A divisive figure in ireland and the United Kingdom he was a leading spokesman for the paramilitary Irish Republican Army during its decades long Guerrilla Campaign and in kurdish controlled Northern Ireland those are the headlines the news continues right here on aljazeera after outfront keep your. News has never been. That the message is simplistic and misinformation is rife listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging Mainstream Media narrative at this time on aljazeera from escalating the conflict in yemen to rounding up and detaining his fellow princes saudi arabias crown Prince Mohammed bin has been called both ambitious and reckless in this up from special well ask a prominent u. S. Congressman why he thinks the American Government should stop supporting the saudi led bombing of yemen and in the arena well debate whether the crown prince is bent on a war with iran. Congressman cantor thanks for joining me up front on monday night the u. S. Congress voted for the first time to condemn u. S. Involvement in the saudi led war in yemen by three hundred sixty six to thirty on a resolution you cosponsored but what actual difference will that nonbinding congressional vote. For the people of yemen who are dying right now both under a blockade imposed by a Saudi Led Coalition and on the u. S. Made bombs that the saudis are dropping on the what difference will that make well i was very pleased that chairman royce during the debate said that this resolution will put pressure on the saudis to provide humanitarian access and its a sense of the House Resolution so youre right its not binding but if the House Foreign Affairs committee as the chairman said he would use is this and goes to the saudis and says look if you dont make changes and provide more humanitarian access for basic food for basic medicine then youre going to have a congress thats going to exercise even greater oversight thats going to make a difference that can at least save lives so. About putting pressure on congress shifting positions since the Second World War the United States has been a very close ally of saudi arabia whether under democrat or republican administrations but is it fair to say that there is a split right now within the u. S. Government between a trump led white house which is one hundred percent one hundred ten percent behind the saudi crown Prince Mohammed bin salma m. B. A. s and they congress a Republican Led Congress in fact that is growing more and more skeptical of this alliance with saudi arabia at least in terms of the military component of it there is a growing sense that our intervention in the middle east has made us less safe that we ought not to be aligned with the saudi war crimes in other areas and associated with that and so you actually have this on alliance among progressives in congress and some in the Freedom Caucus who are questioning the neo con neal liberal paradigm of Foreign Policy and questioning why what are we getting out of this relationship you briefly in a previous u. S. Administration the Obama Administration which backed the saudi war on yemen which long before trump arrived on the scene the Obama Administration with providing refueling to saudi jets targeting assistance arms sales diplomatic cover at the u. N. So the Obama Administration your party the democrats in general they dont have clean hands when it comes to saudi arabia or the war in yemen do this well i think it was i think it was morally conflicted it was not something i agreed with i mean its a decision that i said was wrong i dont think it was had the trump level of enthusiasm and obama always had this sense that what if youre a yemeni killed by u. S. Made bombs dropped by saudi or u. A. E. Jets youre not going to say well these bombs are less enthusiastically dropped under obama than they were in the trouble still going to lose your life as a result of president obama or president drop but i think that the bombing has escalated a great deal and the civilian casualties have escalated in the. Kade has. Been strengthened in so the humanitarian crisis i think is of a different proportion than when it when president Obama Left Office that said im not im not trying to say that the decision that president obama made was right i think he was talked into or his administration was talked into this view that we have to view saudi is counter to iran and if were bridging relations with iran then what are we going to do for saudi arabia and i just dont see the the world that way i think was a mistake absolutely today do you believe the u. S. Is complicit in saudi war crimes in yemen today i believe that we are aiding saudi arabia in saudi arabia is committing war crimes i mean anybody that was a case under president obama as well i imagine that he was still committing war crimes but i dont think it was at the scale that it is today and i think the president i think of president obama were in office today and he saw a Million People who had suffering from cholera and the saudis closing the ports closing the airport not allowing chlorine tablets to get into civilians that he would be outraged and he would put pressure on the saudis the saudis would say over the decades they have been a loyal friend to the u. S. Theyve helped provide stability in the region make sure the Oil Keeps Flowing provide intel on terrorist groups invest in the u. S. Economy and so the u. S. Critics people like yourself are ungrateful unappreciative of that relationship well first of all fifteen of the terrorists who attacked us come from saudi arabia is one of the largest export hers of violence and non pluralism to the world there are ties between saudi arabia and terrorist groups so to argue that they have been a voice for peace or a strong ally is very questionable i think what they say is that they are a counter to iran. And they are a counter to irans dominance in the middle east and thats usually the argument they make and i just dont view the us engaging in balance of power politics something that is help why do you think the us is so close not just to side remember all of the gulf kingdoms not of them democracies is it just the need for cheap oil and gas or is it Something Else is it something more i think it goes back to the kissinger view of. Balance of power politics even in europe and we view that