Will Mideast Allies Drag Us Into War?
Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,
The New Year’s execution by Saudi Arabia of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was a deliberate provocation.
Its first purpose: Signal the new ruthlessness and resolve of the Saudi monarchy where the power behind the throne is the octogenarian King Salman’s son, the 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
Second, crystallize, widen and deepen a national-religious divide between Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Persian, Riyadh and Tehran.
Third, rupture the rapprochement between Iran and the United States and abort the Iranian nuclear deal.
The provocation succeeded in its near-term goal. An Iranian mob gutted and burned the Saudi embassy, causing diplomats to flee, and Riyadh to sever diplomatic ties.
From Baghdad to Bahrain, Shiites protested the execution of a cleric who, while a severe critic of Saudi despotism and a champion of Shiite rights, was not convicted of inciting revolution or terror.
In America, the reaction has been divided.
The Wall Street Journal rushed, sword in hand, to the side of the Saudi royals: “The U.S. should make clear to Iran and Russia that it will defend the Kingdom from Iranian attempts to destabilize or invade.”
The Washington Post was disgusted. In an editorial, “A Reckless Regime,” it called the execution risky, ruthless and unjustified.
Yet there is a lesson here.
Like every regime in the Middle East, the Saudis look out for their own national interests first. And their goals here are to first force us to choose between them and Iran, and then to conscript U.S. power on their side in the coming wars of the Middle East.
Thus the Saudis went AWOL from the battle against ISIS and al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria. Yet they persuaded us to help them crush the Houthi rebels in Yemen, though the Houthis never attacked us and would have exterminated al-Qaida.
Now that a Saudi coalition has driven the Houthis back toward their northern basecamp, ISIS and al-Qaida have moved into some of the vacated terrain. What kind of victory is that — for us?
In the economic realm, also, the Saudis are doing us no favors.
While Riyadh is keeping up oil production and steadily bringing down the world price on which Iranian and Russian prosperity hangs, the Saudis are also crippling the U.S. fracking industry they fear.
The Turks, too, look out for number one. The Turkish shoot-down of that Russian fighter-bomber, which may have intruded into its airspace for 17 seconds, was both a case in point and a dangerous and provocative act.
Had Vladimir Putin chosen to respond militarily against Turkey, a NATO ally, his justified retaliation could have produced demands from Ankara for the United States to come to its defense against Russia.
A military clash with our former Cold War adversary, which half a dozen U.S. presidents skillfully avoided, might well have been at hand.
These incidents raise some long-dormant but overdue questions.
What exactly is our vital interest in a permanent military alliance that obligates us to go to war on behalf of an autocratic ally as erratic and rash as Turkey’s Tayyip Recep Erdogan?
Do U.S.-Turkish interests really coincide today?
While Turkey’s half-million-man army could easily seal the Syrian border and keep ISIS fighters from entering or leaving, it has failed to do so. Instead, Turkey is using its army to crush the Kurdish PKK and threaten the Syrian Kurds who are helping us battle ISIS.
In Syria’s civil war — with the army of Bashar Assad battling ISIS and al-Qaida — it is Russia and Iran and even Hezbollah that seem to be more allies of the moment than the Turks, Saudis or Gulf Arabs.
“We have no permanent allies … no permanent enemies … only permanent interests” is a loose translation of the dictum of the 19th century British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.
Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian jet and the Saudi execution of a revered Shiite cleric, who threatened no one in prison, should cause the United States to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the alliances and war guarantees we have outstanding, many of them dating back half a century.
Do all, do any, still serve U.S. vital national interests?
In the Middle East, where the crucial Western interest is oil, and every nation — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Libya — has to sell it to survive — no nation should be able drag us into a war not of our own choosing.
In cases where we share a common enemy, we should follow the wise counsel of the Founding Fathers and entrust our security, if need be, to “temporary,” but not “permanent” or “entangling alliances.”
Moreover, given the myriad religious, national and tribal divisions between the nations of the Middle East, and within many of them, we should continue in the footsteps of our fathers, who kept us out of such wars when they bedeviled the European continent of the 19th century.
This hubristic Saudi blunder should be a wake-up call for us all.
(13 votes)
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I cannot argue with anything in your post. You are correct.
Nobody drags the U.S. into war. We march straight into it all on our own.
You march without being dragged, but not on your own. Australians and Britains were not in favour of participating in the 2003 Iraq adventure, but the government leaders were. I was kind of neutral. It was the last time that I gave the US the benfit of the doubt. It felt like the US dragged the others.
