Having lived in Saudi Arabia for four of the last 7 years, I can tell you that no one considers the country an ally in any meaningful way. The Saudis are like the Soviets in WWII - allies only because the Nazis were worse than the Soviets. Saudi, for all its many faults, is less dangerous than Iran, and the Saudis are useful to the U.S. (and not because of oil).
The main reason for maintaining this relationship is to keep our military in the region. Oil, foreign military sales, these are minor considerations. And the Saudis will continue to behave outrageously, and not just the Khashoggi situation. Far more worrisome is the way the Saudi government assists its citizens by helping them avoid prosecution in the U.S. for manslaughter, hit and run, rape, and other criminal acts. The Saudi government actively assists in providing fake passports and transportation for its citizens in the U.S., and then refuses to extradite them to face criminal prosecution.
At each stop, Mr. Pompeo has talked about the importance of countering Iran,...
So Pompeo is not a diplomat but prepares another war.
Now that the US have some free resources and the president is in deep trouble.
And no, I do not believe a second, that the US or Pompeo has a problem with the murders or the war crimes of MbS as long as MbS and the kingdom purchase weapons in the US.
So this is just a media game, pretend to be talking about an issue that needs to be addressed but in the end no one cares about responsibility.
Just compare the US reactions to what happens when someone else is assumedly killed by a government that does not buy weapons and apartments in bulk from a US government and the private company of its corrupt president.
"... said Hussein Ibish, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “There’s a narrative that a dictatorship is emerging where there was once a monarchy,” he said. “This is a very, very damaging narrative.”
Mr. Ibish seems to think that there was no dictatorship in Saudi Arabia. Does he think that the monarchy in Saudi Arabia was like that of Holland, Belgium or England?
The monarchy in Saudi Arabia was dictatorial before MBS and is now and will be until it is no longer there. The only thing that has changed is that more is now brought to light.
1
Pompeo:
We really got intense. I pressed the Khashoggi matter and was told in no uncertain terms, it's their considered opinion the man is still dead.
We now consider the matter closed.
Great to feel great again, isn't it?
Pompeo is just a big round rubber stamp for anything the prince or the prez wants said. Torture, war crimes, murders, imprisonment and worse for any woman that stands for human rights, .....boy, those republican senators sure stood tall ....for about ten seconds. Shame
With reference to SA, Pompeo says: “That’s their obligation, the same way mine is to act in America’s best interests,” when it appears that what he, Trump and Kushner are up to with MBS is aligning their fictitious excuses regarding the Khashoggi murder, their genocide in Yemen, and dreaming up pretexts for a war against Iran. Although these may be MBS's interests, they are not those of the American people or our nation's strategic allies. Add to the list of grievances being ignored, and possibly abetted, by the Trump administration - the spiriting away of Saudi's who are under arrest for felonies, including homicide, on American soil: https://www.scribd.com/document/396479191/Wyden-letter-Noorah
https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/01/gone-more-cases-emerge-of-saudi-students-vanishing-while-facing-oregon-charges.html
1
I think our Secretary is doing his best under the circumstances.
I have not watched his Riyadh press briefing but he is right to defer public cleaning of the laundry - so to speak - over this reported murder.
As to the Saudi activitsts - female and male.
I have this to say.
Saudi Arabia has millions of foreign workers - most of them unskilled laborers who get trained there. But they also include servants for many Saudi families - drivers, cooks and maids.
I lived in Kuwait and Qatar over six years.
I had met many of these servants, often at churches and gatherings with fellow expats. And for a few of them - it is a horrible way to earn a paycheck - that goes to support their own families back home.
As employers of servants - Saudis have very little to fear from law - because none exists.
So, abuse of these poor folks is common - especially maids.
So, when these Saudi activists demand justice - I hope they also include these forgotten folks - who probably toil in their homes.
How can the Times, or any media outlet, claim that Pompeo pressed Saudi Arabia on the Khashoggi murder? Remember, it was Pompeo who virtually boasted that he didn't need to listen to the tape of Khashoggi's last minutes of life. And he has frequently stated that SA is a key and valued ally in the Middle East, even if it is systematically destroying the nation of Yemen.
It would be more likely that Pompeo sat down with MBS in private and said something along the line of "whew, that was close."
33
@Paul Bernish: Happily, not too many of our "allies" subsidize clerics who preach jihad against the West.
