The Washington Post - USA (2020-12-11)

A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020

BY PAUL SONNE

The United States flew a pair
of B-52 strategic bombers from a
base in Louisiana to the Middle
East on Thursday as a show of
force against Iran, underscoring
the U.S. military’s ability to de-
fend itself and its allies in the
region as tensions between Te h-
ran and Washington escalate
during the final days of the
Trump administration.
The B-52H “Stratofortresses,”
long-range heavy bombers that
can carry nuclear warheads or
perform conventional missions,
left B arksdale A ir Force Base on a
short-notice nonstop mission.
U.S. Central Command, which
oversees the Middle East, said
the mission was designed to
demonstrate the U.S. military’s

commitment to its regional part-

ners and ability to deploy combat

power rapidly to anywhere in the

world. It was the second such

mission in two months.

“Potential adversaries should

understand that no nation on

earth is more ready and capable

of rapidly deploying additional

combat power in the face of any

aggression,” Gen. Kenneth F.

McKenzie Jr., Centcom com-

mander, said in a statement.

McKenzie said the ability to fly

strategic bombers “halfway

across the world in a non-stop

mission” and integrate them

with the forces of other countries

in the region demonstrates the

U.S. military’s close working re-

lationships and a “shared com-

mitment to regional security and

stability.”

The show of force comes at a

time of heightened risk to the

United States and its allies in the

Middle East. The bomber mis-

sion took place a week after the

U.S. government decided to with-

draw some staff from its embassy

in Iraq, where tension with Irani-

an-backed forces has persisted

for months.

It also comes after the target-

ed killing late last month of

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian

nuclear scientist who U.S. offi-

cials believed was behind Iran’s

previous efforts to covertly de-

velop nuclear weapons. He was

killed in an ambush east of

Te hran that Iranian officials

blamed on Israel.

As the first anniversary of the

U.S. killing of senior Iranian

military leader Qasem Soleimani

approaches Jan. 3, the Trump

administration faces the possi-

bility that Iran or its proxies

could hit back against Western

targets in the region at a moment

of transition in Washington.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday

failed to block a controversial

$23 billion arms deal with the

United Arab Emirates, which

will send F-35 fighter jets and

Reaper drones to the nation. The

UAE has been involved in the

Saudi Arabia-led intervention

against Iranian-backed Houthi

rebels in Yemen.

The B-52 mission also comes

as President Trump withdraws

more U.S. troops from Afghani-

stan and Iraq in a final push to

get closer to upholding his prom-

ise to end U.S. involvement in

those nations, creating a sensi-

tive security situation for Ameri-

can forces.

Trump fired defense secretary

Mark T. Esper in November and

installed acting secretary Chris-

topher C. Miller, who quickly

announced plans to draw down

to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, a

plan that Esper opposed.

“We are aware that Iran has

increased its military activity

through direct attacks and sup-

port to its proxies in the region,”

a U.S. defense o fficial said, speak-

ing on the condition of anonym-

ity to discuss the details of the

mission. “We do not seek conflict

with the regime in Iran. But we

are prepared and postured with

forces that span the full range of

combat capability to deter fur-

ther unwarranted aggression

and preserve the international

rules-based order.”

The B-52 aircraft flew in the

western portion of the Persian

Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar,

where they integrated with air-

craft from the U.S. military and

those of partner nations, before

returning into Saudi Arabian

airspace as they exited out of the

theater, the defense official said.

Despite the increased activity

by Iran, the defense official said

the flights weren’t a direct re-

sponse to specific actions taken

by any specific nation but rather

part of a broader demonstration

of U.S. resolve.

U.S. Strategic Command,

which oversees the U.S. nuclear

force, has been conducting such

missions since 2014, the official

said.

[email protected]

U.S. military dispatches bombers to Middle East as show of force to Iran

BY ANNE GEARAN,

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN,

MIKE DEBONIS

AND SOUAD MEKHENNET

Morocco and Israel agreed
Thursday to establish diplomatic
relations in a deal brokered by the
United States, making the North
African nation the fourth Arab-
majority country in r ecent months
to say i t would n ormalize ties with
Israel.
The agreement with Morocco
had been anticipated for months,
but was held up by Moroccan de-
mands that the United States rec-
ognize its sovereignty over a dis-
puted border region, U.S. and oth-
er officials familiar with the dis-
cussions said.
That logjam broke this month,
as President Trump’s tenure nears
its end. No other Western democ-
racy has backed Moroccan sover-
eignty over the Western Sahara
region, and Trump’s turnabout
ends more than 4 0 years o f official
neutrality.
Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.),
a Trump ally and powerful chair-
man of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, has championed the
cause of Algerian-backed separat-
ists in that region for years.
“He could have made this deal
without trading away the rights of
this voiceless people,” Inhofe said
on the Senate floor, referring to
Trump.
Trump’s decision came a week
after he had criticized Inhofe for
refusing to hold up the annual
defense spending bill over
Trump’s demand that it be used to
repeal a federal law granting lia-
bility protection to technology
companies.
Trump has waged a fight with
technology companies such as
Twitter that have started to crack
down on right-wing misinforma-
tion online.
“I will VETO!” Trump tweeted

on Dec. 3.

