ABSTRACT
Political analysts and military specialists have conducted voluminous postmortems assessing the reasons for the successful prosecution of the war against Iraq and its significance for the future balance of political and military forces throughout the Middle East. The US government has embarked on a two-track strategy in an effort to diminish the potential for violence that afflicts the Middle East. The first involves broad arms control initiatives intended to restrict the flow of advanced conventional weapons to the region. The second is directed toward the strengthening of international conventions that seek to eliminate chemical and biological weapons from the arsenals of all members of the international community and to further constrain Third World efforts to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities. The chapter examines the role of various technological and weapons systems in upsetting the region’s military balance, as well as alternative arms control strategies that might be adopted.
