Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, on September 9 jarred the region and spurred a new outburst of skepticism about the value of U.S. security commitments. The U.S. has long sought a stable regional environment in which American partners do not attack one another, which the Doha attack obviously disrupted. Nevertheless, the Middle East simply has no viable alternative to U.S. regional security efforts for the foreseeable future. Qatar and other Gulf states have been subject to other attacks that the U.S. could neither deter nor immediately punish (such as the drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities in 2019 and 2020). Regional moderates have no plausible alternative patrons or policy approaches that would keep them out of the line of fire, and American security commitments remain both valid and vital in important ways.
No Real Alternative: Why the Gulf Will Rely on the U.S. | The Washington Institute
