Boston (October 11, 2019) – Just days after President Donald Trump used ending America’s involvement in overseas wars as an excuse to abandon the Kurds in Syria, media is reporting that the Pentagon will deploy approximately 1,500 additional troops to Saudi Arabia along with three missile defense systems, two squadrons of fighter jets, and an Air Expeditionary Wing – the largest of three rounds of U.S. military deployments to the country since July. In the past six months, the Department of Defense has moved 14,000 American servicemembers to the Middle East. The Pentagon says the U.S. buildup is meant to counter Iranian hostilities in the region, including the September attacks against Saudi oil facilities.

“Sending American men and women overseas to defend Saudi oil is not only the height of hypocrisy from Donald Trump, it is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Senator Markey. “From Turkey to Iran to Yemen, the President’s Middle East policies have been morally and strategically bankrupt. President Trump has thrown American support behind oil-rich Saudi autocrats who he thinks ‘pays cash,’ even as he betrays our Kurdish partners who have paid with their lives in the fight against ISIS.

“These latest moves add fuel to the fire of President Trump’s already destabilizing Middle East policy. He violated a nuclear deal that was working and broke America’s word, giving Iran excuses for violating its nuclear commitments. His decisions have pushed us to the brink of war in the Middle East, distracting us from challenges and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. Now, the United States needlessly is adding to its already overwhelming military force in the region, which threatens to further embroil our servicemembers and our country in yet another Middle Eastern conflict for oil at the expense of the American people. It is time to stop fighting wars that prolong our addiction to oil and fossil fuels that undermine our national security and start fighting for a Green New Deal and a clean energy future.”

###