US President Barack Obama is visiting the Kingdom. He is scheduled to meet Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque King Salman and will also attend the Gulf Cooperation Council’s summit to be hosted by the king.
The visit comes at a critical juncture in the bilateral relations between the two countries. We all know that the ties between Riyadh and Washington are not as cordial as they used to be just a few years ago but analysts and policymakers believe that both sides have not yet reached the point of no return.
The Saudi-US relationship goes back to 1943. Since then the two countries have always maintained strong cooperation in all fields. It is true that the ties have experienced ups and downs, which is natural.
However, the last 14 months have witnessed a dramatic increase in the differences between the two sides over various regional issues like the Iranian nuclear deal and the Syrian crisis. The Kingdom’s leadership has expressed its disappointment over Washington’s inaction in the region and its policies toward Tehran, which are apparently seen as attempts to appease a country that is openly flouting international laws by interfering in the internal matters of other countries. As a matter of fact, many regional conflicts are the result of the Iranian covert and overt support — Assad would not have possibly been able to resist popular pressure without Iranian backing and the Houthi militants in Yemen created unrest at the behest of Tehran. In addition to this Iranian elements are responsible for stoking sectarian sentiments in Iraq and Bahrain.
There is a growing feeling in the region that the United States has abandoned its traditional allies and is gradually withdrawing from the region, as is evident from its eerie silence over Iranian aggression in the Middle East.
The situation led Saudi Arabia to take bold and decisive measures to check the Iranian threats in the region. Through an Arab alliance, the Kingdom launched the Operation Decisive Storm against the Houthi rebels to restore the legitimate government in Yemen. The rebellion is almost coming to an end.
As for the Syrian crisis, the Kingdom has extended its support to moderate opposition fighting against Bashar Assad’s regime, Iran, Hezbollah and their allies. Had the US intervened earlier in Syria, the situation would have been very different today.
The entire Arab world is disappointed by the US double standard. Former US President Bush invaded Iraq under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, toppled Saddam’s regime and allowed Shiite fanatics to run loose in the country. The same country, however, did nothing to stop the massacre of innocent Syrian civilians. A prompt US action in Syria could have saved thousands of lives and averted the refugee crisis but it did not even allow providing the armed resistance with qualitative weapons as suggested by the Kingdom.
Seeing that the US administration had no plans or intentions to help put an end to the Assad regime, while giving Vladimir Putin a free hand to send his war planes to bomb the opposition forces, the Kingdom invited representatives of various Syrian opposition parties to meet in Riyadh to elect a united leadership to manage negotiations with the regime representatives in Geneva. Although a cease-fire agreement was reached, the regime and its allies are continuing their bombardment against the opposition forces while the US is watching silently. This has only encouraged Iran to increase its military intervention in Syria.
Despite statements by the US State Department and the White House against Iran’s armament and missile program, the US is merely watching Iran arming itself to the teeth, and has recently received the first shipment of the Soviet missiles. The Kingdom believes that Iran is amassing weapons to threaten the security of the GCC countries, which always have called for peaceful coexistence and friendly neighborly relations with their neighbors including Iran.
So, the Kingdom’s leadership had no option but to work for the formation of an Islamic alliance to contain Iranian ambitions. The OIC summit in Turkey last week was another victory for the Saudi diplomacy where the final communiqué accused Iran and Hezbollah of spreading dissention and sectarian strife in the region, while President Obama wants the Kingdom to “share” the region. In fact, the Kingdom has no territorial ambitions in the neighboring countries, but it wants to keep Iran away from its borders.
Another important thing that the Americans are not prepared to understand is that the Kingdom has nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. It is true that 14 of the hijackers were Saudi nationals but they were members of Al-Qaeda, which was and is at war with the Kingdom.
We know that the Zionist and Jewish lobby is behind this hostile campaign against the Kingdom. Those who want to know the truth should read Susan Lindauer’s book “Extreme Prejudice,” and they should ask the US administration to release the full report of the investigation committee and why a New York court has convicted Iran for its involvement in the conspiracy.
It is an Arab and Muslim tradition to honor their guests and this is what we are going to do when President Obama visits our country. But we hope that President Obama is not coming to say goodbye at the end of his term. What we hope is that the US will remain faithful to the legacy of the founders of the US and will work to bring Saudi-US relations to their past glory.
