OPINION:
I support an American-supplied weapons sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates if one is proposed by the Trump administration. However, our relationship with Saudi Arabia is both complex and important, and understanding both bilateral issues and global strategic issues are critical.
Sun Tzu, the great Chinese military strategist, said “Know your enemy” — and that is of the utmost importance in this case. Coordination and cooperation with the Saudis may be very wise in the struggle against Iran, a serious enemy posing a strategic threat. During World War II, President Roosevelt supplied Stalin’s Soviet army with significant war materiel in its fight against Nazi Germany. He recognized that Soviet Army sacrifices would minimize U.S. Army losses. In that fight, millions of soldiers, both Soviet and Nazi, were killed, definitely weakening the Nazi military. Roosevelt overlooked the fact that Stalin was a dictator responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people.
Iran is a serious threat to America by virtue of its nuclear ambitions and its support of Islamic terrorism around the globe. By contrast, Saudi Arabia is a nation slowly emerging from a medieval society, still with remnants of pre-renaissance governance but now with a much-reduced desire to support terrorism and global Islamic hegemony. The UAE seems further along in its emergence and has less controversy.
President Trump is wise to overlook the remnants in Saudi Arabia of pre-renaissance governance, including the murder of one journalist. In our struggle against Iran, the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE offer an important support in control of both military forces and petroleum resources. Our goal main should be to eliminate the very serious Iranian threat and the secondary goal should be to assist Saudi Arabia’s entry into the “modern world.
ARTHUR HORN
Fort Lee, N.J.
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