Over the last few months, President Trump has declared himself the person who will lead the international community in eliminating Islamic terrorism. However, his cabinet, led by CIA director Mike Pompeo, has started to strengthen its collaboration with Saudi Arabia (a state sponsor of terrorism).
On Sunday, the director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo awarded Prince Mohammed, 57, with the George Tenet medal “for his counter-terrorism work.”
“excellent intelligence performance in the domain of counter-terrorism and his unbound contribution to realising world security and peace,” Pompeo said.
“The US and Saudi Arabia…have extensive ties. We have extensive challenges that we’re working on in counter-terrorism, in security, maritime security, and the whole gamut of issues,” Pompeo said.
Apparently, hypocrisy is rampant in the White House, President Trump himself once suggested that he believed that Saudi Arabia was a state sponsor of terrorism. He added:
“We are prepared to stop buying oil from Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom provides ground troops to fight Islamic State.”
Trump’s administration has also reported that they are preparing a $300m (£240m) package for precision-guided weapons technology for Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, a state sponsor of terrorism). At this point, the central question is how will Trump eradicate Islamic terrorism if he is arming those who sponsor and fund terrorism?
By collaborating with the Saudi government, Trump is indirectly funding terrorism and betraying millions of citizens who elected him to fight terrorism. Trump’s actions not only affect Americans, but also represent a global threat, particularly for Western countries.
Saudi Arabia governs based on an extreme interpretation of Sharia law (Islamic law widely compared to ISIL). The Saudi regime has also spent over $100 billion on exporting and implementing Sharia law worldwide. To succeed, it uses charitable organisations which work in refugees camps and poor communities where uneducated and oppressed people are more susceptible to become radicalised. Besides, Saudi’s elites and business community are funding terrorism through organisations such as the International Islamic Relief, an institution created to hide the illegitimate funding of terrorism from the international community. Wikileaks reported:
“…donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”
The Saudi government has shut down several charitable organisations which fund terrorism. However, the United Nations (UN) has reported several times that the Saudi government has not closed down those institutions listed by the international community as terrorists.
The U.S. intelligence services have always been aware that the Saudi regime has been collaborating with terrorist groups. In addition, it suggested that the Saudi Arabian government could have indirectly funded 9/11 (mostly perpetrated by Saudi Arabian citizens).
In conclusion, President Trump fully acknowledges that Saudi Arabia is exporting and funding terrorism worldwide. However, he is not taking any steps towards halting it. Instead, he has decided to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and the Saudi regime by keeping several businesses in operation and providing them with arms. When President Trump was elected, he said:
“I am going to unite the civilised world to fight and eliminate Islamic terrorism”
Trump had a tremendous opportunity to take a step forward in seeking the elimination of Islamic terrorism. However, he has decided to prioritise his businesses with the Saudi regime before the security of millions of citizens. After this decision, the question is: How can Trump retain his legitimacy as President?
The fight against Islamic terrorism was Trump’s central promise during the last presidential campaign. It is evident that while Saudi Arabia funds terrorism, organisations such as ISIL and Al-Qaida will continue expanding their operational capacity. While this happens any collaboration with the Saudi regime will help terrorism and, the U.S. is collaborating with them.
There are still millions of people who, regardless Trump’s political orientation, still think that he is honest because he is fulfilling all his promises. However, the facts expose the contrary and politicians should be entitled to their words. Trump won the election as the person who would change the rule of law to fight against corruption, lies and terrorism.
So far, in just three weeks Trump has divided the country to levels not seen since the 60s, kept ties with his previous businesses directly or indirectly, and he has betrayed millions of American citizens by boosting terrorism.
For now, Trump will continue making controversial and unproductive decisions while millions of citizens will try to convince him to reverse them. For that reason, it is maybe time to ask oneself: if in just three weeks Trump has made unpardonable wrong decisions, what could happen after three or four years?
Remember to be reflective and honest with yourself when seeking an answer. Until then, you may try to convince your government to stop collaborating with Saudi Arabia and therefore indirectly with terrorism. There is still light at the end of the tunnel, however, it is gradually fading. You may consider taking (peaceful) strong actions before it is too late.
-Any sort of terrorism regardless of its political orientation should be eradicated as soon as possible-
By Josep.
Josep Goded 
This might be a way to “create” the problem so you can justify doing some much more extreme in the future.
Saudi Aruba has no plan to stop sponsoring terrorism, so Trump can come out and see, this Muslim terror is worst than ever before so now we will need to……..
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Excellent summary, very useful, thanks.
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This is an interesting take on U.S. developments in the infancy of the Trump era. There are many in the U.S. who would argue that Trump’s actions since the inauguration are not surprising in any way. And many, many people are horrified at the prospects of what a full-term Trump presidency will bring. Many also wondering where principled Republican leadership is at this stage. Haven’t seen that in quite a while, but here’s hoping.
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What do you mean by “principled Republican leadership”? And what are you specifically hoping for?
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I fear the answer is that business interests are more important to Trump than terrorism or
pretty much any other issue.
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To be fair, every President since the 1980s has kowtowed to Saudi Arabian interests, some will argue it goes as far back as the 1950s. I was hoping that the shale revolution would slowly wean the US off of Saudi dependence but that’s wrong. The Saudis have learned that as long as they can keep oil prices above $45/barrel and below $100/barrel (above this price the US producers become relevant), they can still dominate the global market with their easily accessible light sweet crude oil. Trump and his predecessors have always feared that the Saudis would align closely with China and Russia if the US ever started condemning terrorist Saudi policies and funding. Talk about sleeping with the devil.
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Interesting points. If you ever write a post about it, I’d like to read it.
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Terrorism (aka war) is a business interest…. providing weapons/incentives to all “sides” thus makes financial sense in this world.
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With regard to the military industrial complex, yes–however, in certain instances, I’d argue there’s more to it than just that.
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Interesting point of view, but you didn’t balance your post with the good things he has done. I, too, am skeptical as to why Saudi Arabia wasn’t put on the list of countries prohibited from entering the United States, but if we stop to think about it a bit more, we’d realize that Saudi Arabia is different from those seven nations. Simply put, it’s a paradox for U.S. counter terrorism. Unlike Iran’s explicit state-sponsored backing of terrorism, Saudi Arabia is far more difficult to assess.
Although what the government has done doesn’t absolve it of responsibility, much of the terrorism that originates from there is mostly committed by non-state actors. Furthermore, the unsustainable financial decline of its oil production is predicted to have serious ramifications on the U.S. dollar–not to mention that Saudi Arabia holds $117 billion dollars of U.S. debt and over $750 billion dollars in assets.
On one front, Trump is safeguarding Americans from potential economic collapse, while on another he’s protecting them from radical terrorists.
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I think the author is Anti-Trump and Anti-Republican. That’s why he didn’t balance it out.
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I’m aware of that, and it’s all right. He follows me; I follow him. We’re open to each other’s point of view, which is evident by the fact that he’s already approved many of my comments.
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“How can Trump retain his legitimacy as President?” He has no legitimacy. Period. Trump is not protecting America or Americans in any way. He makes the world more dangerous every minute he’s in office. Him and his Legion of Doom.
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Interesting thoughts, Josep. However, the US has been bosum buddies with Saudi Arabia since the 1990s under Bush I. Frankly, I don’t see this changing until the establishment realizes that Saudi Arabia is just as bad as Iran.
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