense Posture

Despite these changes in the US policy in the Middle East, certain constants remained unchanged, according to Col. Dahouk. “One of them is the defense posture in the Middle East remains constant. We still have thousands of US forces present across the region, we still have forces right now in Syria, may be about 900, in Kuwait 13,000, the UAE about 3,500, Qatar about 8,000. You got Saudi Arabia about 1,000, Bahrain about 5,000, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan 3,000 and Libya and so on,” he said.

Col. Dahouk added that this posture “accounts for about, in terms of statistics, about 50% of all global US force posture. That’s before the Ukraine-Russia war. Recently, you have increase in posture for US forces in Eastern Europe and also in Germany.” The Former Senior Military Advisor to US Department of State noted that with this military presence in the Middle East, “the US defense strategy is not pivoting or rebalancing to Asia in anytime soon.”

Furthermore, Col. Dahouk said “we have witnessed 20 years and trillions of US dollars spent in Afghanistan and Iraq in “nation building,” but ended up in unfavorable outcome for the US and also for the local populations in both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan. And it seems there are more bad outcome coming from Iraq and Afghanistan as well. So, that story has not ended there.”

Defense Transfers

During his speech, Col. Dahouk said that the other constant in the US policy in the Middle East is “the high volume of defense transfers, in terms of articles and services, to the region.”

He explained that such high volume of defense transfers to the Middle East “supports the US defense industrial base. So, the US has benefited from the defense transfer, companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and the likes.” Moreover, “some of the defense advisory firms are also benefiting from defense posture and defense operation,” he added.

“According to the US State Department, the US defense industry directly employs almost two million people across the US. So, there is a job creation. These individuals and the companies they work for represent a key part of American entrepreneurship and innovation, also helping to maintain the US status as a world leader in the defense and aerospace sectors and ensuring our armed forces maintain their military edge,” Col. Dahouk noted.

Changes in the Middle East

On the other hand, the Middle East has seen notable changes over the last years. According to Col. Dahouk, “Russia is back in the Middle East and re-established a naval base in northern Syria. They deployed over 3,000 of their proxy forces in Libya, through Wagner Group. They also increased their troop presence on the borders of Egypt and Libya. And they also secured a strong voice through membership of the OPEC+, thus influencing all markets perhaps production and prices,” he said.

Furthermore, the former US Senior Military Adviser mentioned the increased presence of China in the region. “China also moved in the region in the last decade or so. China built their first overseas naval base, about $600 million naval base, on the Red Sea in Djibouti. And Djibouti is a member of the Arab League,” he said.

Col. Dahouk added that China is also “selling armed drones and long-range ballistic missiles in the region. Armed drones and long-range ballistic missiles, we don’t sell them to our friends in the region, so China has moved in and is doing that.”

China has also introduced “its version of a 5G and 6G telecommunication technologies, which will cause a problem in interoperability between forces,” Col. Dahouk warned. “If a partner country in the Middle East uses 6G technology, we, US military, cannot talk to them directly, so we cannot link a US system to a Chinese system. This basically narrow down our engagement in the Middle East as well because of the telecommunication aspect,” he explained.

Iran’s Increased Presence

Col. Dahouk mentioned Iran as one of the countries that has increased its presence in the region. “Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, is present and is also operating directly in 4 Arab countries. It is operating in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. It is also indirectly operating or trying to hedge their politics in Bahrain, Kuwait and Gaza. Iran has targeted US troops numerous times to cause harm in Iraq and Syria,” he noted.

Moreover, Iran “damaged oil refineries in northern and southern Saudi Arabia, and indiscriminately shelled population centers, including the city of Riyadh and the Holy City of Makkah. They also used drones against civilian airports, Riyadh and King Khalid international airport and also airports in the UAE and Kurdistan and Baghdad and also used it against flagships around the region,” Col. Dahouk said.