In his Twitter feeds during his Middle East trip, President Joe Biden posted photos with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi “to reaffirm our shared commitment to the U.S.-Egypt strategic partnership.” He also tweeted a photo with President Sheikh Mohammed of the UAE,  with Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi “to recommit to the U.S.-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement.” And there was a group shot captioned as the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan met at the Jeddah Security and Development Summit. There was no mention that the summit was held at the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and was chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. In the group photo, it went unacknowledged that President Biden and the Saudi Crown Prince stood next to each other, separated only by the displayed crest of the meeting. They were posed to show that they were the two most important statesmen at the event. Yet Biden has downplayed his meetings with the Saudi heir apparent amid the left-wing backlash about the photo showing the two men exchanging a “fist bump” upon their greeting. Neither this photo nor any other of the president and crown prince alone were posted by the White House on Twitter.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized President Biden for even going to Saudi Arabia. “You have a leader of the country who was involved in the murder of a Washington Post journalist. I don't think that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States," Sanders said. His reference was to the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident who wrote op-eds for the Washington Post. This did not make him a “journalist” or a friend of the U.S. He had always opposed Western influence into the Middle East and was a critic of the alignment of the Arabs states with Israel against Iran. He wanted to stay focused on the Palestinian struggle against the Jewish state.

Khashoggi first came to prominence for interviews he did with Osama bin Laden before 9/11. Though Khashoggi claimed he favored democracy over violence, both men wanted to overthrow the Saudi government and install a militant anti-Western regime. It is alleged that the crown prince ordered his death. So what? This incident did not change the strategic situation which is the basis for U.S.-Saudi cooperation against common enemies.  

Khashoggi had been a member of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and continued to praise them in his columns. He supported the “Arab Spring” revolt that overthrew a pro-American ruler and brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt. Their regime proved so intolerable the Egyptian people went back into the streets and backed a military coup in 2013 which brought former army general and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi to power. President Biden was happy to meet with the Egyptian leader whom Khashoggi considered illegitimate, praising Al Sisi for “promoting peace and an end to the conflict, thereby expanding the circle of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors and globally, as well as preserving sustainable calm between Israelis and Palestinians.” 

No one with a concern for American security interests in the Middle East should shed a tear over Khashoggi’s demise at the hands of Saudi agents in Turkey. But then, Sen. Sanders and his cronies do not have any concern for national security or for Khashoggi either except as a tool in their own plans. On the day before President Biden’s meetings in Saudi Arabia, Sens. Sanders, Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a joint resolution to direct the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from unauthorized (by Congress) involvement in the war between the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen. This is nothing new. Sanders has been pushing these resolutions on Yemen since 2018 and with some success due to the support his Democrats have gotten from libertarian “antiwar” Republicans like Rand Paul (R-KY) and Miles Lee (R-UT), leading to a veto by President Trump. As senator, Kamala Harris was a strong backer of Sanders as Yemen became a cause celeb for the Left.

Under internal party pressure, within days of taking office, President Biden did cut off all military support to the Saudi-Arab coalition in Yemen.This did not end the war, of course, it only emboldened the Houthis and Iran to escalate. Missile and drone attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, on the UAE and on the Saudi oil industry increased. It is Yemen’s strategic location at the outlet of the Suez Canal-Red Sea shipping route and on the border of Saudi Arabia that led first President Barack Obama and then President Donald Trump to provide the Saudi-Arab coalition with weapons, intelligence, logistical support and even aerial refueling to keep the Houthi Shiite minority from taking over the entire country. An even stronger, sustained effort will be needed to drive them back.

Despite its initial desire to “cut and run” from Yemen as in Afghanistan, the Biden administration has not been able to disengage from such a strategic conflict. Last May, sanctions were imposed “against two senior leaders of Houthi forces in Yemen who are involved in military offensives that exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, pose a dire threat to civilians, and destabilize Yemen.” The State Department noted: “The Houthis benefit from generous military support from the Iranian government to wage attacks against civilian population centers and commercial shipping.” In November, the U.S.-GCC Iran Working Group convened to discuss, among other topics, the Yemen civil war “and agreed that Iran’s support to armed militias across the region and its ballistic missile program pose a clear threat to regional security and stability.” And in his meeting with the crown prince last Friday, the White House reported that “Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to help Saudi Arabia protect and defend its territory and people from all external attacks, particularly those launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.” The Fact Sheet also notes that Saudi Arabia will participate in maritime task forces providing security in the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, and North Arabian Sea (all menaced by Iran and its proxies) and join the U.S. Fifth Fleet in exercises involving advanced technologies.

Yet, the administration is still trying to maintain an arbitrary, largely nonsensical, and certainly defeatist distinction between offensive and defensive weapons and missions. Perhaps Biden’s team will learn something from the Ukraine war and apply it to their policies involving conflicts elsewhere like Yemen. Unfortunately, there seems little chance for a learning curve among Sen. Sanders’ antiwar cabal.

Wars generate humanitarian crises and Yemen is no exception. The Houthis captured not only the capital of Sanaa but also the Red Sea port of Hudaydah, which the Coalition then blockaded. The U.N. has sought to negotiate ways to use the port to bring in food and medicines without the supplies being seized by the Houthis for their own use. U.S. warships have also intercepted weapon shipments from Iran to the Yemen rebels. There is currently a U.N. truce in Yemen, but no end to hostilities. Fighting could break out again at any moment. Houthi rule in its conquered area has been brutal.

President Biden was more comfortable talking tough when in Israel, though even in Jerusalem the alignment with Arab states was an important factor in meeting Iranian aggression. As he declared, “The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome. The United States further affirms the commitment to work together with other partners to confront Iran’s aggression and destabilizing activities, whether advanced directly or through proxies and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” Those “other partners” obviously included those countries that had signed the Abraham Accords during the Trump administration. The UAE (a prominent member in the Saudi Coalition), Bahrain (headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet), Morocco, Egypt and Jordan were all mentioned. And in what is considered a big step towards Saudi Arabia making formal the security cooperation enjoyed for many years, Riyad announced it was opening air travel with Jerusalem.

There is no reason for any American statesman to hide from or be ashamed of the broad U.S.-Israel-Arab alignment that has been so patiently put together by diplomacy choreographed in Washington to meet the threats from Iran (and by extension its Great Power backer China). As a realistic strategy in a dangerous world, it needs no further justification.

William R. Hawkins is a former economics professor who served on the professional staff of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has written widely on international economics and national security issues for both professional and popular publications.

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