There is an extraordinary level of hypocrisy in the coverage of the apparent killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national who reported for the Washington Post and was apparently killed after entering the Saudi embassy in Turkey.
If, indeed, Khashoggi was killed in the embassy, his murder should be universally condemned. But that condemnation should not progress to the point where it jeopardizes the entire spectrum of U.S.-Saudi relations, which have dramatically improved since President Trump’s visit to that nation in 2017.
Lawmakers are discussing punitive actions, including suspending arms sales and imposing sanctions. That would prove to be a significant mistake.
There is a difficult equation that must be understood. Any deterioration of relations with the Saudis is, in essence, a gift to the far worse, far more dangerous, and openly anti-American Iranians.
Throughout the entire length of the Obama presidency, a still unexplained tilt towards Iran was undertaken by that administration. Iranian leaders chanted “Death to America.” The Tehran leadership funded terrorist groups throughout the world, targeting not only Israel and other middle eastern nations but the United States itself. Iran’s favorite client terrorist group, Hezbollah, also sold drugs within the United States. The nation continues to seek nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them throughout the planet.
While America should do its best to spread its ideals of universal human rights and justice throughout the world, the fact is that it also must engage in necessary acts of self-protection, and survival. That, at times, means allying with regimes that are fundamentally different from us.
That reality is nothing new. Consider that during the Revolutionary War itself, the Continental Congress had little choice but to accept assistance from France, a nation with a monarchy that was arguably far more absolute than George III. In doing so, America insured its triumph.
Perhaps the most salient example occurred in World War II. The Soviet Union began that conflict as a staunch ally of Adolph Hitler. Together, they carved up Poland and made future plans. It can be said with considerable accuracy that the Nazi military would not have been able to garner the strength to initiate the war without Moscow’s direct assistance.
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As noted in the Warfare History website, “ the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact… Included …provisions governing the transfer of raw materials from the Soviet Union in exchange for manufactured goods from Germany. But, more importantly, the pact was a protocol establishing each signatory’s sphere of influence. This included Poland. Hitler and Stalin did not merely intend to partition their neighbor, they meant to wipe the country off the map.”
Feldgrau outlines how from 1922-1933, “ the whole world was almost entirely shielded from Germany’s clandestine military build-up and military development efforts in The Soviet Union.”
Of course, the cozy relationship between Hitler and Stalin ended when Germany invaded Russia. The allies, despite a profound distaste for Stalin and his nightmare regime, realized that it made sense to ally themselves with Moscow to combat the Nazis.
Saudi Arabia, despite its numerous and serious faults, is certainly better than the old USSR, and unlike the Communist regime of the 1940’s, is showing clear signs of beginning the long process of reform.
As Dion Nissenbaum wrote in the Wall Street Journal several months ago, “The 32-year-old Saudi royal [Mohammed bin Salman] has positioned himself as a reformer who has moved to ease widely criticized restrictions on women, clamp down on religious extremism, and promote a more liberal social agenda. The Trump administration has strongly backed those moves as it tries to make U.S.-Saudi relations a cornerstone of its Middle East strategy.”
Part of the reason for the persistent calls to sever relations with the Saudis following the reports of the probable Khashoggi murder is a desire to overturn the Trump Administration’s move to weaken Iran’s terrible influence on the region, an influence greatly buoyed by the failed Obama Mideast policy.
Illustration: Saudi Arabia (U.S. State Department map)