2
Mr. Pompeo said at the Monday news conference that both the prince and his father, King Salman, acknowledged in separate meetings at the palace that the Saudi government needed to show accountability for the murder.
“Wink, wink, nudge, nudge”
The only " pressing " was the cash into the Bagmans Hands.
Grow up. Please.
4
It is frightening when I have more faith in a blowhard, militaristic blowhard like Pompeo than I do in the POTUS. Just devastating.
2
Pompeo was first in his class at West Point and graduated Harvard Law -- I just don't see any intellect in this man.. He's just another Trump lackey - another Kris Kristie ..
4
Evangelical Christian nationalism can poison even the finest mind, if you let it. Pompeo drank the whole punch-bowl of Kool Aid.
5
And how exactly did Pompeo "press" them as the article's first paragraph claims? And what objective sources back this as opposed to political hacks trying to spin the narrative?
2
Please be more attentive, New York Times. This headline simply repeats the State department's press release for US audiences. You know, we know, that Pompeo did not "press" the murderous prince any more than he knew in advance that his boss was about to threaten Turkey with massive economic sanctions if it acted against the Kurds.
Words matter. In the absence of verification, the headline should state: Pompeo claims he pressed Saudi leader on etc....
4
I can hear Trumps guy right now. “So Prince how you been? Don’t worry, D said to just come visit, do the stern looking faces, assure you everything fine and go home. “ Then when I get home and are asked what went on I’ll tell them you didn’t do nottin! But I did ask.
1
In magical realism one
could place Trump, the Saudi
royalty, the Russian leadership
and other dictatorships into
Ancient Rome where their actions
would be the expected norm.
The power to wage indiscriminate
war, take slaves, murder at will....
Is there any hope for humans?
1
Mr Pompeo declared the following in his Cairo speech:
"This trip is especially meaningful for me as an evangelical Christian, coming so soon after the Coptic Church’s Christmas celebrations. This is an important time. We’re all children of Abraham: Christians, Muslims, Jews. In my office, I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and His Word, and The Truth."
Has he said the same thing to Mohamed Bin Salman and his father? After all, Saudi Arabia prohibits Christianity from being practiced in the open, and prohibits the building of churches and synagogues...and disallows non Muslims from going to Mecca...and are discriminated against? Has Mr Pompeo used his evangelism to press for a change?
Has he asked for the "Truth" from the Saudis as to the murder of the journalist, and about the political prisoners?
The hypocrisy is stunning. What a shameless "evangelical"!
Just a thought.
2
So, he's going to say, "Bad Saudis", and they're all going to pretend like that's all good now, civil rights abuse, wars, murder of a US citizen in an embassy at the order of the Crown Prince - all good.
1
After the speech Mr Pompeo gave in Cairo in which he declared his love for Middle East dictators, Mr Pompeo pressing Saudi Arabia for human rights is akin to an arsonist offering his help to fight the fire he sets.
3
Trump says we have a crisis on our border, and is preparing to declare a national emergency.
Why isn't this useless Secretary of State in Mexico City negotiating with Lopez Obrador?
1
Kabuki theatre for the rubes does not make a just foreign policy.
Doesn't Saudi Arabia have tens of thousands of princes?
Aren't there some that have not committed human rights abuses nor been advocates of genocidal warfare?
Wouldn't the Saudi regime collapse without US support and protection?
Couldn't we insist they try to modernize to at least the 18th or 19th century?
At some point you have to rein in spoiled behavior, especially when it's murderous.
1
We might start by asking to find 'the remains', this would help answer some who, what, why, when and how issues relating to the murder in question. Then again, the fact that we back a nation where 15 of 19 terrorists of 911 came from, against a nation that has never invaded anyone, fights ISIS, are most often victims rather then perp's of suicide bombings and terrorist acts; and hates us just for removing their first democratically elected president for our man, 'the Shah, and objecting to our funding of one of the longest occupations of an entire Palestinian people in modern history.... speaks volumes.
It wasn't Iran that funded and created the Taliban and al Qaeda. The Saudis spent over $100 billion exporting Saudi-Wahhabism throughout the Sunni Muslim world. It wasn't Iran that outfitted and armed ISIL It wasn't Iranians who attacked the US on 911. It isn't Iran that is continually bombing Shiite mosques, marketplaces, schools and hospitals. The terrorism facing the world has Saudi Arabia's fingerprints all over it.
