ABSTRACT
By linking ideological postures with more easily understood social and political problems, this chapter helps to understand the complex relationship in an academic sense and provides another dimension for the policy maker to understand and even anticipate the implications of ideological politics in the Middle East and the Islamic world. Nonsupport for the Palestinian people is only one of many issues in the region. And in terms of great power rivalry the United States potentially occupies a far stronger position than do the Soviets. Separating American Middle East policy from its Israeli one is only part of the task confronting American policy makers. One of America's major interests in the Persian Gulf is the free and unimpeded access to petroleum for herself and, more importantly, for the Western alliance and Japan. The Iranian Revolution, despite the grandiose proclamations of Ayatollah Khomeini, can only be transplanted into fertile soil.
