Letter: How long will US support the Saudis?

On Dec. 15, Ed Payne and Salma Abdelaziz started their CNN posting by saying, "Calling Islamic extremism a disease, Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a coalition of 34 predominately Muslim nations to fight terrorism."

This announcement by Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman was timed perfectly for me since I have been planning to write about the fact that, although Saudi Arabia has the third largest military budget in the world, it has contributed no ground forces to the battle with ISIS.

When asked if the "coalition" could include ground troops, the Saudi foreign minister said, "Nothing is off the table." The reality is that the Arab coalition members have cut back their bombing of ISIS. I wouldn't count on Saudi Arabia or our other Gulf allies sending any ground troops to fight ISIS.

It is difficult to find out who has been fighting against ISIS on the ground. Primarily it has been Iraqi security forces, Iranian "volunteers," Kurdish Peshmerga and some Yazidis volunteers -- a minority group that ISIS attacked in Iraq. A Dec. 14 New York Times article, "Obama urges Mideast allies to do more in fight against ISIS," mentioned Syrian Kurds, Arabs, Christians and Turkmen.

How long are we going to support Saudi Arabia -- where Wahhabism, a extreme form of Islam, is practiced and that has served as the incubator and fund supplier for terrorists?

Frank Flaumenhaft

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 1:19 AM with the headline "Letter: How long will US support the Saudis?."