we say if there is a rising power we need to check that rising power thats the essence of balance of power politics and its gotten us into trouble when we did we armed Saddam Hussein because we fear in iran i mean theres almost this single focus on making sure iran isnt dominant in the region and we have you i think saudis as a chat on iranian expansion given the strength of the procyon the lobby here in washington d. C. Is there any chance that these congressional vote critical of the kingdom the lawsuits against the saudis by the nine eleven victims the much more critical u. S. Media coverage of the kingdom in recent years to any of that will actually translate into a more tougher stance by the u. S. Government on the issue of saudi arabia i do for the first time the military realizes that congress is really scrutinizing whats going on in yemen i think there is no longer this Carte Blanche and now the chairman. Royce who is a hard liner on iran for him to go on the house floor and say this resolution is going to give us leverage to make sure that the saudis are at least providing humanitarian access leads me to believe that behind closed doors some people are going to say to the saudis look we have had your back but if you continue to embarrass us by creating appalling headlines of nine hundred thousand folks and kids with cholera youre going to lose public. Opinion theres been much talk this week of conflict and crisis in the middle east especially with the resignation of the lebanese Prime Minister allegedly on the orders of the Saudi Crown Prince the rocket attack on riyadh by the rebels in yemen who backed by iran if the saudis and or israel decide to launch an attack on iran what should be the u. S. Response in your view we should condemn it and we should. Certainly not come to their defense if they are perpetrating an attack on iran i think that would be a declaration of war on their part unjustified i dont see us allies who would then presumably be on the counterattack from iran youre saying the u. S. Should not come to the help of its allies if they start a war with iran certainly not saudi arabia no i dont think that because they would be not just war and weve weve had president to protect israel but. Also well it depends on what the what the response was i mean obviously if iran starts to say were going to annihilate israel then we have to defend it but i dont expect that to be the response i expected to be proportional and i dont think israel will go and start declaring war on iran i think their cooler heads and savvier heads will prevail and we certainly would not condone a strike on iran by either saudi arabia or israel and do you worry about a war like about happening given recent events how worried are you. On strikes me as not smart and you know napoleon once and worse than a crime is a blunder and so monstrous means of learning about it king saul model his son mohammed bin. The crown prince and so i worry because he doesnt have. Is not judicious and hes not prudent and he may do things that ultimately arent even in the countrys interest which usually cause war and thats thats my concern but it would be utter folly. For him to start a direct war with iran and one last question you like many people in the west of criticize the saudi ruling family for its lack of democracy spare and see its failure to guarantee gender equality minority rights because you have to be careful what you wish for many would say that if this saudi government were to forward to be toppled from power it might just be replaced by something more extreme more brutal more and to america well i think this is the type of thinking that has gotten the United States in trouble as idea that we can somehow manage populations and install our own. Governments but i think that what would happen if we didnt intervene there would be would be a sense by the people that the United States is not a cause of their suffering or a cause of interventionism that they resent and i think having a more restrained Foreign Policy speaking out about human rights i mean if there was a change of regime in saudi arabia and they were still oppressing women or they were still committing war crimes we should continue to speak out and speak out with moral clarity but i dont think it should be we should be in the business determining regimes in Foreign Countries congressman thanks for joining me on that front thank you. Its been called saudi arabias game of thrones under the leadership of crown Prince Mohammed bin solemn on the kingdom of saudi arabia has arrested dozens of top officials from princes to ministers to officials in the armed forces in what the crown prince is calling a crackdown on corruption his government has allegedly detained both the president of yemen and the lebanese Prime Minister and theres even talk of saudi arabia joining with israel to attack iran joining me to discuss these latest middle east crises around me corey a Political Columnist author and senior fellow at the American University of beirut Shereen Hunter a Research Professor at Georgetown University and author of irans Foreign Policy in the post soviet era and from. Maryland for hardnosed a consultant with the embassy of saudi arabia in washington d. C. And International Fellow at the National Council on us our relations thank you all for joining me on up front. Let me begin with you earlier in the show i interviewed u. S. Congressman roe conn a and he said saudi crown Prince Mohammed bin psalm on m. B. s as hes known strikes him as not smart and not prudent and could be taking actions that could cause a war in the region weve already seen him fail to kind of bring qatar to heel failed to win the war in yemen why do we think that a confrontation with iran or lebanon would be anything other than a failure on his part. Well i think that Foreign Policy has actually been very consistent i think that it had to hear very closely to the laws norms and conventions of International Relations at the same time i think that. It is more than a. National. Thing much closer. To iran this is the main sponsor of terrorism in the region and in the world as well as at some of its many region with ease and others. To hold just and hold them accountable just before we married if we will get to iran and i want to talk about iran and saudi and on and