President Barack Obama’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman this week lasted more than two hours and was the longest that the two have ever had. It was possibly the most awkward ever, too, as a consensus — extremely rare these days — in the U.S. is getting louder that Washington needs to reset its relations with Riyadh. “Reassess” is the expression that is widely used, as nobody wants to snap ties with the crucial and long-standing ally in the world’s most volatile region.
“Saudi Arabia is like a partner driving drunk. We need to tell them to stop,” said Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution. “We don’t want to blow up, or completely disrupt this relationship. We need to reset it to ensure that the Saudis are fighting the war against extremism,” said Democrat Senator Christopher Murphy, who has moved a new bill along with Republican Rand Paul last week that will restrict arms sales to Saudi.
Over the last seven years, the Obama administration has sold the Saudis military equipment worth $90 billion, according to some estimates. Even the more conservative estimate of $65 billion is three times that was sold during George W. Bush’s tenure, which was the highest until then. “The difference now is that the Saudis have started using it, for the first time, and that too for offensive purposes,” Mr. Murphy said at a Brookings event on Thursday. “The Saudi air campaign in Yemen is not suiting the strategic objectives of the U.S. in the region.”
The Obama administration is stonewalling the anti-Saudi sentiments that are spreading fast. It has promised to veto a piece of legislation that would allow American victims of 9/11 to sue the Saudi government; is continuing with arms sales; and is going slow on reviewing the classification of an unpublished section the 9/11 commission report that apparently talks of the Saudi role in the terror strikes. But the Saudi aggression in Yemen has brought to the fore its role in U.S. strategy for the region. While civil society groups focus on the human misery caused by the Saudi action, strategic thinkers point out that the Saudi military campaign has allowed al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) a free rein in Yemen.
Most credible threat Mr. Riedel points out that the most credible threat to the U.S. homeland comes from AQAP. “The bar that we seek to set for Saudi Arabia is pretty low — join our efforts to fight extremism,” said Mr. Murphy. “If the U.S. and U.K. told the king tonight, this war will end tomorrow. The Saudi Air Force cannot operate without U.S. and U.K. support,” added Mr. Riedel.
The administration’s explanation is that but for U.S. intelligence and guidance, the humanitarian cost of the Yemen campaign would be higher and its effectiveness against Iranian supported rebels would be less.
Last month, civil society organisation Code Pink conducted a two-day summit on Saudi Arabia in Washington that highlighted the human costs of the U.S.-Saudi alliance in the country and the region. But this debate is no longer a fringe agenda in the U.S. as all remaining candidates in the presidential race appear to agree on one thing though in varying degrees — reassess ties with Riyadh. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz support a bill that will allow 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. And the pioneer in the anti-Saudi campaign is Donald Trump — who never fails to make the point that the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia and not Iran.
Asked whether it would be irrational for the Saudis to worry that they’re no longer the U.S.’s key ally in the region, Ben Rhodes, Deputy NSA, said “I think on the core of the relationship, that remains very solid. Our point is simply that that concern with Iran should not foreclose the potential for diplomatic engagement if there’s an ability to resolve problems.”
