Biden should reject a formal alliance with Saudi Arabia. It’s a Trojan Horse | Opinion
The arrogance of the Saudi royal house appears to know no bounds. After cozying up to China and cooperating with Russia to keep oil prices high, Saudi Arabia has pushed for a U.S. security guarantee in exchange for opening relations with Israel. For the kingdom, this deal would be a massive win, deepening their cooperation with the strongest anti-Iranian state in the region while also getting a guarantee that American soldiers will lay down their lives to protect the rule of the monarchy against any foreign threat. For Israel, this would formalize a partnership with Saudi Arabia while also possibly getting their tacit approval for further Israeli pushes into the West Bank. And for America, this deal contains nothing but downsides.
The trilateral talks, which have taken place this year, are a result of Biden’s Middle East policy, which has included normalization between Israel and the Arab states. But it’s a bipartisan blunder. This policy, started by Trump with the Abraham Accords, has continued into the current administration. Although this show of bipartisan consensus would usually be heartwarming in the current divided climate, this falls flat when considering the cost to American security and values. Saudi Arabia has had other influence in the American government, such as paying Jared Kushner billions of dollars (at least two) for no particular expertise in asset management.
It is disappointing to see Biden’s submission to Riyadh’s demands given his previously anti-Saudi rhetoric to “make them pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are.” However, this deal would motivate Biden to stay silent on issues that he should push the Saudis on, such as the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved in advance. This is in addition to the kingdom’s well-known deplorable record on human rights.
In the event of a crisis, a military guarantee could force us down a path of military escalation. Had we extended this guarantee earlier, we could already have been drawn into a war, such as when Iran launched a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil facilities in 2019. A war with Iran would be an existential fight for the Islamic republic and would surely result in a bloodbath or even cause Iran to rush development of nuclear weapons. And while some may say that the guarantee would have deterred such an attack, the Iranians may not act rationally, or the Iran-aligned Houthis could attack Saudi Arabia, sparking a wider conflict.
In the past few decades, pro-Saudi voices have argued that by befriending the kingdom, we will have better, cheap access to their oil for our economy. But this is simply unnecessary. For the past four years, American energy production has been so great that we’ve become a net energy exporter for the first time since the 1950s. According to CNN, we produce significantly more than Saudi Arabia. We also have other untapped sources of oil that would have less stringent political costs and that are closer to home. Even Venezuela has a larger share of world oil supplies than Saudi Arabia does, at around 18% compared to the Saudi 16%.
Rivals and enemies of America are up to their elbows in Saudi petroleum, especially China, the largest importer of oil from the kingdom. Its purchases of Saudi oil amounted to over $38 billion in 2021, while the U.S. only imported about one fifth of that. Any defense of Saudi Arabia would be a defense of oil that could be used in ships and planes that may end up firing at Americans.
This security guarantee would also not obligate the Saudis to defend America. Creating a one-sided alliance with a brutal and perfidious dictatorship is the last way to further American interests. Giving American protection to the Trojan Horse that is Saudi Arabia turns our armed forces into an international bodyguard for the most reprehensible and untrustworthy of dictatorships. A president who came into office railing against Saudi tyranny and deceit should not kowtow to them. Mohammed bin Salman claims his country needs protection from Iran. Maintaining Saudi rule is not worth the life of American soldiers.
Robert Weiner is a former Clinton and Bush White House spokesman who also served as a senior staffer for the House Government Operations and Judiciary committees. Dante Masucci is a policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change.