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US protecting Saudi leaders from accountability: Commentator

Friday, 19 February 2016 9:58 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 19 February 2016 9:57 AM ]

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (R) and US Secretary of State John Kerry meet at King Salman airbase in Riyadh, January 23, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Weber, the director of the Institute for Historical Review, about Saudi Arabia’s insistence on continued aggression against Yemen despite achieving no breakthrough in the conflict.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What creates the basis for Saudi Arabia’s policy of continuing the war on Yemen and restoring the former fugitive president?

Weber: Saudi policy in Yemen is motivated by, I think, two factors: first of all, Saudi Arabia is afraid that the disorder in Yemen will spill over into Saudi Arabia itself; and second, Saudi leaders to actually believe what they’re saying in claiming that the Ansarullah or the Houthi forces in Yemen are backed by Iran and that Iran is playing a proxy role in the country. And so that seems to motivate Saudi policy and intervention in Yemen.

But this statement by the Saudi kingdom once again underscores the confusion and lack of realism of Saudi foreign policy in particular in Yemen and really the fragile character of Saudi society.

Press TV: And of course, apparently, Yemen has prepared documents to sue Saudi Arabia at the ICC. How likely do you think it is that Saudi Arabia will be brought to justice?

Weber: Very unlikely, because the United States will continue to use its considerable power diplomatically in [the] United Nations to protect Saudi leaders from accountability just as the United States has protected for many many years Israeli leaders from accountability and other countries that the United States wants to defend, of course even the United States’ leaders themselves.

So, unfortunately, it looks once again that holding leaders in Saudi Arabia or other countries accountable is not going to be very likely.

Press TV: We should of course question the ICC itself, its independence.

Weber: Well, yes! That’s true and we’ve seen over and over the ICC’s ability to bring a measure of justice thwarted by political considerations especially by the United States.

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