Testing the US - Saudi Alliance
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2019
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International Studies
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Abstract
Based on ideology, Saudi Arabia and the United States should not be allies. Saudi Arabia is a conservative monarchy that governs through religion and the United States is a republic that separates church and state. Within Saudi Arabia, there have been dozens of accounts of "arbitrary arrests, grotesque justice, torture in jails, cruel punishments, and the absence of political freedom," each of which goes against the very principles for which the US stands. 1 Accounts like these of the US and Saudi Arabia having opposite
values, practices, and cultures are ignored and these countries continue to have a strong alliance even without a formal treaty. 2 The alliance has been around for decades, but its strength is currently being tested with the case of the Yemeni civil war and the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Throughout the duration of the Yemeni civil war, the US government and military has given military intelligence and advice, refueled aircraft, and sold weapons to Saudi Arabia in order to aid the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces that are pitted against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 3 The US support has continued despite the three-year Saudi blockade of humanitarian assistance and supplies to Yemen, Saudi conducted airstrikes on innocent civilians (including children), and the escalation of the conflict to become "the world's worst humanitarian crisis." 4 The US government has also shown a disregard for the murder of Khashoggi, a journalist known to critique the Saudi government, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 5 The Saudi actions in the Yemeni civil war and the murder of Khashoggi both contradict US values and have caused a stir in the international community, but there has been no evidence of serious repercussions or consequences for Saudi actions as of yet.