16
Did anyone witness Pompeo 'pressing' Prince MBS on human rights, like torture and murder? No. If he even brought up the subject he did it is the most apologetic terms. MBS's Answer:
“Their commitment was that the process, the lawful judicial process here, would take place,” Lawful judicial process being whatever the Price wants.
5
At least, Mr Pompeo tried. Give credit, where credit is due!
Besides, how much pressing could he really do, given America’s own stellar record of war crimes and human rights abuses in the not-so-distant past and an even dismal record at home for championing equality for all.
But one thing America does have is a free press or what’s left of it when the Republicans are thru.
Let’s hope this is proof enough to the masses that a change is warranted at the top to fix this whole mess, or at least, some semblance of normalcy, starting in 2020.
1
Isn’t that his job? What credit is he due? How about Khashoggi what credit is due him his family? I give nothing to people who work for the Liar and follow his lead. I bet Pompeii is getting his pay this week.
1
@Truther
Free press? The Republican Party has morphed in to a fascist organization and the press totally ignores it. When was the last time you even saw the word fascism used in American media reporting or opinions? Ignoring the rise in fascism in the US is like pretending slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War.
1
@Elly. Well it certainly is for people who understand and respect such ‘mundane’ things as the constitutition, rule of law or even deign to have morals and integrity. In the current Admin, where greed and big money is King, expecting lip service for these ideals can be a TALL order.
The same Pompeo who gave a speech in Cairo in which he basically declared his love for Middle East dictators is supposedly all of sudden a supporter of Human rights in Saudi Arabia?
11
I don't care about Saudi Arabia and our relationship. I don't care about Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran either.
I love Jewish people and had a great week in Tel Aviv but Israel can start fending for themselves.
There isn't a single good thing that comes out of our involvement in the Middle East.
Pivot to Asia
4
I am not a Jewish person. I am a Jew. Substitute the word Christian and you may see how insulting that sounds.
Why do you love me? Certainly not due to my ethnicity. And spiritually I am a Buddhist.
As an American ethnic Jew I have no use for Zionism nor the Israeli military dictatorship. However pivoting to Asia and bringing war and conflagration there makes zero sense to me. Anyway, Israel is in Asia.
1
Is talking about the murder of Khashoggi really just asking the Crown Prince to please lie to us again for the 100th time and tell us he had nothing to do with it? Or are we asking him to make a show of it and punish more of his “royal subjects” rather than fessing up to his ordering of the murder?
Is Pompeo going to be satisfied with hearing that the Saudis will make sure their “lawful judicial process” will be applied to women’s rights activists currently being imprisoned and tortured in Saudi prisons? I hope Pompeo accepts nothing less that securing the release of Loujain al-Houthlal, including letting her leave the Kingdom.
The fundamental issue is that our “ally” the Crown Prince does not believe all people are equal. Too bad Khashoggi! Too bad Loujain al-Houthlal! Too bad Yemeni children being bombed and starved to death by his war!
14
No doubt pressed the evil prince very very hard....
5
It's like 'The Crusades' never ended....
The US and Israel are in lockstep to maintain control of the Mideast, and the subjugation of Muslims....
Why? Because of Saudi oil, and to continue to dominate the region, to the sorrow of the Palestinians.
Iran, of course, is being setup to take a big hit.... at the end of this disgraceful road will be a US/Israeli led invasion of Iran.
Obama tried to move beyond. But, again, filthy greed, oil, and the vilification of Muslims wins the day.
6
Words are cheap, are they not? Pompeo, under pressure, needed to "question" Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince. But it will go no further. The administration boasted transparency. Well, that it has...in the form of blatant hypocrisy. It does not care one wit for a brutally slain journalist or the genocide through violence and starvation of innocent Yemenis. It is all about greed. Aligning oneself with ruthless dictators is irrelevant in the minds of the weak and corrupt.
4
Mr. Pompeo, if you really have the guts, as the U.S. power over the Saudis remains obvious, is to demand justice...by refusing to maintain relations and support of a criminal regime...unless and until prince Salman is replaced by the King...with a sensible human being that will think twice before trampling on human lives at his pleasure (witness Jamal Khashoggi's despicabe dismemberment after the kill). This, besides the awful ongoing Saudi stance in belittling half it's population, women.
6
Does anyone else seriously doubt that Pompeo pressed anything of any substance with the Saudi's that didn't have to do with DJT's self interest??
8
Considering the warmth expressed by our president toward the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Russia, both of whom seem to have management responsibility for the political murder of journalists, I have to wonder how far he would be willing to go, too. And for the sake of economic stability, is everyone supposed to simply act polite and blame some people lower down the totem pole?
