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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 It’s no secret. Deference We can end to Saudis Yemen’s war. on display

Martin Griffiths after raid

WASHINGTON OPINION

Yemen’s war has to end. And the secret Trump’s response brings is that the way it ends is no secret at all. accusations that he takes On Sept. 14, a drone attack on direction from Riyadh Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia de- stroyed approximately half of Saudi BY PETER BAKER crude oil production. The Houthi mili- AND DAVID E. SANGER tia in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack; Saudi Arabia and the After oil installations were blown up in United States, however, are pointing Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Presi- fingers at Iran. This situation threat- dent Trump declared that the United ens to turn regional tensions into a States was “locked and loaded,” a shooting war, as well as destabilizing phrase that seemed to suggest he was the global economy. ready to strike back. But then he prom- And for Yemen, the risk of being ised to wait for Saudi Arabia to tell him drawn into a war between states, and “under what terms we would proceed.” not merely between proxies, is now His message on Twitter offered a re- very real. If more evidence was needed markable insight into the deference Mr. for the urgency of a political solution in Trump gives to the Saudi royal family Yemen, then these attacks provide it. and touched off a torrent of criticism Most wars appear from those who have long accused him And world to have no solution. of doing Riyadh’s bidding while sweep- leaders must, They are occasioned ing Saudi violations of human rights and by rival states, fu- international norms under the rug. before it eled by rival ideolo- It was hard to imagine him allowing blows up the gies and imperme- NATO, or a European ally, such latitude rest of the able to the cries of in determining how the United States Middle East. the victims. Yemen is should respond. But for Mr. Trump, the in some ways no PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES Saudis have always been a special case, different. Every A communal cellblock for some of the prisoners who are detained at Guantánamo Bay. The military assigns around 1,800 troops to the detention center, or 45 per prisoner. their economic import having often single family in the country has lost a overwhelmed other considerations in generation of education among its his mind. children; every single family has seen Whether and how to commit forces is a relative or a friend killed. Few see one of the most critical decisions any the sense in a war among their leaders American president can make, but Mr. that costs each and every one of them Trump’s comment gave the impression so dearly. The cost of Guantánamo Bay that he was outsourcing the decision. This is a conflict the international The fact that the other country was community can resolve. And because GUANTÁNAMO BAY, CUBA George W. Bush administration took a Saudi Arabia — a difficult ally that came we can, we must. The details of this crude compound called Camp X-Ray under intense criticism for the killing settlement are in plain sight. Seven and hastily established it as a holding and dismemberment of Jamal elements will necessarily underpin any station for enemy fighters picked up in Khashoggi, the dissident and Washing- agreement to end the war. For each of 40 prisoners, the war on terrorism, it has taken on a ton Post contributor — reinforced the First, the monopoly on force must be sprawling and permanent feel, with the longstanding criticism that the energy- returned to the government of Yemen. the expense last year expense most likely to continue far into rich kingdom buys American support. No Yemenis outside the state should be worked out to $13 million the future. “What struck me about that tweet allowed to use violence to achieve their Because of the relative isolation of its was not just that it’s obviously wrong to ends. This is a simple but absolute BY CAROL ROSENBERG location on a United States Navy base on allow Saudi Arabia to dictate our foreign requirement. The militias that fight Cuba’s southeast coast, the military as- policy, but that the president doesn’t over Yemen’s land must be replaced by Holding the Nazi war criminal Rudolf signs around 1,800 troops to the deten- seem to be aware of how submissive it the exclusive authority of the state. Hess as the lone prisoner in Germany’s tion center, or 45 for each prisoner. The makes him look to say that,” said Repre- This can be achieved through a Spandau Prison in 1985 cost an estimat- troops work out of three prison build- sentative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of process overseen by the United Na- ed $1.5 million in today’s dollars. The ings, two top-secret headquarters, at New Jersey and a former assistant sec- tions of gradually transferring weap- per-prisoner bill in 2012 at the “super- least three clinics and two compounds retary of state. ons from the militias to the new gov- max” facility in Colorado, home to some where prisoners consult their lawyers. “It is a big deal to attack oil fields,” Mr. ernment. of the highest-risk prisoners in the Some also stand guard across the base Malinowski added. “It does affect more Second, the government must be United States, was $78,000. at Camp Justice, the site of the war court than just Saudi Arabia’s interests. But more than a coalition. It must be an Then there is Guantánamo Bay, and parole board hearing room. whatever we do, we have to do what’s inclusive partnership among the politi- where the expense now works out to The prison’s staff members have their best for us, and we have to recognize cal parties that now take different about $13 million for each of the 40 pris- own chapel and cinema, housing, two that the Saudis have a profound bias.” sides. This is the state that will require oners being held there. dining rooms and a team of mental Judges, lawyers, journalists and support workers are flown in and out on weekly shut- Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday that differences be resolved through According to a tally by The New York health care workers, who offer comfort tles. The detention center zone has its own headquarters, motor pool and minimart. that he had not “promised” to protect politics and that force is its servant Times, the total cost last year of holding dogs. the Saudis and that he would “sit down and not its threat. the prisoners — including the men ac- Judges, lawyers, journalists and sup- with the Saudis and work something Third, the government must ensure cused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, at- port workers are flown in and out on and some can attend art and horticul- ties built up over the years has grown in- out.” that its country will not be used for tacks on the United States — paying for weekly shuttles. ture classes. creasingly expensive, even as the num- But he expressed caution, suggesting attacks on neighbors or even those the troops who guard them, running the The 40 prisoners, all men, get halal The estimated annual cost of $540 ber of prisoners has declined. that for all of his bellicose language, he GRIFFITHS, PAGE 13 war court and doing related construc- food, access to satellite news and sports million covers the 12-month period that A Defense Department report in 2013 SAUDI ARABIA, PAGE 7 tion, exceeded $540 million. channels, workout equipment and Play- ended last Sept. 30 and does not include calculated the annual cost of operating The New York Times publishes opinion The $13 million-per-prisoner cost al- Stations. expenses that have remained classified, Guantánamo Bay’s prison and court A TEST FOR NEW SAUDI ENERGY CHIEF from a wide range of perspectives in most certainly makes Guantánamo the Those who behave — and that has presumably including a continued Cen- system at $454.1 million, or nearly $90 Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was hopes of promoting constructive debate world’s most expensive detention pro- been the majority for years — get com- tral Intelligence Agency presence. But million less than last year. At the time, named energy minister just before an about consequential questions. gram. And nearly 18 years after the munal meals and can pray in groups, the figures show that the range of facili- GUANTÁNAMO, PAGE 8 attack crippled oil production. PAGE 9

