Saudi Arabia is our most important ally in the Middle East — and we’ve never known less about what it was really up to
Douglas London is a retired senior CIA Operations Officer and Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies. Mr. London served widely across the Middle East and South Asia over the course of 34 years in the CIA’s Clandestine Service. His assignments included several in the field as Chief of Station and likewise at home as an Executive Manager.
If Americans assume their intelligence apparatus has a handle on these questions, they should listen more closely to what Riedel and others have been saying. Riedel's comments, and the recently mounting critiques, point to a worrisome turn in America’s approach to Saudi Arabia: Faced with a complex and perhaps dangerous diplomatic partner, successive White Houses have instead sought to look the other way concerning Saudi behavior, allowing themselves to be steered by intelligence chiefs with their own motives, and comfortably basking in feigned ignorance regarding the truth beneath the Kingdom’s pervasive veil.
At the time Salman was the kingdom's crown prince, second in command to his brother, then-King Abdullah, but Salman himself was already an elderly man. He was courteous and polite, greeting each of his guests with a handshake that was warm but notably weak. Prince Salman’s hand trembled violently; his engagement with his guests was short, perfunctory and limited to the brief period for which he could remain standing.
Directors of the CIA lavished praise on MbN. Former director George Tenet, who served under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, called the minister “my most important interlocutor”; Obama’s first CIA director, Leon Panetta, dubbed him “the smartest [Saudi] of his generation.” While Brennan could use his powers to assure that MbN was seen in the best light at the White House, he could do nothing to spare his partner’s vulnerabilities at home. And MbN, we now know, was not lacking for vulnerabilities—nor enemies within his own family.
Brennan’s recipe of half-measures, micromanagement and unreliability in delivering on his promises to MbN and other Middle East partners would wind up doing far more harm than good. Ultimately, his conduct torpedoed MbN, whose advisors were savvy enough to see the writing on the wall apparent in MbN’s vulnerabilities and MbS’s ambition, and turned their support to MbS. It could do little to spare their patron from the coming catastrophe to which he had long made himself vulnerable.
As president, Trump has been both boon and source of worry for MbS. Trump has backed him in some areas where another president would hold him accountable—especially the Khashoggi murder and Saudi conduct in Yemen. But at the same time, Trump’s policies with regard to Syria, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Iran have been more problematic for the young Saudi ruler.
As a senior intelligence official and long-time MbN adviser, Jabri was a key Western partner. He got things done that advanced his country’s interests, as well as America’s, without gamesmanship or pretense. A man who the press correctly suggests “he prudently fled the Kingdom following MbN’s removal and his own sacking. Despite his close U.S. ties, Jabri is hiding out in Canada, fearful that the Trump administration would deport him to Saudi Arabia.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Denzel Washington Once Used Lines From Malcom X to Pump Up Son John David's Football TeamBefore he transitioned to acting, John David Washington was a professional football player
Read more »
John Daly Says 16-Year-Old Son Has Golf Superstar Potential, He Outdrives Me!Now, on the tee ... the favorite for the 2028 Masters -- John Daly II?!?!
Read more »
'The First Time' With John MalkovichJohn Malkovich discusses his first Zoom happy hour, his first time singing folk gospel, teaching himself to play the guitar and more in our new 'The First Time.' Watch the full video here:
Read more »
'Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story' Is Your Next True Crime ObsessionIt's even more intense than the first season.
Read more »
Filmmaker Chad Stahelski on 'John Wick 4' and His 'Matrix 4' InvolvementIn a wide-ranging interview, the director dives into 'Chapter 4,' 'Highlander' and helping Lana Wachowski: 'What do you got in your bag of tricks to make it absolutely crazy?'
Read more »
Here Is Everyone Who Collaborated On 'Chromatica,' From Ariana Grande To Elton JohnThe gang's all here and their paws are firmly up.
Read more »