Trump ’s Needlessly Dangerous Saudi Arabia Deployment

Ted Galen CarpenterThe Trump administration has approved the deployment to Saudi Arabia of Air Force F-15s, new air defense systems, and other military hardware, along with U.S. troops to operate and maintain those weapons systems.These new measures the Pentagon announced on October 11 will bring the total U.S. troop deployment to the kingdom to 3,000 since a mid-September attack on Saudi oil facilities.Speaking to reporters after the announcement,Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that it is now “clear that Iranians are responsible” for the attacks and warned that Washington has additional units “on alert” that can provide increased security to both the U.S. forces and Saudi Arabia“if necessary.”U.S. leaders have taken an unsavory step deepening Washington ’s support of an odious, duplicitous Saudi regime thatbrutalizes its own people and has committed anappalling array ofwar crimes in Yemen.It also puts the United States in the middle of an escalating political and military confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran.The direct confrontation between Riyadh and Tehran is merely one component of a larger struggle forregional dominance pitting major Sunni powers against a loose alliance of Shia factions led by Iran. Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Bahrain are other arenas in which that power struggle continues to be waged.The administration ’s decision to elevate the U.S. military role in Saudi Arabia is all the more bizarre and indefensible in light of President Tru...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs