I guess the context we need here is whether or not Alaska had indicated, prior to booking, to the flyer that the fares he or she booked for those international flights in question would accrue EQMs. In that case, which seems unlikely, then the OP has a legit gripe.

However it seems more likely that the OP was the beneficiary of a "bank error" type thing, in which case AS was totally right to take away the EQMs and status. Perhaps they could have handled comms a bit better afterwards, but it might not have made any difference if OP was already steamed at the removal.

OP, please enlighten us...