Trump’s Statement on Saudi Arabia, Explained!
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump released an exclamation point-filled statement Tuesday about the assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. It took him some time to get to Khashoggi. But bear with it. The statement is a fascinating journey into the mind of the president. Trump, when he is not obfuscating, is sometimes startlingly transparent about why he makes decisions.
Posted — UpdatedWell, indeed it is! But not so dangerous, perhaps, that one should expect to be assassinated in a consulate while going to collect paperwork for a wedding.
Trump, here, is trying to remind the public who the United States’ real enemy is. Hint: It is not Saudi Arabia. Riyadh’s strong support for the Trump administration’s hard line on Iran is a prime reason that the White House has maintained support for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.
The Iranian government has been prone to shout the equivalent of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” But officials say Iranian terrorist activity is down recently. Tehran is seeking to keep Europe on board with the 2015 nuclear deal, from which the Trump administration withdrew.
Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen is a humanitarian disaster that has created the worst famine the country has seen. Despite calls from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for a cease-fire, Saudi Arabia has stepped up its military operations. The Saudi military’s lack of discipline and planning in its airstrikes has resulted in high numbers of civilian casualties, according to U.S. officials. Regional experts say the Trump administration’s most decisive action against Saudi Arabia so far has been to cut off aerial refueling flights for Riyadh’s military campaign in Yemen.
This is a prime example of Trump’s brutally transactional foreign policy. He is supporting Saudi Arabia because he thinks it is critical for the United States’ defense industry. Saudi Arabia spends huge amounts on its military, and the United States is a beneficiary. However, the president’s numbers are exaggerated. Trouble in the Saudi economy has led the government to slow roll some of the pledges to buy high-ticket items, including the missile defense system known as THAAD.
Baloney! The Saudis cannot hang a Russian or Chinese bomb on U.S.-built F-15s or Apache gunships. They don’t fit. Won’t work. Saudi Arabia has heavily invested in U.S.-made and NATO-standard weapons. Where do you get munitions and spare parts for those planes and helicopters? The United States.
Here, at last, we get to Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and Virginia resident who was assassinated last month in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The Trump administration’s sanctions have mostly targeted the members of the Saudi team who traveled to Turkey to kill Khashoggi. Interestingly, the administration’s list included Saud al-Qahtani, a top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed, but it did not include Ahmed al-Assiri, a former deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service, who Saudi officials said masterminded the plot to confront Khashoggi in the consulate Oct. 2.
Trump is repeating some of the phrases that the Saudi government has used to discredit Khashoggi. The president is pointedly not rebutting those claims, just saying his decision is not based on them. Arguably, he is being a bit backhanded.
Who knows! Can we ever really know what happened behind closed doors? Trump is clearly waiting for the kind of evidence shown on television: a recording of the crown prince giving the order or a confession of one of the kill team members. But former intelligence officers say that is not how it works. The puzzle pieces are never all present. Even without the smoking gun, enough evidence has emerged for CIA officials to conclude that Prince Mohammed gave the order, according to current and former officials.
Remember who the bad guy is here! Another hint: It is not Prince Mohammed.
Other presidents have often shied away from talking about what lies at the heart of the strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia — oil production and low gas prices. Not Trump. And, surprising as it may seem, he is correct about the United States being the world’s largest oil producer.
In 1979, William Safire, the New York Times columnist and former presidential speechwriter, offered readers some sage advice: “Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!!”
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