How Come Saudi Arabia Gets the Royal Treatment?
When Donald Trump arrived in Riyadh, King Salman knew just how to handle him. Trump had been correctly sized up as a Know-Nothing and the Saudi King used that knowledge to exploit Trump's ignorance. Knowing Donald Trump is clueless about the history of Saudi Arabia's Sharia Law and Wahhabism or the barbarism brought to mind when those two concepts are employed to manage a population, the Saudi Royal family kept Trump's mind focused on one thing. Business. Trump was kept so focused on doing a "Big Deal", he had no idea, nor cared for that matter, who or what he was dealing with.
Had Donald Trump paid attention to his daily intelligence briefings, he'd have known to place conditions on the sale of America's most sophisticated weapons systems. He'd have wanted to know who'd be using them, where they'd be used and for what propose. Trump would have been concerned that elements within Saudi Arabia were secretly funding ISIS and other extremist groups throughout the region. Donald Trump should have been worried those weapons could fall into the wrong hands. But if Donald Trump was really paying attention, he'd have realized, Saudi Arabia was the wrong hands.
While most U.S. politicians and U.S. domestic media outlets have done a thorough job painting Iran as the region's boogyman and state sponsor of terror, Donald Trump failed to get or read the memo on Saudi Arabia. Whether the Saudis are funding a lot of the madness or its homegrown extremist views are fueling it, one thing is for sure; Saudi Arabia is a silent partner in a lot more terrorist activities than many are willing to acknowledge. In fact, Saudi Arabia's particular brand of Islam is spreading like a wildfire. From Northern Africa to Southeast Asia, Wahhabi inspired fanatics are joining the ranks of ISIS and al-Qaeda everyday. Duel suicide bombings have gone off in Indonesia last week and they're raising ISIS flags in the Philippines this weekend.
If Donald Trump had only taken a moment to review Saudi Arabia's record on human rights, women's rights, religious rights, free speech and a free press, he'd have realized those rights don't exist. In fact, even to challenge the Saudi Kingdom on any of these rights is punishable by death or at the very least, a long prison sentence. When it comes to American values, the United States should be diametrically opposed to Saudi Arabia on every issue, including who to fight in the so-called war against terror. Yet with everything we know and suspect about the Saudis, Donald Trump gave the Kingdom a Royal Pass.
Still, to be fair, even former president Barack Obama offered the Saudis an arms deal worth $115 billion USD. And that deal was at a time when the Saudis were being accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen. When international observers reported women, children and other non-combatants were being killed by Saudis using U.S. munitions, the Obama administration barely acknowledged the issue let alone vigorously condemned it. For some odd reason, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed bipartisan support and protection in Washington D.C. and always has. Save for Israel, Saudi Arabia is the only U.S. ally that enjoys this unique level of support and protection.
Bottom line: For decades, Americans have been convinced that Iran was the horrible beast in the Middle East. Americans were told, it was Tehran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, spending his nights planning and plotting death to Americans and the West. Up until now, Americans have been led to believe Iranians were the world's leading purveyors of Islamic extremism and terrorist activities, when in reality, Saudi Arabia fits that descriptor more than any other country on the planet. And that's why continued U.S. support for Saudi Arabia remains an unsolvable mystery. Podcast below.
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