Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides the early days of the American missionary movement in the Middle East. It examines how American tobacco companies – with the aid of the US Department of Agriculture – defeated attempts in the 1970s and 1980s by Saudi political and religious leaders to ban smoking and popularized smoking cigarettes in the Kingdom. The book explores primary source material to re-examine the significance of ideology and geography in shaping US foreign policy. It deals with an examination of one of the United States' most critical regional allies, Israel. The book represents some of the essential relationships between the United States and Gulf Arab nations. It looks at the Iraq War of the 2000s in an important historical context. The book also examines how the Obama administration handled the Arab uprisings from 2011 to 2012.