Why Are There So Many US Bases in Muslim Gulf Countries?

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, RIYADH – One aspect that has come under scrutiny following the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran is the existence of US military bases in Gulf countries. How did so many military bases end up in these predominantly Muslim nations? Are they truly for the security interests of the Gulf states, as their defenders claim, or purely for American interests? Facts, as usual, do not take such extreme positions. According to records from the US Department of State, efforts to build permanent US military bases began even before the end of World War II. In March 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had concluded that there was a military need to construct a US military airfield in Dhahran, in eastern Saudi Arabia. The US military planned to use the airfield as an intermediate base between Cairo and Karachi in the projected operations at the time. The Dhahran base was said to shorten the air route by about 200 miles and result in significant savings in fuel and flying hours. There was another, more primary reason outlined in diplomatic documents of the era. “The oil fields of Saudi Arabia, which have the potential to be one of the most valuable in the world, are now under concession to American companies. The continuation of the concession in American hands offers the best prospect that Saudi oil will be developed commercially on the greatest scale and speed, generating revenue that will contribute to the improvement of economic conditions in Saudi Arabia and, consequently, to its political stability,” stated a diplomatic letter dated 12 March 1945. US company involvement in Saudi oil began in 1933 when Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) signed a concession agreement, leading to the discovery of oil in Dammam in 1938. In 1944, before the military base agreement, Standard Oil of California, Texaco, Standard Oil of New Jersey, and Socony-Vacuum formed a partnership that officially became the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). “After the airfield is used for military purposes, it will become a primary asset for American civil aviation post-war as the most feasible stopover on the route to India and as a means of air traffic to and from oil fields owned or controlled by Americans in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain,” read the second rationale. Saudi King Abdulaziz bin Saud approved the US proposal at the time. However, there was a very significant caveat. “The King expressed his desire that the airfield be used by US military forces for a period of three years after the end of hostilities,” quoted from a 1945 diplomatic document. After that three-year period, there should no longer be US military bases in Saudi Arabia, and Dhahran would be converted into a civilian airport.