Definitions of War, Torture, and Terrorism in the Middle East

The term “Middle East” was conceived in 1902 by Alfred Mahan, a United States Navy flag officer, to describe an area covering a large region in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia (Adelson 1995). The term was created by outsiders for military purposes, not by the people living there. Today, the Middle East is considered to include nineteen territories: Armenia, Afghanistan, Bahrain, the Gaza Strip, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the West Bank, and Yemen (CIA World Factbook 2011). The Middle East is a diverse region with various ethnicities, tribes, government systems, religions, sects, political ideologies, landscapes and weather, economic situations, traditions, and histories. Living in these 16 countries are Jews, Christians, and Muslims, along with adherents of other older religions, such as the followers of prophets Abraham and Noah. The area is also rich in the variety of ethnic groups, which include Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Persians, Indians, and European and Eastern Jews, among others (Owen 2004). Religious sects and movements include Sunnis, Shiites, Reform Jews, Orthodox Jews, Christian Orthodox and Maronites (in Lebanon), and Christian Copts (in Egypt). There are nationalistic movements among Arabs, Iranians, Turks, Egyptians, Pakistanis, and others.