In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump told voters weary of U.S. engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere he would take great pains to avoid another Mideast war. In the wake of attacks on Saudi Arabian oilfields, President Trump proclaimed himself "locked and loaded," awaiting only the Saudis' official placement of blame, deferring to the Kingdom as to "under what terms we would proceed."
Monday, despite Yemeni Houthis' claim of responsibility, the Saudis strongly pointed a finger at Tehran. Also Monday, Trump walked himself back from high alert, suggesting Mohammed Bin Salman would not be determining the American response.
In the war inside Trump's head, that cooler-headed commander in chief must prevail. The president has one hell of a case to build with the American people before getting U.S. military assets or troops tied down in a conflict that would almost surely metastasize into a wider war.
Saudi Arabia is an American ally in the planet's most volatile tinderbox. The United States ought not take kindly to hostilities against it, including and especially those that threaten the world's oil supplies. But Iran, which sponsors destabilizing and anti-Israeli terrorist throughout the region, is already in a tightening economic vise, isolated nearly as much as any nation can be.
The Saudi-Iranian proxy war is on the brink of becoming a direct conflict. Though America makes no secret whose side it is on, direct military engagement carries extreme risk. Walk softly.
Commentary on 09/20/2019