Al Moqatel - دراسات وأبحاث، أعدها صاحب السمو الملكي، الفريق الأول الركن خالد بن سلطان بن عبدالعزيز

DISCLAIMER

This research report represents the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Air War College or the Department of the Air Force.

AIR WAR COLLEGE RESEARCH REPORT SUMMARY

NO. MS 075-80

TITLE: American Security Interests in the Middle East and their Defense

AUTHOR: Khaled bin Sultan, Lt. Colonel, Saudi Arabia

In the light of recent developments in the Middle East, this paper reexamines American security interests and the validity of the concepts underlying their defense. It focuses on three areas of concern: a strategy for the defense of oi1; superpower competition on the periphery of the Middle East and in the heartland; and forces and relationships within the region which are a threat to stability. In a final chapter the emerging strategy of the United States is evaluated and some proposals made for U.S. - Saudi collaboration in the interests of security.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Lt. Colonel, H.R.H Prince Khaled bin Sultan, member of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Date of birth: 26 August, 1949; date of rank: 10 January, 1978.

Education: BA, 1968, Sandhurst England; currently completing a Master's Degree in Political Science, Auburn University: 1979, Command and General Staff College, TRADOC, Ft Leavenworth; currently attending Air-War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Air University.

Assignments: 1969, Platoon Commander, Air Defense; 1970, Fort Bliss, Texas; 1971, Battery Commander; 1972, Senior Evaluator, Air Defense, Saudi Arabian Army; 1973-78, Director of Planning and Projects, - Saudi Arabia, Air Defense, Saudi Arabian Army.

[1] Sharia - the law of the Koran, Islamic law.

[2] There is a ship passing through the Straits of Hormuz every 19 minutes

[3] It is to be noted that the terms "Gulf" and "Arabian Gulf" are used interchangeably in this paper. Arabs prefer to call the Gulf the Arabian Gulf, rather than "Persian Gulf". I would like to express the hope that it may one day be called the "Islamic Gulf" to the satisfaction of the people on both its shores.

[4] Current U.S. Kenya and Oman negotiations are trying to obtain bases in Somalia, kenya and Oman.

[5] Arabic terms used to denote the Arab Lands in Asia, on the one hand, and in North Africa, on the other.

[6] Now the Yemen Arab Republic, the northern neighbor of the PDRY.

[7] Although a republic was proclaimed in Afghanistan in July 1973 when Daoud Khan, the former premier, took power in a bloodless coup, he tended to perpetuate the dynasty in republican clothing as a cousin of Zaher Shah. Thus, the true end to the dynasty came with the Communist coup of 1978.