Close Dangers From Foreign Conflict

June 14, 2007 — -- The triumph by force of the radical Islamist party Hamas will have an impact far beyond Gaza and could reach Americans 6,000 miles away.

"Your job may depend on it," former U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell told ABC's Dean Reynolds. "The price of gas that you pay may depend upon it. Your safety and security may depend upon it."

Anything that creates instability in the oil-rich Middle East can play havoc with the price of gasoline, the American job market and the economy in general.

"As long as we cannot wean ourselves and our trading partners off Middle Eastern oil, we're going to have to care about what happens there," said Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.

There are also political implications for the United States, as attempts to isolate and topple the Hamas fundamentalists in Gaza have not worked. And American allies in the region are not wielding influence over the radical groups.

"It's those weak actors who find themselves under assault because the bad actors have gained heart and courage from our failings in Iraq," Indyk said.

The consequences of Western failure on the sandy streets of the Strip could be dire, according to Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"Every brand of radical Islamist will be there -- from al Qaeda to Hezbollah joining Hamas," he said.

Challenged Region

If radical Islamists are able to establish a heavily armed state of their own in Gaza, it will be another sign to their adherents that this group is on the march and that the West is in retreat.

"If they're expanding their presence there and they believe that time is on their side and they're winning, then in fact they will focus more and more on us," Ross said.

He believes the United States is already tainted in the region, which will affect our relations with Arab allies.

"Will they [our Arab allies] do anything because we ask them?" he asked. "They will not because our credibility has dropped that much. But they will act when their own interests are at stake."

And the challenges go beyond Gaza and the Arab-Israeli dispute, as the Taliban is back in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Al Qaeda is also flexing its muscles in Lebanon, and Hezbollah is resurgent.

"We are dealing with weak states, and the phenomenon has grown worse because of our failings in Iraq," Indyk explained.

"This is exactly the wrong time to have American influence at the low ebb it now stands at," said Mitchell. "But that's the situation, and we must deal with it as it exists."