It seems our so called “friends” in Saudi Arabia have had their largest oil refinery struck by some cruise missiles and drones. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with thoughts of retaliation by America, says Iran’s fingerprints are all over the attack.
Let me remind Pompeo that we have no NATO-style defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, and any military war against Iran legally requires a declaration of war by Congress.
Were the missiles used in the refinery attack built in Iran and sold to a third party that deployed them for the attack? Pompeo doesn’t seem to know that answer. If so, that would be like what the United States does by selling armaments to the Saudis, who supply them to rebel forces to use in a genocidal, ongoing civil war in Yemen.
But, when you carry the world’s biggest stick. as the United States does, hypocrisy doesn’t matter.
As we watch another Republican administration consider another U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, remember that 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11, as well as Osama bin Laden, came from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently had a critical Saudi journalist who worked in the United States on a visa, Jamal Khashoggi, killed for merely being a thorn in the side of the Saudi government. There were zero repercussions for the Saudis, our so-called friends.
With America now basically energy independent, and possibly becoming more so if the “Green New Deal” is implemented, it is time to consider distancing ourselves from the retrogressive right wing government of Saudi Arabia. It is not our friend.
The United States needs to steer clear of another useless invasion in the Middle East. Iran is four times larger than Iraq, and has a real military.
Roy Lehman, Woolwich Township
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