Posted on 11/22/2018 11:17:47 AM PST by Kaslin
The 633-word statement of President Donald Trump on the Saudi royals' role in the grisly murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi is a remarkable document, not only for its ice-cold candor.
The president re-raises a question that has roiled the nation since Jimmy Carter: To what degree should we allow idealistic values trump vital interests in determining foreign policy?
On the matter of who ordered the killing of Khashoggi, Trump does not rule out the crown prince as prime suspect:
"King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder... (but) it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge."
Yet, whether MBS did or didn't do it, the Saudis have "agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States." And a full fourth of that is for "military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and other great U.S. defense contractors."
"Foolishly" cancel these contracts, warns Trump, and Russia or China will snap them up. Moreover, the Saudis have agreed to pump oil to keep prices down.
Trump is unabashedly putting U.S. economic and strategic interests first. He is not going to damage our relationship with Riyadh and its royal family, even if the future king ordered a cold-blooded killing of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist he regarded as an enemy.
The stark manner in which Trump framed the issue will force the members of Congress of both parties to decide whether they wish to defy Trump, sanction the Saudis and risk the relationship.
Other contentions in Trump's statement suggest that one of the reasons he is giving the crown prince a pass on the Khashoggi killing is that he sees MBS as an indispensable ally against our real enemy in the region.
After his introductory line, Trump goes into a tear that begins: "The country of Iran... is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen."
But is this true?
In 2015, it was on the orders of Mohammad bin Salman, then defense minister, that Saudi Arabia intervened in the civil war in Yemen, after Houthi rebels in the north overthrew a Saudi puppet and overran much of the rest of the country.
It is not Iran but Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with U.S. munitions and logistic support, whose troops, bombs and blockade are responsible for the thousands of causalities in Yemen and the millions who suffer from cholera, malnutrition and starvation.
It is not the Iranians who are trying to close the last port of entry for humanitarian aid for the suffering civilian population.
Iran, said Trump, is "propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens)... Likewise the Iranians have killed many Americans and other people throughout the Middle East."
But the cause of the 7,000 U.S. military dead in the Middle East in this century, and the 60,000 wounded, are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were launched by the United States and George Bush, not by Iran.
As for U.S. civilian casualties, the 3,000 we lost in that monstrous atrocity of 9/11 were the victims of 15 Saudi terrorists, not Iranians.
While Iran has aided its Shiite allies in Iraq, and those allies have fought Americans, the major terrorist organizations we fight today in the Near East, Middle East and Africa -- al-Qaida and its affiliates, the Taliban, ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab -- are all Sunni, like the Saudis.
These terrorist groups are Iran's enemies as well as ours.
"Our paramount goal," Trump declared in his statement, "is to fully eliminate the threat of terrorism throughout the world."
But this objective is every bit as utopian as George W. Bush's second inaugural where he declared the "ultimate goal" of U.S. foreign policy to be "ending tyranny in our world."
Terrorism and tyranny have been with mankind forever, and they will be with mankind forever.
Trump both titled and concluded his statement "America First."
And had an America First policy been pursued in this century, we would not today be tied down in these forever wars of the Middle East.
We would not have attempted to create a Western-style democracy in the wilds of Afghanistan. We would not have invaded Iraq, or attacked Libya, or armed rebels to overthrow Assad, thereby igniting a war that has cost half a million Syrian lives and made refugees of millions.
In his statement, Trump praises Saudi Arabia as a "great ally in our very important fight against Iran."
Yet, Iran has not attacked us, does not want war with us and remains in compliance with the nuclear treaty from which we walked away.
Trump is president because he promised to extricate us from the Mideast wars into which some of his closest advisers, along with some of our closest "allies," helped to plunge his country.
Is President Trump about to replicate President Bush's folly?
Heck no
Stupid question.
It’s the middle east!!!
Pat Puke. Always making trouble and fighting on the wrong side.
Somehow, the Lamestream press never notice that Khashoggi is a Muzzie terrorist.
REALPOLITIK: No permanent Allies only permanent interests.
Odd how the dominant neo-marxist media has everyone focused on SA but not on Mexico with hundreds of dead journalists.
Arabs are Arabs. They will do whatever benefits their family and tribe at the moment.
Of course not.
Don’t know how factual Buchanan’s assertions are, but I’ve not yet drawn any conclusions regarding the wisdom of our current policy. Would other countries fill the void and sell the Saudis advanced weaponry if we choose to reduce our involvement? I’m not sure Russia would if the battle in Yemen is indeed a proxy war between Iran and SA. Hard to imagine Russia would support both Iran and SA.
Would the Western European countries sell SA arms? I’m not so sure.
If anyone has any information that would clarify this for me (us), I would appreciate your sharing. All the better if you can source it.
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!
They’re dangerous as all HELL to America (and they’re continuing to use our money to recruit and train thousands of anti-Christian blood-thirsty Moslem terrorist murder gangsters ... and infiltrate them en masse into USA, Europe, UK, etc.). As part of this, the Saudi dictators fund terrorist training camps and recruitment centers (including the most antiAmerican Whahabbi type mosques)...
very very Satanic, dangerous dictators...NOT NOT NOT our friends!
“Trump is unabashedly putting U.S. economic and strategic interests first.”
This is the key point.
Saudi is an important ally against Iran and against Muslim terrorists. Trump is putting the lives of Americans ahead of the life of a Muslim Brotherhood member.
Bush was a sentimental fool who apparently believed in the virtue of the “great and the good,” VERY much to the detriment to the prospects of this country. Trump is the only guy who stepped up and he has undergone unprecedented abuse, and a lot of that has been at the hands of the allies of the wrong-minded George the Younger.
Trump is no fool, and he will turn on a dime if the Crown Prince makes the mistake of trying to screw him over. Bush was an unmitigated disaster but Trump will totally rearrange this guy’s life if this prince tries to mess him around because he will not be bound by mistakes of the past if he is still in a position to change the outcome.
“My Enemies Enemy is My Friend”
The Saudis act in self interest as do we. At this time and place our interests coincide. This is always subject to change.
It isn’t just the question of arms purchases, it’s about helping us fight against the Muslim terrorists, including Iran.
We only have one true friend in that region and even their interests don’t always line up 100% with our own. As for the rest of them, they’re all a bunch of islamist kleptocrats that can’t be trusted any farther than you can throw them. The Turks aren’t any better than the Saudis and this murdered reporter was just as unsavory as any of them.
Considering that this is a case of bad guys vs bad guys, Trump’s completely right about this. Choose the side that benefits us the most.
“We only have one true friend in that region and even their interests don’t always line up 100% with our own.”
Jordan?
Muslims are forbidden from befriending infidels.
It’s in their book.
The real answer? Yes & No.
Only as it works to their obvious benefit.
They are not known for being magnanimous or generous.
This entire Muslim invasion of Western Europe could have been avoided had the Saudi’s invited these people to move there.
The Saudi’s have acres of Tent Cities already set up, and kept empty for the last couple of years.
Display purposes only, apparently.
The video at Post 14 is Netanyahu.
It’s very very seldom I disagree with Pat.
Just cuz we see Iran as 1% more evil than SA, I don’t think that’s plunging us into a needless war.
If Iran gets bellicose, let Israel deal with it, since it’s her backyard...
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