Middle East and North Africa - Obama Presidency Oral History

Iran also featured prominently in the Obama Administration’s early diplomacy to the Middle East. The collection contains memories of Obama’s early efforts to reach out to the Iranian people—highlighted by a recorded message for Nowruz, the Persian new year—as well as the subsequent setbacks following Iran’s crushing of popular protests in summer 2009 and the regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Diplomacy with Iran over the country's nuclear capabilities, which led to a landmark nuclear deal, are covered in the topic essay on nuclear nonproliferation.

A year and a half after Obama’s Cairo speech, on December 17, 2010, Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after a clash with local authorities. Bouazizi’s self-immolation set off widespread Tunisian protests against the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the country since 1989. Ben Ali stepped down on January 14, 2011, ushering in democracy in Tunisia, as similar anti-government protests quickly spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa in what would become known as the Arab Spring. The collection contains interviews that reveal how the spirit of the protests spread among popular movements in different countries in the region, many of which were crucial to longstanding U.S. interests in the region. 

Multiple Obama Administration officials discuss the significance of the Egyptian Revolution, which began with dramatic protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 25th, 2011, the day of Obama’s State of the Union. Egypt was the second largest recipient in U.S. aid and a key ally on Middle East initiatives under longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak. The collection contains multiple perspectives on the intense 18-day period between the beginning of the protests and Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, during which Obama officials debated the opportunities and risks involved in supporting democratic change in one of its longest-standing regional allies. 

The Administration soon faced another wrenching set of choices in Libya, where longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi acted swiftly to crush protests against his rule, centered in the Eastern enclave of Bengazhi. Multiple interviews shed light on the debates inside the Administration over a potential U.S. military response, given fears that Gaddafi enemies would be slaughtered. These interviews feature recollections of Obama’s decision to commit U.S. forces to an intervention—which Obama later called a “51-49 call”—and the U.S. role in securing UN Security Council Resolution 1973, authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians. Diplomatic, defense, and military officials reflect on the U.S. role in NATO Operation Unified Protector, which enforced the resolution. 

In the Midst of the Arab Spring, on May 18 2011—just several weeks after Obama authorized a raid that located and killed Osama Bin Laden—Obama delivered a speech at the U.S. State Department meant to mark “a new chapter in American diplomacy” in the Middle East. The speech was accompanied by renewed socioeconomic development programs and support for human rights and democratization in the region. 

The revolutions of the Arab Spring, however, produced major disruptions over the next several years, which feature prominently in interviews with foreign policy, defense, and intelligence officials who worked on the Middle East and North Africa. Narrators discuss the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who a year later was toppled by military coup. In Libya, following the NATO intervention and the death of Gaddafi at the hands of Libyan rebels in October 2011, the country entered into a protracted period of civil war and governance crises. Administration officials discuss the rise in violence and terrorist activity culminated in an attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi in 2012 that killed several U.S. personnel including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stephens. In Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels overthrew the government in September 2014, leading to a civil war against Saudi-backed republican forces. 

The outbreak of civil war in Syria, between the government of Bashar al-Assad and revolutionary forces that grew out of protests in 2011, presented the Obama Administration with one of its most difficult challenges, one which features heavily in the oral history interviews. Officials recall debates over the U.S. role in opposing Assad and the development of options capable of deterring the government from committing further atrocities, balanced against the prospect of another U.S. military engagement tin the Middle East. Many narrators recall the White House's response to a chemical weapons attack carried out by Assad’s forces on civilians in Ghouta in August 2013, which appeared to violate Obama’s earlier statement that the use of chemical weapons would constitute a “red line” in the conflict. Following an intense period of planning for military retaliation, Obama unexpectedly announced that he would seek congressional authorization before committing the United States to any military action. 

Several weeks later, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived at a deal to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons. Interviews in the archive show how this bit of diplomatic improvisation spawned a rapid and complex U.S.-led operation marshaling the manpower, logistics, and scientific expertise required to practically remove and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons. These include the memories of Rick Jordan, a merchant mariner and captain of the Cape Ray, the ship which carried out the destruction via hydrolysis while at sea for eleven months.

The Syrian Civil War would become further complicated by the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS), which is discussed in the topic essay on counterterrorism. After the terrorist group claimed control over portions of Iraq and Syria in 2014, the Obama Administration redeployed U.S. troops to Iraq and intensified its military activity in the region under Operation Inherent Resolve and the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. The Syrian Civil War, along with conflicts in Yemen and Libya, led to increased migration and refugee movement from the Middle East, which are discussed in the topic essays on immigration and Atlantic Relations. 

Together, this web of issues reflects how significantly U.S. policy remained deeply invested in the Middle East by the end of Obama’s two terms in office.