American Bases in the Middle East: Expensive Monuments of Arab Subservience

Graphics: thecradle.co

1. ⁠The Middle East today is riddled with American military bases planted across sovereign Arab lands under the pretext of “partnership” and “security cooperation.” Yet, when those very lands come under fire, these sprawling installations, brimming with expensive technology and thousands of troops, turn into mute spectators. What logic is there in hosting a supposed superpower’s base if it cannot shield you from aggression? Qatar, a sovereign nation, was recently struck by Israel, and yet the massive American presence within its borders offered no deterrent, no shield, and no response.

2.⁠ ⁠If these bases are genuinely meant to provide security, then their silence in the face of attacks is an indictment of their uselessness. On the other hand, if they are merely staging grounds for Washington’s adventures and assaults against other Muslim nations, then Arab leaders have sold their sovereignty cheaply, trading honor for a hollow promise of protection that never materializes when truly needed. Either way, the arrangement reeks of betrayal.

3. ⁠The people of the region see clearly that these bases are not fortresses for defense but springboards for foreign aggression. From Syria to Iraq, from Yemen to Lebanon, American hardware and intelligence have been deployed not to defend Arabs, but now seen to destabilize and divide them. Yet Arab regimes continue to bend their backs, pretending the bases serve their national interest while the evidence screams otherwise.

4. Take Yemen, a brotherly Islamic nation enduring years of brutal bombardment. Did any Arab host of U.S. bases demand accountability for the role of American weapons and targeting support in the massacre of civilians there? Or look at Syria, where foreign strikes repeatedly pound infrastructure and cities—did these bases lift a finger to stop foreign jets violating Syrian sovereignty? The silence is deafening, the hypocrisy unbearable.

5. ⁠And yet, Arab states welcome more bases, more troops, more “security agreements.” These leaders are quick to issue pompous statements at international summits, but when their neighbors bleed under foreign fire, they shrug, mumble, and retreat into silence. What kind of brotherhood is this? What kind of leadership accepts a foreign boot on its soil while another Muslim nation is crushed?

6. The cowardice extends beyond governments to the collective Arab system. When Palestine burns under bombardment, when Lebanon is threatened, when Iraq and Syria are destabilized, when Yemen is starved, the Arab bloc offers little more than empty words and occasional aid shipments appearing “charitable” and “concerned”. Meanwhile, they allow their soil to be launchpads for the very powers facilitating this destruction. It is shameful, pitiful, and a betrayal of their own people.

7. Those who host American bases and parade them as symbols of modern alliances should be ridiculed for their gullibility—or worse, their complicity. For what is the point of sovereignty if you surrender your land to foreign militaries that neither defend you nor respect your neighbors? Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and others have become landlords of colonial outposts dressed up as “partners in stability.” In truth, they are lapdogs, wagging their tails while their brothers are beaten.

8. The tragedy is compounded by the way these regimes spend billions on imported arms they rarely dare to use, while relying on a foreign shield that repeatedly proves itself illusory. The enemy strikes Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, even Qatar itself, and the American bases sit idle. What message does that send, other than proving that their true mission is not defense but domination?

9.⁠ ⁠Until Arab nations muster the courage to stand for themselves, these bases will remain symbols of humiliation. They are monuments not of protection but of surrender, reminders that sovereignty has been mortgaged to a power that treats its hosts as pawns. Worse, by permitting such bases, Arab rulers share in the crimes committed against their fellow Muslims, allowing their land to be used as staging grounds for wars of terror.

10. The time has come to call things by their real names: American bases in the Middle East are useless for defense, destructive for unity, and humiliating for sovereignty. 

11. The longer Arab leaders tolerate them, the longer they will remain complicit in the bleeding of their own region. Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and now even Qata; these are not isolated cases, but proof that dependence on foreign bases is nothing but a dangerous oasis in desert dream.

12. Middle Eastern men are usually proud of their musculinity, but in these circumstances perhaps the Arab leaders might trade their “Igal and Keffiyah” for a “Bedlah”, judging by the way they defend their region.