Nothing changed with the approach of the G‑20 meeting, despite pressure on Riyadh to at least release women who had been arrested for advocating social reform. After all, in advance of the full gathering, Riyadh sponsored a business meeting that placed a “special emphasis” on “creating a more equitable future for women in the business world.” But no one was freed. At least women now have an equal opportunity to be wrongfully jailed.
Indeed, reported the Financial Times, “Waves of crackdowns have continued. Hundreds of activists remain in prison, according to human rights groups. One veteran activist died in custody this year and another writer died shortly after he was released.” Although the KSA always has been repressive, one Saudi activist living in the West observed that torture is “now a regular part of imprisonment” and “retroactive arrests are made for things now deemed unacceptable.” There is no safe harbor: you “no longer know the red lines, that you once could navigate around.”
Rather than adopt reforms, the regime responds with carefully crafted lies and misdirection. Particularly disingenuous was a recent talk by the Kingdom’s ambassador to America, Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. In flawless English, she dismissed those who “still cling to outdated, outmoded completely obsolete views of the Kingdom” and argued that for human rights, “progress is not a straight line but curved, and that what matters most is that the end of the curve is towards equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion in line with our values, culture, and tradition.” Unmentioned was the most fundamental issue—liberty, and the political repression that has become almost total under MbS.
The crown prince’s crimes are not only internal. He took a reliable and cautious gerontocracy and turned it into a reckless and wanton aggressor. Ironically, Saudi Arabia has become more dangerous than Iran, on which the Trump administration has foolishly fixated.
The crown prince’s greatest crime is the war in Yemen. Yemen started as two separate states and has been in conflict for decades, with Saudi Arabia frequently interfering—deploying troops early in Yemen’s history and later spreading Wahhabism to radicalize the population. When the latest round of factional fighting ousted Yemen’s pliant ruler, Riyadh invaded, viewing war as a small price to pay to reinstall a puppet regime.
The result has been five years of horror, as Saudi pilots proved better at bombing weddings, funerals, markets, school buses, and apartments than combatants. To rehabilitate its reputation, Riyadh then provided aid to counteract the damage. Contrary to Saudi claims, the Houthi militia never was controlled by Iran, which counseled against the seizure of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. However, Saudi overreach provided Tehran with an irresistible opportunity to bleed the royals.
As a result of Riyadh’s own folly, what was to be a five-week campaign turned into a five-year-and-counting war. The Saudis today whine about “cowardly” Houthi missile attacks after committing murder and mayhem in Yemen. Notably, when Ambassador Reema denounced missiles being fired into Saudi Arabia, she admitted that they started in 2016—the year after the KSA began bombing civilians in Yemen. Of course, the Houthis also should not target civilians. But the royals should have thought of that before wantonly invading their neighbor.
Unfortunately, both the Obama and Trump administrations backed Riyadh’s invasion—selling, servicing, and for a time refueling warplanes, as well as resupplying munitions and providing intelligence—which has made Americans complicit in Saudi war crimes. Indeed, Yemenis accurately call the conflict the Saudi American War. Americans should not be surprised if revenge-minded Yemeni terrorists one day strike back.
Alas, this was not Riyadh’s only effort to spread tyranny abroad. The Saudis used troops to sustain the dictatorial Sunni monarchy in Bahrain against pro-democracy protests by the Shia majority—naturally blamed on Iran by royal regimes as ruthless as that in Tehran. The KSA funded jihadist insurgents in Syria, whose activities encouraged religious minorities and many Sunnis to rally around President Bashar al-Assad. Today, Riyadh is similarly involved in Libya’s civil war. Three years ago, MbS detained Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on a state visit and forced the latter to announce his resignation, which Hariri reversed when released under international pressure. That was shortly after the Kingdom blockaded Qatar, with an invasion to follow, which was thwarted only by U.S. pressure on Riyadh and Turkish military support for Doha.
All told, Saudi Arabia is the ally from hell, its rulers brutal but incompetent, murderous but reckless, and ever craving support while exuding arrogance. President Joe Biden appears to know what must be done. More than three decades ago, he criticized “the mythical notion that the Saudis, even if they were so predisposed, are able to be agents of change and able to be agents of U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region.” Last year he declared, “We will make clear that America will never again check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons.” He also pledged that “Jamal’s death will not be in vain.”
Most importantly, Washington should end U.S. support for the war in Yemen. It should also halt Riyadh’s attempt to otherwise drag America into a Shia-Sunni battle and oppose MbS’s reach for regional hegemony. Indeed, the new administration should make the crown prince’s official life as difficult as possible. The message should be clear: either MbS changes his behavior or the Kingdom changes its ruler. The incoming Biden administration obviously should not intervene directly in Saudi politics, but it should make clear that there will be no more business as usual with a criminal regime.
Of course, such a stance might create hysteria inside the Washington beltway as well as in Riyadh. Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a former Saudi ambassador to the U.S., warned, “I hope that members of your legislative chambers will not take precipitous action that will do harm to this relationship.” However, it is Riyadh’s gross misconduct, especially under the crown prince, that has done the harm. It is the obligation of the U.S. government, executive as well as legislative, to recognize and respond to this ugly reality.
