End the Dangerous Saudi Relationship Now

From The American Conservative:

Jason Rezaian observes that the Trump administration missed its opportunity to change the relationship with Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi’s murder two years ago, and he spells out what the U.S. needs to do now:

When MBS arrived on the scene, many observers were overly optimistic about the prospects of his promised reforms to Saudi Arabia. They easily ignored the pointless and catastrophic war he has waged on Yemen. They have also looked past the growing list of human rights abuses that have become more egregious on his watch.

Now that we know the predictions of modern reform were wrong, the United States must correct course. We must push to hold MBS accountable – not only because it is the correct and moral thing to do, but also because it could ensure that we don’t remain entangled and dependent on a despotic leader motivated by a blind and violent thirst for power. That remains the ultimate threat to our interests and national security.

Trump’s enthusiasm for catering to Saudi preferences has been unusually strong, but before 2018 the conventional wisdom in much of Washington had been that the U.S. had not been as supportive of the Saudis as it should have been. The extensive lobbying network acting on behalf of the UAE and Saudi Arabia made sure that this is how people viewed the final years of the Obama administration. The false promise of Mohammed bin Salman’s “reforms” notwithstanding, there was a great willingness in D.C. to indulge and “reassure” the Saudis. This is ostensibly why the Obama administration backed the attack on Yemen in the first place, and it is why opposition to U.S. involvement in the war was so muted in Congress until it became identified with Trump’s sword-dancing, orb-grasping spectacle in Riyadh. When Trump became president, his determination to curry favor with the Saudis and the UAE weirdly aligned him with what lots of people in Washington thought the U.S. should be doing. But then the war on Yemen continued to drag on and the Saudi coalition repeatedly slaughtered innocent civilians with airstrikes, and Saudi agents murdered Khashoggi. It was telling that it was the latter that registered far more in Washington, where the victim was known personally, but the backlash against the Saudis that followed served to rally more support behind the effort to end U.S. involvement in the war. Covering for the Saudis as he has done for the last three and a half years, Trump vetoed every resolution that would have stopped U.S. involvement and cut off further weapons sales, and for the last year and a half U.S. involvement in the indefensible war has continued despite broad opposition to it. The conventional wisdom about the Saudis has changed significantly, but Trump and his allies are still acting as if the last two years never happened.

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