Nexus of Evil: The Cynical Saudi-Israeli Alliance and the Reshaping of the Middle East
Danny Sjursen is a US Army officer and regular contributor to Antiwar.com. He served combat tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at his alma mater, West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet.
Here is the link to an interesting article by him where he writes:
"Why did (and does) the US allow the Saudi-Israeli tail to wag the proverbial American dog? There are a litany of reasons, but let us focus on three. First, America is the largest arms dealer in the world and military-industrial complex powerhouse corporations like Boeing, Honeywell, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin exert unparalleled influence over Congress and the executive branch. Money veritably owns American politics. Second, the war hawk "deep state," so to speak, a right-wing nationalist cabal that had been waiting in the wings during the Clinton years – Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Bolton – took the wheel in the Bush years. This gang, along with neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, was obsessed with Iraq and wanted to reshape the whole region with the US as the Mideast hegemon.
Finally, there’s a nefarious strain of right-wing Protestant evangelical millenarianism in the U.S. that unflinchingly backs Israel. These true believers seem to genuinely believe that Jesus can’t return to judge the living and the dead until the Jews are firmly ensconced in the Holy Land. But no mistake, this reflexive backing Israel is a rather one-sided affair and shockingly cynical. These same evangelicals, who make up a significant minority of the American electorate, believe that when Jesus does return those same Israeli Jews will be going to hell!
In the end, the results of this American kowtow to the Saudi-Israeli nexus have had unfathomably detrimental consequences. US soldiers – like several of my own – ended up fighting and dying against secular Sunnis and Shia militias that had nothing to do with 9/11 and should have been natural allies. The Trump administration – filled with a new generation of nationalist zealots – inches ever closer to what would be a tragic and costly regime change in Iran. America’s reputation in the Greater Middle East has been permanently sullied, uniting Sunni and Shia alike in a generational hatred of Washington that truly endangers US citizens. Indeed, in poll after credible global poll, the United States is voted the greatest threat to world peace. Furthermore, US actions continue to facilitate desperate humanitarian and refugee crises in Yemen and Gaza, among other hot spots. And, finally, US support empowers a reactionary right-wing Netanyahu government in Israel. It’s all such a vicious circle."
Here is the link to an interesting article by him where he writes:
"Why did (and does) the US allow the Saudi-Israeli tail to wag the proverbial American dog? There are a litany of reasons, but let us focus on three. First, America is the largest arms dealer in the world and military-industrial complex powerhouse corporations like Boeing, Honeywell, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin exert unparalleled influence over Congress and the executive branch. Money veritably owns American politics. Second, the war hawk "deep state," so to speak, a right-wing nationalist cabal that had been waiting in the wings during the Clinton years – Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Bolton – took the wheel in the Bush years. This gang, along with neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, was obsessed with Iraq and wanted to reshape the whole region with the US as the Mideast hegemon.
Finally, there’s a nefarious strain of right-wing Protestant evangelical millenarianism in the U.S. that unflinchingly backs Israel. These true believers seem to genuinely believe that Jesus can’t return to judge the living and the dead until the Jews are firmly ensconced in the Holy Land. But no mistake, this reflexive backing Israel is a rather one-sided affair and shockingly cynical. These same evangelicals, who make up a significant minority of the American electorate, believe that when Jesus does return those same Israeli Jews will be going to hell!
In the end, the results of this American kowtow to the Saudi-Israeli nexus have had unfathomably detrimental consequences. US soldiers – like several of my own – ended up fighting and dying against secular Sunnis and Shia militias that had nothing to do with 9/11 and should have been natural allies. The Trump administration – filled with a new generation of nationalist zealots – inches ever closer to what would be a tragic and costly regime change in Iran. America’s reputation in the Greater Middle East has been permanently sullied, uniting Sunni and Shia alike in a generational hatred of Washington that truly endangers US citizens. Indeed, in poll after credible global poll, the United States is voted the greatest threat to world peace. Furthermore, US actions continue to facilitate desperate humanitarian and refugee crises in Yemen and Gaza, among other hot spots. And, finally, US support empowers a reactionary right-wing Netanyahu government in Israel. It’s all such a vicious circle."
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