The nations of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates either have land borders with Iraq or are accessible from it via water. Given the proximity of these countries to Iraq, it would seem that they should be doing more to stabilize that country; yet, they have done little more than enjoy the ever-rising oil revenues that the Iraq fiasco has put into their already overflowing coffers. Nearby Syria can’t be expected to put troops into Iraq to aid the U.S.: We’re enemies after all, right? That is, except for the occasional tortured captive exchanges. Even though we share embassies, the Bush administration has handled its foreign policies so ineptly that Syria has little desire to offer any meaningful assistance in Iraq. Turkey wouldn’t be welcome, having occupied Mesopotamia for decades during the Ottoman Empire’s reign. But don’t worry: Turkey will be fighting the Kurds in northern Iraq soon enough.
That leaves us with these petro-dollar soaked “Slippery Seven.” (Jordan, unique among the Arabic-speaking countries mentioned here, lacks oil or other high-value resources) These Slippery Seven should have just as much – if not more – at stake than the United States, and should contribute more in personnel, material and funding toward the stabilization of Iraq. They can certainly afford to do it – in both financial and manpower terms. Take a look at the figures below gathered from the U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants Greenbook (qesdb.usaid.gov/gbk/index.html.)and CIA World Factbook (cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.)
Bahrain: Population: 474,000
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 202,126
females: 125,488
Total military assistance 1996-2005: $315.7 million (in constant U.S. dollars, 2005)
Jordan: Population: 6 million
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 1,348,076
females: 1,158,011
Total military assistance 1996-2005: $2.2 billion
Kuwait: Population: 1.2 million
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 737,292
females: 405,207
Total military assistance 1996-2005: No aid is listed in the Greenbook for this period.
Oman: Population: 2.5 million
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 581,444
females: 435,107
Total military assistance 1996-2005: $168.8 million
Qatar: Population: 907,000
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 238,566
females fit for military service, age 18-49: 116,595
Total military assistance 1996-2005: no military assistance figures listed in the 10-year report in the Greenbook.
Saudi Arabia: Population: 22 million
males, age 18-49, fit for military service: 6,592,709
Females, age 18-49, fit for military service: 4,659,347
Total military assistance 1996-2005: No aid is listed in the Greenbook for this period.
United Arab Emirates: 4.4 million
males fit for military service, age 18-49: 526,671
females: 419,975
Total military assistance 1996-2005: No aid is listed in the Greenbook for this period.
The available figures showing the total military assistance from 1996-2005 are striking enough, and the figures not in the Greenbook for Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also speaks volumes: Does anyone other than the most gullible among us believe those “allies” of ours received no military assistance during that period? If you believe the U.S. has provided no military assistance to those four countries during the period shown, I have some yellowcake uranium I’d like to sell you. It’s absolutely incredulous. Here is what we do know:
Total Population of The Slippery Seven: 37,481,000
Total fit for military service: 17.5 million
Number of troops The Slippery Seven have on the ground in Iraq: Zero.
Out of 17.5 million people fit for military service, The Slippery Seven can’t even muster a couple hundred thousand towards the stabilization of Iraq? Yes they need to protect their borders and ports, but so does the United States. The Slippery Seven count their stacks of money and enjoy the good life while the United States depletes its own military personnel, material and treasury in a fight far beyond its own shores?
Why do American forces fight the battles and pay the bills on behalf of these super-rich petro-states? Because our political leaders say they should. The Slippery Seven know that, regardless of who occupies the White House or who is in charge of Congress, that they can always rely on America to fight and fund their battles.
Proponents of the ongoing occupation of Iraq say that there are a range of cultural factors that prohibit the active involvement of these countries: Sunni-Shiite antagonisms being key among them. But are those cultural factors any less harmful than having what is essentially a Christian army occupying Iraq? And isn’t Saudi Arabia already assisting the Sunni minority in Iraq as a counterweight to the Shiite majority in Iraq to stave off Iranian influence?
The Slippery Seven stay out of the fight because they can, and because they know that the U.S. government will always send its troops to die so their own citizens or family members won’t. The Slippery Seven rely on politicians in Washington and the easily malleable American public to get the U.S. to fight for them – either playing the oil card, or, in the case of Jordan, the regional stability card, while sitting out the fight themselves. If the consequences of a U.S. withdrawal would be as dire to the region as some claim, where are the military forces of The Slippery Seven? Clearly they have the personnel and funds available to ante-up. But they won’t because no one from the U.S. is forcing them to.
There are many reasons the United States should leave Iraq– indeed, should have left long ago. This is another. This is not America’s fight. It never was. And these figures are additional proof that not only is this not America’s fight, we’re paying our so-called Middle Eastern “allies” to stay out of it. These numbers don’t lie. Unless George Tenet put them together.
(Copyright 2007 by Joe Lake. Originally Published in Pulse of the Twin Cities weekly, May 2007)
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