Incoherence: For Saudi Arabia, Against Iran
Saudi Arabia and Iran are competing against one another as enemies in the Middle East. The U.S. has chosen (since 1979) to be an ally of the former and an enemy of the latter. That strikes me as being incoherent.
The other possible options are to be an ally of Iran and an enemy of Saudi Arabia, or an ally of both, or the enemy of both, or to be neither an ally nor an enemy of either. I think that last option should be our policy.
Iran became our enemy when Americans were taken hostage in that nation following the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of an ‘Islamic Republic’. That was forty years ago last year.
To be held captive is to be mistreated, but none of the hostages were killed. None were starved. None were tortured. None were raped. After 444 days they were all released.
During World War II, which started for us with a surprise attack on our naval base in Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, in which civilians were also killed, Americans who were captured by the Japanese were killed, starved, and tortured. Women were raped. We incarcerated Japanese Americans. We did not mistreat captured Japanese military personnel as a policy, but it did happen. We also firebombed cities and dropped two atomic bombs on cities in Japan.
Immediately following that war both sides decided to let bygones be bygones, to the benefit of both. So why is Iran still an enemy?
The official line is that Iran exports terrorism. I’m not saying it doesn’t, but Saudi Arabia also exports terrorism. In fact, Saudi fingerprints were all over the destruction of the Trade Towers in New York. Osama bin Laden was a Saudi.
It is common knowledge that the ruling family in Saudi Arabia made a deal with the Wahhabi clerics: they could do whatever they wanted, funded by the state, as long as they supported the royal family. The Wahhabi sect invented contemporary ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ and initiated the militarization if Islam. Through its madrassas it has spread its venomous version of Islam across the globe. It is the inspiration for ISIS and other virulent movements in the name of Islam. Women are not treated worse anywhere by a government than they are in Saudi Arabia. It is commonly understood that the current head of the royal family has had one person (that we know of) cut to pieces with a power saw while he was still alive (until he died in the process) — on a table in an office in Turkey.
Iran, on the other hand, has not acted outside the Middle East. Yet, the U.S. is an ally of Saudi Arabia and an enemy of Iran. That is incoherent.
I am not suggesting that we should be an ally of Iran. I am not suggesting that we should be an enemy of Saudi Arabia. I am saying we should be neither an enemy nor an ally of either.