Jeffrey Goldberg, Columnist

U.S. Plays Relationship Therapist in Gulf

Why don’t the Arab states that provide so many weapons to the Syrian opposition and that demand greater U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war just intervene themselves?

May 27, 2014 at 5:51 PM UTC

By Jeffrey Goldberg

Jeffrey Goldberg is a columnist for Bloomberg View writing about the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy and national affairs. He is a national correspondent for the Atlantic, the author of "Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror" and a winner of the National Magazine Award for reporting. He has also covered the Middle East as a staff writer for the New Yorker. Goldberg began his career at the Washington Post. He later wrote a column for the Jerusalem Post, covered the Mafia for New York magazine, and wrote for several years for the New York Times Magazine. He has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a fellow of the Jerusalem Foundation. He was born in New York, and now lives in Washington with his wife and three children.

"I can play a bit of a role as a facilitator." Chuck Hagel speaks during the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 14. Photographer: Mandel Ngan - Pool/Getty Images — "I can play a bit of a role as a facilitator." Chuck Hagel speaks during the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council on May 14. Photographer: Mandel Ngan - Pool/Getty Images

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Here's a question that's been nagging me for a while: Why don't the Arab states that provide so many weapons, and so much funding, to the Syrian opposition, and that also demand greater U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war, just intervene themselves? The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in particular, both vociferously support opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and are very well armed. Saudi Arabia alone flies about 300 combat aircraft; the United Arab Emirates has at least 140.

If it is true -- and I think it is -- that the creation of no-fly zones and civilian havens would have prevented the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent Syrians, then why didn't the Arabs, whose tears flow in rivers for their Sunni Syrian brethren, do more to protect them? One obvious answer is fear of Iran, the protector of the Assad regime. But to paraphrase Madeleine Albright, what is the point of fielding these superb air forces if you're not going to do anything with them?