Elliot Johnson
// A necessary first step to end U.S. military support for a troublesome ally //
The United States has greatly decreased its anti-missile systems in an authoritarian, radical, and Islamist Saudi Arabia. Removing these missile systems is a necessary first step for the U.S. to end all military support for Saudi Arabia. The Middle-Eastern country will never be a valuable ally to the U.S. due to its leaders’ lack of moral compass, shown by their bombing of civilian targets in Yemen with American-made bombs. A change in foreign policy is necessary to ensure a better future in the U.S., and withdrawing these missile systems from a terrible ally is the first step in fixing a 70-year old mistake.
Saudi Arabia is one of the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East, despite the fact that the two powers share little in common with one another. The United States is a functioning democracy, in which, for the most part, the voices of its 330 million citizens are heard, regardless of their gender, religion, race, and political beliefs. Saudi Arabia is one of the most authoritarian nations in the Middle East. There are no elections, and the political system is essentially run by aristocrats; the average Saudi citizen has no say in their government. The royal family also controls the media, making sure that little anti-government material makes its way to the citizens. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, was brutally assassinated in the Saudi consulate of Istanbul in October 2018. Thus, the alliance between the two powers is only strategic and not based on shared values like the United States’ allies in Europe, East Asia, and Oceania.
Many innocent people have died because of the United States’ persistent military support for Saudi Arabia. Still, the United States has continued to supply the country with military weapons, which Saudi Arabia exchanges for its oil and gas reserves: the second and fifth largest in the world, respectively. When the pro-American government in Iran was overthrown by an anti-American one in 1979, the U.S. increased its military support of the country dramatically. Since then, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in a “Regional Cold War.” Those missile systems were deployed when Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a drone attack on the Al-Khurais oil field, but the United Nations concluded that the attack had come from Iran. Since 1979, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been vying for influence in the region, and the nations have clashed in recent proxy-wars, especially in Yemen. The threat of Iran has contributed significantly to the United States’ continued support of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the increase in weaponry has had very few positive effects on the welfare of the Middle East. Relations with Iran have plummeted, increasing the likelihood of war, which contradicts the initial goal of placing missile systems as deterrents.
Until the Biden administration calmed relations, Iran and the U.S. continued to have significant tension. The United States placed missile defense systems all around Iran, near Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and in Iraq. However, this did not help quell the situation with Iran, and for the latter half of the Trump administration, relations with Iran fell to their worst low since the 1980s. Although the missiles successfully deterred more attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Trump administration was very harsh on Iran. Tensions were especially high when Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in an airstrike in Iraq. Even though he may have planned many attacks on American troops, the U.S. and Iran came far closer to war than anyone could have wanted.
The Biden administration relocated the missile defense systems away from Iran and to East Asia, much to the dismay of the Saudi authority. According to expert Kristian Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the past three administrations have rightfully begun to distance themselves from Saudi Arabia, including making deals and compromises with rival Iran. Ulrichsen states, “From the Saudi point of view, they now see Obama, Trump, and Biden — three successive presidents — taking decisions that signify to some extent an abandonment.” Supporting a brutal regime that dismembers journalists and quashes dissent has so far been a regrettable but necessary compromise in the Middle East. However, the US decreasing its reliance on crude oil, and maintaining cordial relations with Iran is gradually rendering the alliance obsolete, and within a few decades, it will not be surprising if the US stops all military support of Saudi Arabia.
Withdrawing missile systems and U.S. troops from Afghanistan are the first steps in a new direction for foreign policy. If the U.S. is to retain its position as one of the world’s largest superpowers, a greater military presence in East Asia, rather than the Middle East and its vestiges of the war on terror, should be the top priority.
American “Patriot” missile defense battery