Inhofe’s support for the sepa-

ratists had made Trump reluctant

to act earlier, said a U.S. official

and a foreign official with knowl-

edge of the negotiations. They

spoke on t he c ondition of a nonym-

ity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

“In the c onversations before the

elections with the U.S. administra-

tion, they often said that the presi-

dent would have liked to move

fo rward a nd recognize the full sov-

ereignty of the Kingdom of Moroc-

co over the entire Moroccan Saha-

ra, but that they couldn’t move

forward because they didn’t want

to lose the support of the senator

from Oklahoma who was against

that step,” said the foreign official.

“However, in recent time, we

heard that the situation had

changed and it opened new oppor-

tunities for moving conversations

forward.”

In an interview, Inhofe said he

was blindsided by Trump’s action.

Inhofe said the White House did

not t hreaten retaliation o r link the

two issues.

“I found out when you found

out. And so, I don’t think that’s

true,” Inhofe said of whether the

policy shift was connected to the

defense bill. “I think, his staff has

been trying to get him to do this

for a long period of time. And he

hasn’t done it.”

Trump is “running, arguably,

out of time,” and wants to secure

his foreign policy victories, Inhofe

said.

“So I think that’s the driving

force, a s opposed to trying to get at

me.”

Trump announced the diplo-

matic deal and the policy shift in

tweets.

Winning U.S. recognition of

Moroccan sovereignty over the re-

gion has been a chief policy goal

for Morocco, which is among the

most populous Arab states and a

key prize among countries the

Trump administration has court-

ed.

“This is something that’s been

talked about for a long time but

something that seemed inevitable

at this point and something that

we think advances the region and

helps bring more clarity to where

things are going,” Jared Kushner,

Trump’s son-in-law and Middle

East negotiator, told reporters

about the Western Sahara shift.

Shortly after the deal was an-

nounced, two congressional aides

said the Trump administration is

expected to ask for a go-ahead to

sell additional U.S.-made w eapons

to Morocco. The aides, who spoke

on the condition of anonymity be-

cause they were not authorized to

discuss the matter on the record,

said the sale is expected to include

military drones.

The administration is seeking

an expedited congressional re-

view of the sale with an aim to get

it approved before the close of the

congressional session and the end

of the Trump administration, in

January, the aides said.

This week, senators failed to

block a similar arms sale that the

administration announced for

the United Arab Emirates in the

wake of that country’s signing a

peace deal with Israel that had

been announced in August. The

$23 billion sale will make the UAE

the first Arab country to acquire

F-35 fighter jets, alongside Reap-

er drones, missiles and muni-

tions.

The piecemeal diplomatic and

economic agreements between Is-

rael and Arab neighbors have be-

come a hallmark of Trump’s unor-

thodox approach to foreign af-

fairs. They a re likely to stand a s his

main legacy in the Middle East,

where he once hoped to broker

what he called the “ultimate deal”

settling decades of enmity be-

tween Israel and its neighbors.

President-elect Joe Biden has

welcomed the initiative.

Like the agreements between

Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and

Sudan, the Moroccan accord

b ypasses the Palestinians, who

want a comprehensive peace deal

with Israel on terms Israel has

rejected.

Palestinian leaders have brand-

ed Arab states as traitors for mak-

ing individual agreements, al-

though the UAE had conditioned

its deal on Israel’s s helving poten-

tial plans to annex parts of the

West Bank that Palestinians claim

for a f uture state.

Trump spoke by phone Thurs-

day with Morocco’s King Moham-

med VI to secure the agreement,

under which Morocco and Israel

will establish full diplomatic ties

and official contacts, as well as

direct flights between the two

countries.

Trump affirmed the strength of

U.S.-Moroccan ties, which date to

1777, according to a summary of

the conversation released by the

White House.

Also Thursday, Morocco’s offi-

cial Ewa news agency published

an open letter to Biden that ac-

cused t he s eparatists of violating a

cease-fire and maintaining ties to

regional armed groups.

The separatist movement, o ften

known as the Polisario, “jeopar-

dizes peace and security in the

whole r egion, rendering it a breed-

ing ground for terrorism,” the let-

ter said.

The matter is not settled, In-

hofe said. He noted that interna-

tional organizations including

the United Nations and the Afri-

can Union do not recognize Mo-

roccan sovereignty and should

not budge.

A communique from Morocco’s

royal cabinet on the agreement

said official contacts and diplo-

matic relations with Israel would

come as soon as possible. The

agreement announced in Wash-

ington contains no deadline for

the opening of embassies, but

Kushner said it would happen

soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benja-

min Netanyahu thanked Trump

and Mohammed for what Netan-

yahu called a “historic peace.”

“The people of Morocco and

the Jewish people have had a

warm relationship i n the m odern

period. Everybody knows the tre-

mendous friendship shown by

the kings of Morocco and the

people of Morocco to the Jewish

community there,” Netanyahu

said in a statement issued by his

office.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

s [email protected]

Miriam Berger in Washington, Shira

Rubin in Tel Aviv and Sudarsan

Raghavan in Cairo contributed to this

report.

In U.S.-backed deal, Morocco to normalize ties with Israel

Trump recognizes

kingdom’s sovereignty

over Western Sahara

FADEL SENNA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

A Moroccan vehicle sits i n Western Sahara, a long-contested region where the United States is the first

Western democracy to agree to recognize Moroccan sovereignty, ending 40 years of official neutrality.

“He could have made

this deal without

trading away the rights

of this voiceless people.”

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.),

on President Trump’s policy shift

to recognize Moroccan sovereignty

over a disputed border region

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