Will Saudi FM end quarter-century feud with Iraq?

PUBLIC opinion can be easily influenced, particularly when feelings are inflamed. Today much of the world is witnessing rejection, anger and accusations, very often the result of the political mood at a particular time. It is a state of affairs that also characterizes IraqiSaudi relations, which have had their fair share of turbulent periods that poisoned the entire region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir made a surprise visit to Baghdad after a quarter-century hiatus in relations. Given the circumstances, this is a crucial initiative that has the potential to put relations between the two countries on a different footing, particularly in view of the fact that there are no major disagreements between the two.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iraq are not new, and have a long history.

During the 1960s and 1970s, when the Baath Party came to power, the regime witnessed a new crisis with Saudi Arabia which had reconciled with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser during the Khartoum summit in 1967.

At the time, the Baath Party launched a propaganda war calling for a coup in Saudi Arabia; Baghdad welcomed members of the Saudi opposition.

Relations deteriorated for almost a decade; they only improved when Saddam Hussein decided to turn to Iran after the shah was toppled at the end of the 1970s.

At the beginning of that war, Saudi Arabia was worried that a victory would give Saddam military superiority that could threaten the Kingdom as well.

Yet, as the balance in the war was tilting against Saddam and the Khomeini regime was insisting on continuing the war, Riyadh had no other solution but to lend him indirect support, just like the US, as the Kingdom came to the realization that extremist Iranian clerics were more dangerous than Baghdad’s Baathists.

Amicable relations with the Saddam regime lasted until the war ended and Iraq once again turned its attention toward Gulf countries and started creating problems for them.

Saddam did not look favorably upon the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which left Iraq out, a fact he considered a treachery. He accused the GCC of having taken advantage of the fact that he was busy with the war against Iran, and having formed a regional alliance without him.

He thus began to gradually get into more amicable relations with his enemy, Iran. He established the Arab Cooperation Council, which was against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

He then got into arguments about oil production, targeting Kuwait, which he tried to extort, claiming that he needed more financial support, and eventually occupied it.

Saddam was hostile to friends and foes alike; he was aggressive even in his relations with allies in the Baath Party and his family members.

Because of his personality, Iraq had bad relations with Saudi Arabia for 12 years after Kuwait’s liberation.

The Iraqi opposition used to meet in Riyadh, among other Arab capitals, knowing that Saddam would create a crisis as soon as the international sanctions were lifted.

Eventually, the US chose to get rid of the Saddam regime after economic sanctions failed to topple or even contain him. The weapons of mass destruction were only an excuse to settle the matters militarily.

Saddam’s regime was replaced with a US ruling council, but Riyadh was still cautious and concerned about the US project.

This is when Iran interfered, proposing to cooperate with the US troops there.

When Saudi Arabia did not permit the US to use a military base to wage war, Qatar also proposed a cooperation.

They then withdrew their troops and built an alternative base in Qatar which became the center of all military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Diplomatically, there have been no relations between Saudi Arabia and the new Iraqi leadership; the Kingdom did not want to grant legitimacy to the new regime under US military presence.

Relations worsened during the presidency of premier Nuri Al-Maliki. When he was replaced by Haider Al-Abadi, Saudi Arabia welcomed him, but Al-Abadi’s rivals, including Al-Maliki and Iran, undermined his government.

Al-Abadi did not succeed in making relations with Saudi Arabia progress, even though there was an exchange of ambassadors between the two countries.

Jubeir’s visit to Baghdad is an important diplomatic step at a time when the entire region needs more cooperation to decrease tension and chaos, and form a common front to fight terrorism and possible aggression from different areas. Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, a veteran columnist, is former general manager of Al Arabiya News Channel and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this article was originally published.