Saudis still have us over a barrel

Re “Biden in tough spot over report on Khashoggi,” March 3

The U.S. believes it cannot sanction the crown prince of Saudi Arabia for arranging the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi because the kingdom has been “a longtime Middle Eastern ally.” We accept limitations imposed by this marriage of convenience because they are necessary to contain “Iran and Islamic extremism.”

There’s another story to be told. Had the CIA not enabled the coup that toppled Iran’s democratically elected prime minister in 1953, then foisted on the Iranian people a monarch who ruled like Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman runs Saudi Arabia now, Iran could have been the strong democratic ally we need to contain a different extremist ideology: the Wahhabism that nurtured the 9/11 attackers and allows the Saudi royals to rule as absolute monarchs.

Despite however many Saudi human rights violations, the U.S. will continue to be complicit in these crimes because the Saudis have us over a barrel — of oil.

Sarah S. Forth Los Angeles

President Biden is not in a tough spot. He has cynically violated his November 2019 campaign promise to punish senior Saudi leaders. Morality and international law mandate four straightforward presidential actions.

Biden must publicly condemn the crown prince for ordering an assassination, cease all direct communications between the U.S. government and Mohammed, initiate sanctions on him, and terminate all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Jeff Victoroff Rancho Palos Verdes