Quoting the Wall Street Journal as being pro-Saudi without mentioning it is a Murdoch publication looks like a distortion to me. All Murdoch publications are always on the side of the neo-cons, regardless. That's why Murdoch spent such an excessive amount of money to buy the WSJ. It is traditionally seen as influential and he wanted that influence for the neo-con ideology. But here he's siding with the wrong ones.
What's this "we" stuff? The people of the US made plain and clear that we had ZERO interest in a war in Syria and our government went ahead and did it anyway in open defiance of the will of the people.
Noo.....America went to war in Syria on behalf of Israel and "the Syrian people"; who just so turned out to be the same rebels we just got done paying to fucking rape Libya with. This is pretty recent....shouldnt be too ahrd to rekember something that happene d a year ago.
Saitly Bear, it is obvious that the corporation called the US does not give a shit what the people think or want. Naturally, no one intended for the government to speak for you, but you are left holding the bag. You sound a lot like my Ex: What is this "We" stuff, there is no "Us"... Blah blah. The opinion of a constituancy of people, the opinion of a large group, the preference of a minority, the NO of an individual is obviously not of any importance to a renegade, terrorist organization called the Corporation of the United States.
Let us imagine that there is a corporation called "Socialist Relativist Hetero Fag Monopoly Syndicate for World Domination, brought to you by the Federal Reserve out of Puerto Rico". This corporation decides that you must pay taxes to it for the purpose of spreading something called Democracy, for the interest on the outstanding debt of the corporation, etc.
Obviously the people that you talk about did not make it clear that they did not want a war in Syria. The will of the people has no merit to the corporation. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.
All I'm trying to say is that this Corporation presumes that it has jurisdiction over you and everyone you know in the geographical US. This is in fact impossible, however, through color of law it is de facto.
If the president of a corporation like White Castle came out and told you what the fuck is up, I doubt you'd have a care about it. But when the president of "Socialist Relativist Hetero Fag Monopoly Syndicate for World Domination, brought to you by the Federal Reserve out of Puerto Rico" stands at the podium and elicits incessant executive orders like a robot, you get the feeling that there is something rotten in the Corporate City State of DC.
Naturally it is your fault and the fault of your friends for putting up with this shit. I'm really sorry you feel miscounted but get used to it. You aren't special.
I am with Russia, Iran & China to kick major ass (Turkey, House of Saud + Obozo). Let Obozo & Micheal-elle go fight, not our boys & daughters this time!
You got that totally wrong ... Obozo will side with Iran. Its Bilbo and Wife who would side with Saud
You underestimate the deep state and don't understand who has the real power. Obozo is just a talking head. The people with the real power stay out of the public light.
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Pat, Merica is run by zionists... your article supposes we have some kind of choice in the matter...
"Merica is run by zionists"
Pat's been shouting that from the rooftops since, at least. the 80's.
Allies ... Who know who are our allies? SA, UAE, Iran ... It depends which politician you ask.
Note ... If crude can't go up when there's a chance of a shooting war ... watch out below
.....how about we sit this one out? Oh, right, out "allies" will drag US into it. How about everyone who VOTES for war.... gets a free plane ticket for them and their extended family right to the fucking front.
I am betting that Wednesday the DPRK will announce that it has exploded its first hydrogen bomb.
Israel an ally? Why would an ally spy on us? Repeatedly.
Mideast Allies my foot.......
John Mccain, Lindsey Graham, and the rest of the Fox news, RINO neocons, with help of warhawk marxocrats will get is in another mideast quagmire faster than you can say military industrial complex..........
I hope you parents with children in the military, or thinking of joining the military, make sure they know that military can mean war, not just a job.......
The West should just stay out of this sectarian conflict.
It's naive to assume any US "ally" has acted independently, on any of these atrocities.
The Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. should make clear to Iran and Russia that it will defend the Kingdom from Iranian attempts to destabilize or invade.”
All western media especially american , is nothing but CIA planted govt. propaganda.
All you in the west realize this , you all r being brainwashed
Like a towel in whirlpool machine
YOU PRESUME TOO MUCH, sir. To infer that we here at ZH, reading an outside of the MSM, are brain-washed means that you are off-point, and ridiculously single-mindedly thinking that all Americans are buying this crap in the Middle East. NO, we are not "brain-washed." SHEESH!
No probs. Obama will have the US fighting in support of both sides in the conflict. He reckons that way the US can't lose.
"War, War & More War" has been the plan of ISISrael all along.
Sure, our questionable allies are a bit confusing, but at least we’re clear on who America’s worst enemies are: those that believe in constitutional liberties, those that want what’s best for the nation (nationalists), and privileged white devils!