Perspective on the Saudis
Needed ally
When Americans elected Donald J. Trump as president of the United States, they hired a pragmatic businessman to run the country.
Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and permanent U.S. resident, native to Saudi Arabia, was allegedly murdered in a blatant and brutal fashion by the Saudi government, and the civilized world expressed outrage over our president’s initial reaction to this event.
President Trump acted as a businessman. His first concern was to protect the deal rather than to seek the moral high ground, and he was roundly condemned for taking such a stance. In Trump’s view, there is no practical equivalence between the fate of Khashoggi and the value of maintaining a relationship with the Saudis financially and in line with the aid they bring to containing our avowed enemies in the Middle East. The Saudis today, after their brutal treatment of Khashoggi, are no different from the Saudis in the days prior to that infamous act and no different from the Saudis we have been in bed with since 1932. Throughout our history we have held our collective noses and dealt with devils around the globe.
I wonder if those who now express outrage over Trump wanting to maintain the alliance for practical reasons would have taken the same position when President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Britain’s Winston Churchill, and France’s Charles de Gaulle allied with the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin to fight the Nazis, After all, “Uncle Joe” was known to be one of the most prolific killers in history, but without his aid the Third Reich might still be in power. I do not personally condone the actions of the Saudis, but I don’t see how we can operate on the global stage without dealing with them and others much like them. It’s always easier to be holier than thou when you have no skin in the game. Rick Fontes, Waller