Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of American power in the Middle East is how often the mistakes of the superpower have to be borne by the people of the region. The United States, while a strong ally in many respects, rarely understands the effects of its actions and after causing chaos leaves the region to clean up the mess.
A good example is Iraq and the consequences that flow from the 2003 invasion. At the time, the Arab world, while disliking the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein, warned that an ill-thought out invasion risked destabilising the region and providing a breeding ground for radicals.
A decade on, that has proved to be true. The news reported by The National yesterday, that Saudi militants, hardened by conflicts in Iraq and then Syria, are heading to Yemen and helping the insurgency there proves that the trajectory of radicalism, so easily foreseen, has come to pass: those radicals who only had the training grounds of Afghanistan on which to learn their dark crafts were gifted the space and recruits of Iraq. They then moved to Syria, where they turned a civil conflict into a religious war. They are now moving on to Yemen, bringing further radicalism to an already struggling country.
That such radicalism has reached the Arabian Peninsula puts into sharp focus the need, highlighted by the president of the International Organisation for Security and Intelligence on his visit to the UAE this week, for greater co-operation among the GCC on narco-terrorism.
These issues are linked. Drugs are usually the first illegal goods that enter a country. The lucrative nature of the trade means that cartels are willing to invest money and manpower to create routes in. But once a route is established, other illegal activities follow: weapons and human trafficking, even jihadis. That is especially dangerous for a country like the UAE, because the open nature of the country and the large disposable income available makes it a prime market for drugs.
It is in that light that the UAE must view its security and its co-operation with other members of the GCC, as well as neighbouring countries. Serious steps need to be taken to bolster Yemen’s security and to bring the country into some sort of union. A country the size of Yemen, bordering two GCC states, cannot be allowed to have ungoverned regions. The stability of Yemen will affect all the GCC states.
The same applies to intra-GCC disagreement. The current difficulty in the relationship between Qatar and the Saudis, the UAE and Bahrain must take a back seat to GCC-wide security. The Qataris must understand that it is in everyone’s interest to focus on security. The prosperity and security that the GCC has built cannot be threatened by minor disagreements.
