“We are not going to sit idly by and receive a threat there and not think seriously how we can best defend our country and our region,” Prince Mohammed, who is Saudi King Abdullah’s nephew, said. “Let’s just leave it there, all options are available,” he added, referring to possible defense plans made in response to Iran developing its nuclear capability.
The Saudis have collected a long grievance list of things our President has done to destabilize their neighborhood. Their power rests uneasy, and maintaining it requires constant work. Our President is the grand saboteur.
- They are still shocked and enraged that we forced Mubarak out of Egypt and pressured the military to let the Muslim Brotherhood take over. The Saudis helped depose the Brotherhood and fix Obama’s mess. It has cost the Saudis upwards of $5 billion dollars in aid to the new transition government.
- The Saudis are angry that we pushed out another ally, Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh, creating turmoil on Saudi Arabia’s southern border and a stronghold for al Qaeda.
- We invited violent radicals to our embassy in Bahrain; the Saudis had to dispatch troops to stop the uprising there.
Richard Miniter in Forbes:
Obama’s move made no sense to the Saudis. Bahrain is home to some 15,000 American soldiers, sailors and Marines. Why would the U.S. endanger Americans and Arab allies for the sake of militants supported by its most fevered enemy?
The tone with which this question is asked — a mixture of exasperation, regret and anger — itself is telling. This is the tone you hear as long-term relationships die.
When Obama breached his own “red line” on chemical weapons in Syria and claimed that he had never drawn any red lines, undercutting Saudi support for the Syrian rebels, America’s credibility collapsed.
In a very public protest, the Saudi king rejected a seat on the U.N. Security Council, which the kingdom’s diplomats had spent months lobbying for. This was a warning shot in diplomatic terms. Obama ignored it.
With his concessions to Iran’s nuclear program, President Obama has betrayed both Israel and Saudi Arabia, our two most important allies in protecting the world’s oil supply. In contrast to President Bush’s close cooperation with our Middle East allies, Obama did not consult them on the Iran deal, nor was their safety considered. One result is certain: our influence in the region is diminished. Other results, more dire, to follow.