Obama’s Iran “Doctrine” through Arab eyes (hint... Delusional!)

Obama’s focus on Israel leaves the impression that, but for Israel the entire world supports his engagement of Iran, his “negotiations” (actually serial bending to Iranian “diktats”) over the Shiite Bomb. In fact the single unifying, “eye-to-eye” meeting of minds between surrounding Arab states and Israel is a decade-long opposition to America’s puzzling outreach and support of an Iran resolutely opposed to American “interests” in the Middle East, ambitious to replace the United States as hegemon in the region. To accuse Obama and his Republican predecessor of naïveté in the conduct of foreign policy may be appropriate, but that only goes so far. Duplicitous better suits America’s regional policy since the overthrow of the Ba’athists in Iraq. Having declared victory months into the Iraq War Bush & Co. only began to appreciate the trap set by Iran: reliant on an Iranian double agent in the White House, Ahmed Chalabi supported by false Iranian intelligence Bush leapt into the trap a war without end which left the US military war-avoidant while providing Iran its Iraqi satellite in the Arab Middle East. Seamlessly the Republican hawk was replaced by the Democrat dove with no change in policy. Bush occasionally growled but always avoided action; Obama whimpers and justifies inaction.

Excerpted below is an article by a Saudi commentator that appeared in Al-Hayat. And while the Arabs are not yet willing to openly ally with Israel through the years the Saudis have allowed that Israel would have free passage to attack Iran should they decide to do so (first appeared in media during the Bush years). At that time I argued that unless and until Iran actually posed that “existential threat” warranting unilateral action, with America clearly out of the picture Israel should insist on more than open skies: Saudi participation alongside Israel, a regional “Alliance of the Willing.” Alone, Israel would be THE pariah state. With Arab participation the isolation attendant on fallout from such an attack is diluted.  

Saudi Intellectual: Obama Has Allied With Shi'ite Militias Against Sunni Militias

Saudi political commentator Khaled Al-Dahil argued in the London-based daily Al-Hayat that Obama's policy in the region is destructive, and that the Arabs must not remain silent about it. He wrote that the Obama administration is allowing Iran and its militias in Syria and Iraq a free hand, and helping it fight Sunni organizations in the region, with the aim of pacifying it in advance of the signing of the nuclear agreement: "The Obama administration realizes quite well that the war on ISIS as it is currently being waged has destructive sectarian repercussions, which if not dealt with will blow up in everyone's face. But has this administration...done a thing to correct how this war is being conducted?... Certainly not! This administration has acted, and continues to act, contrary to the fears that it itself has expressed… because of its wish to ally with Iran, as part of the war on ISIS – in an alliance that will be secret until a nuclear agreement is reached and relations are normalized.

As a skilled attorney and politician, (something of an exaggeration?) he knows that ISIS, as a sectarian organization, is the natural and direct outcome of the sectarian wars that began with the American invasion of Iraq… Obama is fighting the sectarian ISIS with a sectarian policy and sectarian tools...

It is wrong to remain silent in light of a policy that is dragging the region into more destructive religious wars just because Mr. Obama aspires to reach an agreement with the Iranians..."

In a second article, Obama's Policy On Iran Nuclear Issue – "Gambling With The Future Of The Region, Al-Dakhil writes, “The Israelis did well to expose the reckless aspect of” Obama’s Iran policy… Israel is the Americans' closest and most important ally and the one that is the most fearful about upsetting of the balance of power that will result if Iran or any Arab or Islamic country possesses nuclear weapons.”    

“[The] president's objective is to tie the Iranians' hands… for 10-15 years in hopes that by then Iran will have a new leadership, and will become a different country – perhaps a democratic country with less of a desire for nuclear weapons.”

The Saudi described America’s Iran policy as Delusional!