The Middle East is plagued by Islam’s Sunni-Shia schism dating back to the 7th century as a local source of tribal conflict but when The United States determined that oil from the Middle East was a matter of national security this internecine quarrel was made global. The shale revolution recently made the U.S. energy independent and even a competing source of oil and gas to the region so that we can now untangle ourselves from the region’s murderous nihilism by taking out our military bases and stop giving political cover to either side of the schism. We should practice a policy of benign neglect and let the region sort out its differences. And let China suffer the consequences of an insecure oil supply.
China was proud to have brokered the opening of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, its two major oil suppliers, this past March which makes John Kirby’s, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, statement: “The United States will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardize freedom of navigation in the Middle East waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz,” an out of date policy for placing our Navy in harm’s way. Now that relations have opened between the two antagonists in Islam’s divide let the word of the foreign minister of The Islamic Republic of Iran who “considers the continued presence of foreign military forces in the waters of the Persian Gulf as a threat to the security of navigation in this strategic waterway and believes that the countries of the region have the ability to protect the peace and security of navigation in it without the presence of foreigners” stand and let China negotiate the risks of a disruption in Middle East oil deliveries.
Iran’s revolution formed by Shia fundamentalist clerics declared the U.S. to be its demonic enemy which made us the de facto friend of Sunni Saudi Arabia. Ironically our national security was most thoroughly violated by the Saudi Sunni extremist Osama Bin Laden, who was so outraged that the infidel U.S. military was in his beloved homeland, despite that it was there to push back against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, that he formed al-Qaeda whose first act was to bomb the U.S. military base in Dhahran Saudi Arabia in 1996, then the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998, the USS Cole bombing in Yemen in 2000 and finally the 9/11 2001 attack on New York and Washington. Nevertheless the U.S. always sides with Sunni Saudi Arabia and paints Shia Iran as the enemy when in reality it is difficult to distinguish the crimes the two regimes committ against their people and others in the region.
Unfortunately U.S. arms in the region have the characteristic of coming back to haunt our values and interests again because of the Sunni Shia quarrel. The use of F-15 fighter bombers by Saudi Arabia to bomb civilians in Yemen to shape the tribal Shia Houthi versus Sunni Haidi conflict is a willful and embarrassing breach of our trust that these weapons would be put to use in their defense, not to influence a tribal dispute in another country. And yet we still agreed to put our Navy in harm's way once again in Yemen in support of the Saudi blockade of Iranian weapons coming by sea to the Houthis.
The Hamas terrorist invasion of Israel is so horrifying that it is hard to take in but given the months of preparation by the terrorists one can logically conclude it was meant to wreck the Abrahams Accord negotiated by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a bid for economic progress by gravitating toward a historic alliance with Israel. But it is a Sunni elite’s vision. It is not one shared by the Arab masses sympathetic to Palestine and Shia Iran took advantage of this division to wreck the accord by arming Hamas with military gear to re-ignite the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
President Biden’s firm backing of Israel because of Hamas’ hideous assault on innocents is laudable but it will get tested by what looks like a “Ten Babies for a Baby” assault on Gaza with no endgame. But the placing of U.S. carrier task forces off the shores of Lebanon provides a flashpoint to a global conflict. To repeat, let's stop having our military used to settle ancient differences that never get settled. Yes, grieve from afar for all those who are lost but recognize our military presence makes possible having a local atrocity put us into a forced march toward a global cataclysm.
