The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Trump – ‘We are not here to tell people how to live’
United States: President calls for help in tackling ‘Islamic extremism’
US President Donald Trump has implored Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries to extinguish “Islamic extremism” emanating from the region.
Mr Trump described the situation as a “battle between good and evil” rather than a clash between the west and Islam.
In a pointed departure from his predecessor, the US president all but promised he would not publicly admonish Middle Eastern rulers for human rights violations and oppressive reigns.
“Every nation has a duty to ensure terrorists find no quarter on their soil”
“We are not here to lecture – we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be or how to worship,” Mr Trump said, speaking in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“Instead, we are here to offer partnership, based on shared interests and values, to pursue a better future for us all.”
The address was the centrepiece of the president’s two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his swearing-in.
For Mr Trump, the trip is a reprieve from the controversies that have marred his young presidency and an attempt to reset his relationship with a region and a religion he fiercely criticised. During the 2016 US campaign, Mr Trump mused about his belief that “Islam hates us”.
Yesterday, however, standing before dozens of regional leaders, he said Islam was “one of the world’s great faiths”.
While running for the job he now holds, Mr Trump criticised President Barack Obama for not using the term “radical Islamic extremism” and said that refusal indicated Mr Obama did not understand America’s enemy.
In his Saudi speech, Mr Trump condemned “Islamic extremism”, “Islamists” and “Islamic terror”, but not once uttered the precise phrase he pressed Mr Obama on.
He made no mention of the disputed travel ban, signed days after he took office, that temporarily banned immigration to the US from seven majority Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Both the original order and a second directive that dropped Iraq from the banned list have been blocked by the courts.
Mr Trump offered few indications of whether he planned to shift US policy to better fight terrorism.
There were no promises of new financial investment or announcements of increased US military presence in the region.
The president put much of the onus for combating extremists on Middle East leaders: “Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities.” Mr Trump’s remarks came in a meeting with regional leaders who gathered in Riyadh for a summit with the president and Saudi King Salman.
The king has lavished all the trappings of a royal welcome on the new American president, welcoming in particular Mr Trump’s pledge to be tougher on Iran than Mr Obama was.