‘Permanent Record’ of a very loud whistle-blower

BOOK REVIEW specific persons of interest. Technolog- Notice the scare quotes; Snowden is ical change and the calamity of 9/11 instinctively careful about entering yielded new tools for mass surveillance anything about himself into the perma- and the incentive to use them. nent record of “Permanent Record.” Edward Snowden reveals Sweeping up phone records of Amer- The man who emerges from such ican citizens, eavesdropping on foreign “personal disclosures” seems conse- some of his own secrets, leaders, harvesting data from internet quently guarded and meticulous — with the caution of a spy activity: For revealing these secret ideal traits for a spy or a whistle- programs and more, Snowden was blower. BY JENNIFER SZALAI deemed a traitor by the Obama admin- Born in 1983 in North Carolina, istration, which charged him with Snowden comes from a family whose Revealing state secrets is hard, but violating the Espionage Act and re- service includes the F.B.I. (his grandfa- revealing yourself in a memoir might voked his passport, stranding him in ther), the Coast Guard (his father), the be harder. As Edward Snowden puts it Moscow, where he remains. N.S.A. (his mother) and the Army in the preface of “Permanent Record”: “Permanent Record” is a riveting (himself). He remembers the first “The decision to come forward with account and a curious artifact. The thing he ever hacked was bedtime, evidence of government wrongdoing book is unlikely to change anyone’s changing all the clocks in the house so was easier for me to make than the mind about Snowden, but when it that he could stay up later on his sixth decision, here, to give an account of my comes to privacy and speech and the birthday. As a teenager, Snowden life.” Constitution, his story clarifies the learned how to hack school, examining Reinventing Democracy: Snowden, of course, is the former stakes. For someone who worked in the class syllabus to figure out how he intelligence contractor who, in 2013, the intelligence community, the very could exploit its weaknesses; the goal leaked documents about the United idea of an autobiography feels uncom- was to do the least amount of work New Models for Our Changing World States government’s surveillance fortable. “It’s hard to have spent so without flunking out. programs, dispelling any notions that much of my life trying to avoid identifi- School was at best a distraction, he Register to attend: athensdemocracy.org the National Security Agency and its LINDSAY MILLS cation,” he writes, “only to turn around says, and at worst “an illegitimate allies were playing a quaint game of Edward Snowden’s book clarifies the completely and share ‘personal disclo- system” that “wouldn’t recognize any spy vs. spy, limiting their dragnet to stakes behind his sweeping revelations. sures’ in a book.” SNOWDEN, PAGE 2 In Cooperation With:

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