“ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.”At one point or another,
every teenager has likely heard this phrase uttered by their par-
ents as they received a punishment for their juvenile malfea-
sance. Such reasoning is easy for children to comprehend when
they are confined to their rooms while their friends are out en-
joying a jovial evening.
For adults, however, the idea that actions have consequences
is harder to digest, at least on a larger societal scale. We witness
how class and race determine the severity with which crimes are
punished. We see good and moral people struggling to survive
as greedy nihilists live large. We see rich and powerful nations
impose their will on weak and impotent countries.
Many Americans are outraged at the economic inequality that
exists in their country. They are tired of seeing corporate execu-
tives making millions or billions as their employees struggle to
put food on the table. They know the wealthy have cohorts oflobbyists to protect them
from unfavorable legal re-
forms, and teams of lawyers
to shield them from the con-
sequences of violating cur-
rent laws.
This outrage at the seem-
ingly consequence-less ac-
tions of the country’s elite
ought to unite Americans
with another group of people
who suffer at the hands of
the powerful: the people of
the Middle East. From Iraq to
Yemen to Palestine to Libya
and elsewhere, many people
in the region have been
forced to endure war and
sanctions in the name of
U.S. national security. They
too feel powerless, as the
U.S., with its dominance over
the U.N. and the global eco-
nomic system, is seemingly
immune from facing reper-
cussions for its actions. They also wonder if “the system”—in this
case the global order—is stacked against them.
Americans at least have some agency when it comes to re-
form. The power of special interests and the role of money in pol-
itics can seem like insurmountable challenges, but at the end of
the day Americans have the power of the ballot. Victims of U.S.
foreign policy have no such political recourse. Without the pos-
sibility of redress, they are subjected to the policies of U.S. lead-
ers who are indebted to the military-industrial complex, the Israel
lobby and other influential groups. This naturally leads to wide-
scale anger and, for a small number of people, the compulsion
to seek violent retribution.
Indeed, U.S. intelligence officials worry about “blowback”
caused by American foreign policy. It is widely accepted that the
perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were motivated by the presence
of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and Washington’s unabashed
support for Israel. Some have warned that the U.S. drone pro-
gram only perpetuates the cycle of violence. The Guantanamo
Bay detention facility is cited as a recruitment tool for terroristThe American People Must Demand
Accountability for U.S. Foreign Policy
By Dale Sprusansky
STRINGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGESDale Sprusansky is editor of the Washington Report on Middle East
Affairs.36 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018Special Report
Yemenis dig graves for children who were killed when their bus was hit during a Saudi-led coalition air strike
in Saada, Aug. 10, 2018. The discovery that the attack was carried out with a U.S.-manufactured weapon
resulted in calls for the U.S. to terminate its involvement in the four-year-old war.sprusansky_36-38.qxp_Special Report 8/30/18 1:42 PM Page 36