2
The Oregonian just ran an article about 5 separate Saudi men attending college around the state, accused of various serious crimes including rapes, DUI, vehicular manslaughter and child pornography.
These men all were able to flee the country on bail, apparently with the assistance of their country, even without their passports which had been confiscated. One had his ankle bracelet cut off not long before boarding a private jet. He killed a 15 year old girl driving recklessly. Undoubtedly other examples exist.
There are roughly 44,000 Saudi nationals that attend college in the US yearly. These are very privileged men (mostly). Our laws mean little to some of them. There is no extradition agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia. That would be a deterrent to bad behavior.
18
@Nick Benton
Right, just read this in our Bend Bulletin. I don't recall Trump mentioning these criminals in his anti-immigration tirade last week. sad!
8
@Nick Benton
If your Crown Prince orders dismembering of a US resident and then the US Secretary of State goes to Riyadh shaking hand and exchanging big smiles with him, do you think Saudi men should have any respect for the US government or the US law?
7
Saudi Arabia's core competence is check writing. It's the heartland of Sunni terrorism, a petrostate with a population that expects cushy government sinecure while the work is done by immigrants. It has spent zillions on fancy weapons but doesn't seem to be able to deal with a few tribesmen in Yemen. Their government is more repressive and less democratic than even Iran. Why Trump is building his middle east policy around them is beyond me.
10
@Sennj
The answer to your question is in the following questions:
1. How likely is it for Trump Organization to open a Trump hotel, a Trump tower, or a Trump golf course in Tehran?
2. How likely is it that someone from the Iranian diplomatic corps uses a Trump hotel, a Trump tower, or a Trump golf course in Washington or anywhere else?
8
"Pompeo Presses Saudi Crown Prince on War, Murder and Diplomatic Rifts"
Yeah. Right. I am sure it was a real grilling. Or maybe we can redefine the word "pressing" to mean tossing softball questions that allow a person to easily dodge or deflect any kind of truthful answer.
Like Donald Trump telling the world last year that he thought Vladimir Putin was being truthful regarding election interference.
I remember how hard Mike Pompeo was on Hillary Clinton when he was a House member questioning her on Benghazi. He was relentless. With MSB. . . not so much.
19
I gather that the young Saudi woman who was given sanctuary in Canada never even bothered to request it from the United States. That, plus our own government's endless efforts to cozy up to the nest of vipers in Riyadh, pretty well sums up how far our country has fallen as an alleged bastion of human rights.
11
Mike Pompeo owes his political career to the Koch Ind.
The same Koch Ind. who developed the "Koch Method" of illegally avoiding US sanctions on Iran.
20
Pompeo: Were you responsible for the murder?
Crown Prince: No.
Pompeo: Okay, we're good! Need more bombs to obliterate Yemeni children?
Crown Prince; Sure. Why not?
32
Yet no one lectured Saudi Arabia about 911. They only thing they got were special flights taking them out of the United States so they wouldn't have to answer any questions.
19
@Hellen True! This very paper deleted a story about the US flying a member of the bin laden family out of the US. The only place you can see this story is an actuaql hard copy of the NYT!
4
SA doesn't have a US flag? Insult on top of human rights violations. "To press" would require ceasing arms sales.
Shame and blood on US.
4
Pompeo is swimming upstream against a strong current. Our standing in the Middle East is so damaged by this administration’s actions - withdrawal from the Iran agreement, withdrawal from Syria, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, Trump’s numerous transactional statements about our role in the World, claiming the defeat of ISIS, betrayal of the Kurds, loss of moral leadership, alienation from European allies to name a few - that we can now be completely led by the nose by the numerous other players, none of which have our best interests in mind: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt....
27
@Don
I vehemently agree with most of your comment except for the last sentence . . . "we can now be completely led by the nose by the numerous other players, none of which have our best interests in mind: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt.... "
If Trump operates as if he does not have our best interests in mind, why would or should any other country?
8
The fact that Putin and MBS’s smiling handshake in front of the whole world went unchallenged by this administration is very unsettling. I have virtually no confidence in Mike Pompeo. He appears to be a Trump loyalist who serves Trump instead of the American people. Jarred’s relationship with MBS is extremely troubling as well.
100
@Javaforce minus the adverbs, I agree.
