Hossein Askari: Pandering to the Al-Sauds

Hossein Askari is Iran Professor of International Business and professor of international affairs at the George Washington University.

The Obama administration supported the overthrow of an unpopular dictator in Tunisia, called for Mubarak’s ouster, initiated a NATO attack on Gaddafi’s forces, froze his assets and called for him to step down, accused Bashar Assad of brutality and suggested targeted sanctions, and warned Iran against interfering and supporting oppression in Syria. Yet when it came to Bahrain, statements in support of the legitimate rights of protesters were mute once Saudi forces intervened. With Saudi troops oppressing Bahrainis, invading hospitals, arresting medical professionals and breaking international laws and conventions in support of minority family rulers, all the U.S. administration could muster was the statement that foreign intervention was “unhelpful” and that it was “concerned.”

While it may be tempting to stress the importance of the U.S. naval base in Bahrain to justify the hands-off approach, the motivation is almost exclusively al-Saud driven. Why does the U.S. pander so to the al-Sauds? With no constitution, no parliament and no elections for national office, the al-Sauds can hardly claim electoral legitimacy. Yet they are quick to endow themselves with an intangible religious right as the “Custodians of the Two Holy Mosques” because of the location of Mecca (Kaaba) and Medina (the mosque of the Prophet Mohammad) on Saudi soil and the endorsements from religious scholars who are on their payroll. The al-Sauds waste the country’s oil revenues, they build palaces that overlook theKaaba, they live lavishly while many of their subjects languish in deprivation, they ban protests (on March 29, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia was printing 1.5 million copies of an edict by religious scholars outlawing protests as un-Islamic), they imprison all those that oppose them, they do not permit freedom of the press, they discriminate among their citizenry, and they ban all religions besides Islam.

Are the al-Sauds a great U.S. ally? No. Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. King Faisal was the force behind the Arab oil embargo targeting the U.S. in 1973. Saudi citizens, and possibly the Saudi government, are the principle backers of Muslim extremists around the world, who in turn target the United States. The majority of suicide bombers in Iraq came from Saudi Arabia. The al-Sauds deceived the United States in their secret dealings to strengthen economic ties with China. They have opposed democratic reforms throughout the Arab world and they attempted to prop up Mubarak with cash—they are now doing so with force in Bahrain.

Are Washington’s economic and financial links to Riyadh indispensable to U.S. national interests?...