the issues you raise and just to stick with whilst about in terms of recent events and m. B. s the crown prince has begun are you saying that him rounding up eleven princes and putting them under detention at the ritz carlton him threatening lebanon possibly with war iran possibly with war this hold taking eight hundred billion dollars apparently from corrupt saudi citizens thats just assertive thats what you would call it nothing more than that its not a big deal i mean i. Think. The saudi leadership. Has charted a very clear course of action for future i think they didnt do any thirty that is then add line is a broader. Economic and social reforms that. Economy and we need to. Do that by reducing the Public Sector and providing that. Succeeded because of the economy. How big a deal in your view to some of the more domestic developments in saudi arabia over the last couple of weeks well i think there are enormous real problem and saudi arabia right now that i see having lived through and reported on the arab world for the last fifty years as a journalist in the region is that. And now is bringing in the third wave of arab autocratic authoritarian rule the first one was now sort of in the fiftys the second one was gadhafi Saddam Hussein and hafez lesson in the seventys and eightys and now this is the third row of the thirst monarchy in the arab world that where the one person the current prince brings into his hands all the levers of Power MilitaryPolitical Economic religious social media and Foreign Policy this is very dangerous and the fact that hes inexperienced and young and rather reckless in his wars and in his regional events makes it even more dangerous so i think what hes doing is its almost unprecedented and its very dangerous and its i think for the region is going to let me let me put that point to shareen romney saying whats happening inside syria is unprecedented says its part of a Reform Movement but let me just say to you isnt the problem for a lot of cider of his neighbors and people and rivals in the region they dont have much credibility to criticize whats going on inside arabia if you all syria if you were to come of the people who dont like saudi arabia what are you going to lecture saudi arabia on the lack of democracy theres not much anyone can also i think that there are degrees that i have no. Love for the public i dont. Agree with their ideology and so on however there is you know you have to understand. Ron you have Different Centers of power im actually there is politics in iran and that in some ways could be said that is a major problem for you ron because they cannot. Take decisions even i think that this fight whatever people say that the Supreme Leader calls all the shots thats not true and in iran you do have parliamentary elections they are not perfect obviously they are carried out within the kind of confines of the principles of the Islamic Republic i but there has been a great tendency to buy soda east by most of the other with few exceptions of persian gulf arab states. And obviously egypt and so on and so forth to attribute all of their. Internal problems to iran i mean im sorry this i would these are the greatest sponsor of terrorism and they have been saudi ideology has destroyed the muslim world whether its just a taliban al. Qaeda and we put that point to father to respond there is a common view yes iran supports groups that are listed as terrorist groups like hamas hezbollah in the west but when it comes to quote unquote jihad or scripts the al qaeda affiliates thats really much more a saudi problem in terms of ideology and funds and you know thats a very common criticism including from members of the u. S. Government yeah and again i completely disagree with saudi arabia was was sponsoring such groups i think there would be a much bigger prize from the International Community it would come under sanctions the way that iran has and the way that as well and various groups that i dont think its by accident that iran is itself in a position does it has become an International Pariah to become isolated subject to become subject to sanctions from a host of countries around. I mean its not because the thought of the saudis lost about me but the saudis lost a pretty big vote in the u. S. Congress on monday night you talk about prize the u. S. Congress voted three hundred sixty to thirty two say that the war in yemen is not authorized that the war in yemen is starving people to the war in yemen is causing a crisis in the region up to one hundred thirty kids a day a dying in yemen as a result of a saudi led blockade and Bombing Campaign you talk about being a pariah yemen has made saudi a pariah even amongst many of its western allies generally speaking the war in yemen and began i mean its a symbol or at its at its glory end of violence again or saudi arabia was invited i received an official was from the internationally recognized. To support it. Now and there is this sets that saudi arabia. Deliver humanitarian aid and that is simply not true ok but thats what really thats what leading human Rights Groups and u. N. Humanitarian officials are saying so theyre all lying. Whereas a humanitarian aid in the form of medicine the or to the central bank. Just in the past two years it has operated very close so everythings fine in yemen people according to the worlds worst humanitarian crisis youre telling us money is getting through things are good things are going through you know thanks to the absolute. But like i said this is a war and when the rebels took up arms against the. Government of yemen it well and those. Are now so heres the situation that were hearing when the u. S. Uses drones to kill people all over the world its legal when israel bombs the hell out of gaza and the prisons ten fifteen thousand palestinians its legal when the if so does make the greatest catastrophe and yemen ever its legal when c. C. Puts forty thousand people in jail its legal its all legal its all legal according to the rules they wrote and theyre unelected unaccountable. They deal with nonparticipant thore political systems its a credible so what were dealing with is a growing fraternity of thora tarion tyrants who are now it directly linked chromosomal linked to the United States leverage their lead where does it lead romney where does it go what