The U.S. preoccupation with the Middle East over the past six decades has been a costly endeavor with little benefit.  The traditional twin pillars of U.S. policy in the region have been relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Relations with Israel have been complicated due to domestic pressures on U.S. administrations that prevent a forthright approach to dealing with Israel.  As a result, the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in the 1960s was handled duplicitously by the administration of Lyndon Johnson.  Relations with Saudi Arabia are dependent on U.S. energy requirements, and Saudi influence in the OPEC arena.  As a result, Saudi’s responsibility for the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, war crimes in Yemen, and the brutalization of Ethiopian migrants on the Saudi-Yemeni border have been ignored.  More

The post We Must Reduce the American Role in the Middle East appeared first on CounterPunch.org.