ABSTRACT
The United States' commitment to maintaining, and if possible increasing, American influence in the Gulf stems from that region's geostrategic significance and its oil. That there is a glut on the world oil market should not suggest that Persian Gulf oil is unimportant to the United States. The Soviet interpretation of the Camp David process argues that it was designed to remove the strongest Arab nation, Egypt, from "the anti-Israeli Arab Front," thereby greatly enhancing Israel's military position vis-à-vis the remaining Arab states. US self-assurance and smugness were reflected in the belief that the extraordinarily complicated Lebanese problem could be resolved by force. The tribulations of American foreign policy, however, are not unmitigated gains for Moscow. The seriousness of Washington's efforts to establish and develop a permanent and direct, albeit over-the-horizon, military presence in the region is demonstrated by substantial growth in the US military budget under the Reagan Administration.
