To punish the Saudis by rewarding the Iranians is strategic nonsense

Clifford May:
Consult a map of the Middle East. Locate the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea passage separating the Arabian Peninsula from Iran, and connecting the Gulf — whether you call it the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf is a thorny question — to the open oceans beyond.

The Strait of Hormuz is among the world’s most strategic waterways, essential to the health of the global economy. More than a third of seaborne oil shipments and 20 percent of the oil traded internationally pass through it.

The U.S. Navy — specifically the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet — keeps this sea lane open, frustrating Iran’s rulers who claim it as their private lap pool. They menace American vessels there — though less frequently since Donald Trump replaced Barack Obama in the White House.

Look at the map again. Locate the Bab-el-Mandeb, another strategic strait. It separates Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, and guards the entrance to the Red Sea at the northern end of which is the Suez Canal, also a vital chokepoint. Iran’s rulers covet the Bab-el-Mandeb as well.

Their maritime goals support their hegemonic ambitions. The last thing American leaders should do is help them. Yet a bipartisan majority of senators is working on a resolution that would do exactly that by withdrawing U.S. military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

How did this come about? On Oct.2, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident who for two years had been contributing opinion columns to The Washington Post, was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The Saudi government has charged 11 individuals in connection with the killing. The Trump administration has sanctioned 17 persons thought to be implicated.

Many members of Congress regard that as woefully insufficient. They believe, as does the CIA, that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, ordered the hit — or at least that the buck stops on his desk, or throne or yacht or wherever.

Fair enough but let me state what ought to be obvious: To punish Saudi royals by rewarding Iranian ayatollahs makes no sense.

It is not in the U.S. national interest for the Houthis to prevail in Yemen, thereby allowing Iran’s rulers to expand their empire, threaten Saudi Arabia’s southern underbelly (from which the Houthis already fire missiles at Riyadh), and station forces adjacent to the Bab-el-Mandeb.

Consider what’s happened in this region over the last few years: Lebanon, for all intents and purposes, is ruled by Hezbollah, Tehran’s proxy. Iranian military forces and mercenary militias have propped up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Iranian influence in Baghdad has increased since Mr. Obama withdrew American troops in 2011. The clerical regime works closely with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Anyone with a lick of sense understands why preventing the Islamic State from establishing a Middle Eastern caliphate is in the American national interest. How many licks does it take to grasp that it’s no less imperative to prevent the Islamic Republic from achieving the same objective (though the preferable Shia term would be imamate)?
...
Obama went from one strategic blunder to the next in the Middle East.  For Congress to impose another strategic blunder is a mistake of historic proportions.  The Washington Post has reacted to this situation emotionally.  Cooler heads need to push back against their emotionalism.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains