JOHN KIRIAKOU: Houthi Rebels Are Saudi Problem
September 23, 2019
Given the nature of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which I witnessed
firsthand, Trump has no reason to do Riyadh's bidding in Iran.
Houthis protest airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Sana'a, Yemen's
capital city, September 2015. (VOA/Henry Ridgwell, Wikimedia Commons)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
Iran has been in the headlines since Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed
responsibility for a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Saudi
Arabia's Eastern Province over a week ago.
This is not the first time the Houthis have used long-range missiles or
drones to attack Saudi installations. Indeed, it's at least the 20thattack
on a Saudi oil facility, airport or military outpost since Saudi Arabia
invaded Yemen two years ago and began attacking both military and civilian
sites there. But the Trump administration has blamed the attack on Iran,
not on the Houthis, who publicly claimed responsibility.
The conventional wisdom is that Yemen is a proxy war between the United
States and Iran, with the Iranians supporting and supplying the Houthis
while the alliance of the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain supports the Yemeni government and hits Houthi sites in Yemen.
That's not exactly accurate. Certainly, the Iranians are on the side of the
Houthis, but there is little to pin command and control on them. All
available evidence points to the Houthis conducting their own military
operations and not relying on Iran. The Yemeni government, however, is
completely dependent on Saudi Arabia, which in turn is dependent on the
United States for military equipment, planning, refueling and intelligence.
That aside, President Donald Trump blamed Tehran for the attack even before
the flames in the Eastern Province were brought under control. He cited no
intelligence, no proof, no intercepts, no declassified photography of an
Iranian launch site. Nothing. We are just supposed to take his word for it.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in his first press conference since May,
meanwhile, said, "We are not seeking a conflict with Iran. We want to
engage with Iran." That's decidedly different from the "locked and loaded"
theme of both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Doing the Saudi Dirty Work
Nobody wants us to attack Iran more than the Saudi royal family and Israel.
They've been obsessed with Iran for decades and they want us to do their
dirty work for them. This is nothing new. The Saudis, at least, expect us
to do their bidding. That's why they spend billions of dollars on our
weapons, finance our think tanks, lobby our politicians, and put out glossy
magazines that you can find in any grocery store extolling the greatness of
Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
I want to tell you the truth about the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which I
experienced first-hand.
In late 1990, when I was a very junior officer with the CIA, I was
dispatched to Saudi Arabia to help in the war effort in the immediate
aftermath of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. My job was to liaise with the
Kuwaiti resistance and to be "on-call" in case the State Department needed
my expertise on Iraq and the Iraqi military leadership, which was my
specialty.
Saudi oil facility after drone attack. (YouTube)
I was excited to get to Saudi Arabia. It was very heady stuff for a
25-year-old. Not only was it my first official trip anywhere as a CIA
officer, it was my first trip to the Middle East, my first trip on a black
diplomatic passport, and the first substantive work I had ever done with a
foreign government. On my first day I worked a 12-hour shift at the U.S.
embassy in Riyadh and then left to find my rental apartment a few blocks
away in the city's Diplomatic Quarter.
There were Saudi guards stationed all around the embassy - indeed, all
around the Diplomatic Quarter - and I smiled at one and, eager to practice
my rudimentary Arabic, said, "Assalaamu Alaikum," the traditional Arabic
greeting of "May peace be upon you." He stared at me, didn't respond, and
turned away. This became a daily thing. Going in to work in the morning
and leaving again in the evening, I would greet the guard every day with
"May peace be upon you." He ignored me every time.
Finally, after more than a week of this, I stopped and asked in Arabic,
"What's your problem?" He had a ready response. He said, "You are hired
help. You are nothing more. You were paid money to come here and protect
the oil fields. Don't expect thanks. You've been paid." He was right. This
is not a mutual relationship based upon trust and affection. This is weapons
for oil and nothing else. Trump has been fooled.
Let's not be fooled to think that the government of Iran, which has so much
to lose in a fight with the United States, would launch an unprovoked attack
on Saudi Arabia just for the heck of it. Let's not be fooled into thinking
that it's up to us to avenge an attack on Saudi Arabia, no matter where it
came from. It's not up to us to defend (and prop up) a reactionary royal
family that readily and routinely executes (and in some cases even
crucifies) its citizens, including women and children, for participating in
peaceful pro-democracy protests.
We should tell the Saudis that they're on their own. Their diplomats should
be engaging the Iranians, not ordering Trump to launch military strikes on
Iran. They should be at the negotiating table. And, frankly, we don't need
Saudi oil anymore. We have enough of our own.
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior
investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the
sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage
Act-a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a
result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.