happens next and if thats what youre saying as well i think we can see in modern history especially in the last fifteen twenty years when the pressures build up too much on ordinary citizens they push back and so the systems that we have in the arab world and im talking about the arab world now iran turkey israel are different are building up pressure again with massive massive amounts of disparity and poverty and marginalisation and powerlessness it will manifest itself again as it did six seven years ago. With you another arab spring well well have something we dont know what it is the difficulty is when you have the American Government and the russian government and externally other powers like iran like turkey like some of the europeans actively supporting these regimes its very hard to exchange them until the pressure gets so big that they implode from without and romneys warning about kind of another arab spring another revolt whats your concern in terms of in the more in the coming weeks and months about conflict in the region are you worried about war in the region because i am worried about to be honestly im very worried about but if i might i know what i just want to say is that we have to be a little bit clear about terrorism and International Terrorism i do not consider his full life terrorist Group Hezbollah is of what if you dont want to have palestinians to have any right of course you can call anybody that supports the palestinian right or terrorists hamas in my opinion is not terrorism grammas you know what is are you aware that western governments arab weapons old man arab governments consider these groups to be terrorists but simply might does not make it right i mean if if the American Media is the loudest or the. Others have most money that doesnt make them that they are right moderately or otherwise right the fact is iran is paying the price of supporting the palestinian rights if i were to advise the iranian government i would say let the arabs resolve their own thing iran can never do right by arabs they think that saudis dont know the minute iran is cut down to side israelis are going to turn they are not going to allow us out so now im going to come back to that point and lurch as they head to members of our middle east and the interest of israel side of the bring in father moment is all but rami when i see this when you hear the kind of what when you hear sitting in lebanon perhaps when you hear the rain ian say the saudis are interfering and sponsoring terrorist groups abroad and the saudis are saying the iranians are sponsoring terrorism to meddle in the countries from a certain level on which as you said earlier has been interfered with by many other powers in the region how do people you know ordinary lebanese people and other people in the quote unquote arab street view these two regional powers both accusing each other of meddling in sovereign nations while the kind of look at it as political entertainment they read in the papers they watch on t. V. They know the reality they know that theyre both lying through their teeth they all intervene in other countries the saudis for decades and decades have been promoting hardline. Islamist doctrines all over the world the iranians have been all over the place doing whatever they can this is what countries do the iranians just do it better than the saudis thats the problem the saudis have theyre incompetent at statecraft and theyre amateurs at the plummeting the hard right now this week in the news we saw the head of the Israeli Military being interviewed by the saudi press the granting of the saudi arabia being invited by the Israeli Government to israel israel and saudi arabia cosponsoring a resolution against syria at the u. N. There does seem to be this new close alliance between saudi arabia and israel possibly driven by their shared hatred for iran. That is certainly not my reading im not aware of any official communication of any sort between saudi arabia and israel saudi arabias position on the Israeli Palestinian conflict has not changed it is still and is very much supportive of that us that your leadership president Mahmoud Abbas was just in saudi arabia a few days ago it ran it made it to us they are states pollution and that it has said that until that. Is resolved that region well that enjoy any sense so you are saying this is not an issue between saudi arabia is are you denying what were all seeing in the news every day that is that is my right just because saudi arabia and israel are concerned about. Irans very destructive oil in the region and that is that does not necessarily mean that this isnt a. Concern that its a shared concern not alliance running an alternative reading that i would offer from the region and watching these two countries and having been to both of them and followed them closely is that we have political will have been im and political zionism not religious have because im a religious judaism but political zionism and political have as im have been the two most radicalizing destructive and Destructive Forces in our region for the last seventy eighty years along with foreign militarism and out of a talker so you put those four things together and this is what we get the most violent unstable region in the world which is getting worse and worse and worse showing last minute you well i think that. What chris been some on which he seems to me frankly has one of the biggest problem he wants to march for in my his father he thinks that they have more of that is like his palace in the here and then daddy is going to do this and that is going to give him he has gone out realize that the moral is something completely different in ways that he cannot even imagine at the moment. Well after labor day were out of time for. Me thank you so much for joining me on the show thats our show up front will be back next week. Indulge your five senses. In the United States rights activists are still being targeted bad enough to make a new found a good one praising surveillance from both the police and the f. B. I. This is not law enforcement. Fault lines investigates the scope of these agencies tactics and the impact on civil society. Confidential surveilling black lives at this time on all jazzier. Palestinian leaders trying to suspend all communication with the last of it