2
@Javaforce
Yes, indeed. Isn't that interesting that no one in the US mainstream media did hazard a guess - at least not publicly - on what Putin's high-five with Muhammed Bin Salman actually meant!
I don't think those in the US media have much difficulty coming up with reasonable speculations about that highly unusual event. But when the most plausible explanation of the event is too painful to ponder, unconsciously one's brain switches off and avoids to think about it.
Yes, it is truly painful to think that the two brutal dictators were congratulating each other for managing to install a puppet government in Washington.
10
@Javaforce This is exactly what you'd expect from Putin puppets Trump and Pompeo.
8
Where do we get off lecturing anyone else about how to treat people?
5
Maybe I'm giving the Individual-1 administration more credit than they are really capable of, but could Pompeo and MBS have been discussing the invasion of Iran? We are ceding Syria to Russia (and Iran). If we attack Iran I doubt Iraq would want his staging bombing runs from their country. That kind of leaves Jared's best friend MBS as our ally of choice for this attack.
6
In December Trump said publicly that Iran could have Syria, since that country was useless in the eyes of the USA. So what the heck are you talking about an invasion?
3
@Beyond Repair: Have you been reading the stories about John Bolton? This administration doesn't need an excuse to attack Iran. Once Netanyahu gives the go-ahead The Donald will be all in.
11
@KO The muted reaction of Netanyahu to abandoning Syria, the swirl of activity by Bolton and Pompeo, Matis being pushed out two months earlier, reducing our footprint in areas where we’re vulnerable to Iran, Bolton pushing the pentagon for war plans, can only mean that an attack on Iran is Trump next move. It is also the ONLY option he has to rally support and escape impeachment or indictment . A war.
9
It is becoming more obvious year by year that the adults in the Middle East are the Iranians. With newly discovered fields, they even have more oil and gas than the Saudis, and they certainly have a vastly larger and better educated population. The older Iranians hate us, but the younger ones admire us and want friendship. Europe and Asia seem to be supporting trade with Iran. Someday the US and KSA may find themselves alone.
24
If there's one thing for sure that Pompeo didn't do while in Saudi Arabia it was to press the royal family for information about the killing of Khashoggi.
Pompeo is Trump's lap dog and he not going to anger anybody that's putting money in his pocket.
41
@BTO. Why should he ask about one connected and wealthy journalist? No questions were asked about their role in the thousands killed on September 11.
6
Asking MBS for a “credible narrative” for the murder of Jamal Kashoggi is hardly pressing. That’s like asking him for a lie that Trump can repeat. What’s Mike going to do next, tickle MBS until he says uncle?
25
The Trump Administration has waited so long to confront the Prince that it is a sure bet the Prince understands this is just an empty gesture of no real consequence.
31
The only "pressing" Pompeo did was was his smiling handshake as he welcomed MBS into Trump's best-friend circle of killers, dictators and autocrats.
49
As they say, "show me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are." Friends Trump & Co have tells a lot...
46
Let me get this straight. Mr. Pompeo is meeting with Mr. Bone Saw and expects accountability. OK - you can't make this stuff up! Good Luck.
36
@B. George
With all due respect, I believe the correct title is Crown Prince Bone Saw.
3
Pompeo has always been a yes boy. He did the bidding for the party when he was in Congress and promoted himself as a straight shooter but his methodology has always been Pompeo.
23
Stability? Like the wind of lies that Trump is sending the Kurds?
16
Good grief, this administration is as two-faced as it gets. On one hand, "Mr. Trump has voiced his backing of Prince Mohammed" but on the other hand, "Mike Pompeo met . . . on Monday with the aim of pressing the prince on a range of thorny issues — including war, murder and diplomatic rifts."
What is this - good cop/bad cop? There doesn't seem to be one member in the entire Trump den of dopes who are either on the same page or can sing the same tune.
My head continues to spin like a top, just trying to keep up.
32
The Arab countries should expel ambassadors of America from all Arab and Islamic countries, the alliance with Russia and China and the sale of oil in Chinese yuan
3
Let's build a wall around the ME, stop food shipments into that patch of desert, and watch it blowing itself up. - Is this what you're suggesting?
1
Mr. Pompeo, as they say talk is cheap. Actions, not words, impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia, similar to Iran. Neither country is our friend. The Saudis have taken advantage of the U.S. for decades because of our thirst and need for oil.
We are self producing sufficient supplies now, we don't need them, they need us. Sanctions will do more to reign in this murderer that chit chat.
22
Pompeo is a professional liar just like his boss. Why should we believe anything he says about what he discussed with MBS?
55
How would The Onion report the irony of the USA attempting to lecture KSA about torture, human rights and not engaging in offensive military actions that cause humanitarian crises? Some headline about Pots and Kettles no doubt.
17
The article failed to mention the million Ametican jobs that President Pinocchio promised his wonderful $110 billion arms deal with the Saudis would create... any day now.
It is hard to imagine another "ally" from which a team of 18 would be sent to the US to hijack and fly airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing 3,000, after which members of the royal family would be spirited out of the country and investigations into government connections would remain classified.
It is hard to imagine another "ally" funding the global spread of a radical fundamentalist form of Islam among moderate Muslim communities.
It is hard to imagine helping such an "ally" brutally attack another country, slaughtering busloads of school kids with our precision guided bombs and creating a vast humanitarian crisis.
And it is hard to imagine an American President deliberately and publicly ignoring the intelligence of his own CIA regarding the the poorly concealed execution of a journalist by government agents.
And the Saudis are the #1 competitor for the Trump energy dominance campaign, throwing open all of our coastline and the Arctic to drilling.
There are many mysteries in this "friendship" with the Saudi Royals.
119
@Look Ahead
As your post illustrates, it's not a mystery at all. The U.S. - Saudi relationship exists at the highest level of global money and power with oil on one side and the MIC on the other. Murders, 9/11, unending religious violence, human rights -- none of that matters one whit in comparison.
19
@Look Ahead
The Saudis are merely expecting an American Israeli ally pass to spread murder and mayhem with immunity and impunity.
The Saudis have fossil fuel reserves that they use to buy American arms.
While 80% of the world's 16 million Jews are evenly divided between America. And Israel does not buy nor pay for their American arms.
The American Israel Lobby and the American Oil Lobby shred American interests and values.
2
What are words worth without action? The U.S. is Saudi Arabia's most powerful partner and Saudi Arabia is--by far--the biggest foreign recipient of American-made weapons and military gear, according to a database compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. could end Saudi Arabia's criminal war of genocide on Yemen; end the Saudi blockade of Qatar (which Trump backed); pressure the Saudi's to support the human rights of its citizens and guest workers, come clean on the Khasoggi murder, and release political prisoners like Loujain al-Houthlal. Pompeo has been complicit in supporting this regime. What accountability is he talking about?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/world/middleeast/yemen-us-saudi-civilian-war.html
https://sipri.org/search/node?keys=Saudi+Arabia
70
@Ann-The United States had access to records of every Saudi airstrike over Yemen since the early days of the war, including the warplane and munitions used. These strikes are guided by U.S. intel and bombs are dropped by U.S. warplanes sold to the Saudis. The Saudi-led air war has resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has put 12 million at risk of starving. The Saudis have repeatedly ignored requests for restraint from the U.S while manipulating Trump, Kushner, Tillerson and Pompeo in meetings before the cameras.
Arms Sales to Saudis Leave American Fingerprints on Yemen's Carnage
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/world/middleeast/yemen-us-saudi-civilian-war.html
39
If you mean "looked into his soul", I'll buy your story.
If you mean "aggressively and with the threat of legitimate consequences for failure to respond appropriately", there's not a chance.
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama may have got into bed with the Prince or his family for unsavory economic reasons (to our undying national shame), but Trump has made a meal of licking his bloody boots.
Never going to change.
And so what if Pompeo did "press" MBS?
As in Turkey, Trump goes out of his weaselly way to neuter and make a slapstick spectacle of all his international representatives the second it looks like they're the important part of the story.
Which Pompeo is not, of course. Nor will he ever be.
30
We’re paying Pompeo to listen to the Saudi Prince’s lies?
Well, Pompeo gets a lot of practice conversing with our president.
60
@MIMA--While trying to get a UN security council resolution passed that would uphold a ceasefire in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, guarantee delivery of humanitarian supplies and threaten consequences for war crimes, British members of UK mission was stunned when the US began circulating a rival resolution, stripped of language about humanitarian supplies and war crimes, the Americans apparently acting on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition, which has fought any UN attempt to constrain its military operations.
As the week went on, the UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, an important independent voice on US foreign policy who is also leaving the administration, declared herself unwell. Orders to the US mission came straight from Pompeo. Early on Thursday, American diplomats threatened their British counterparts with a veto, an almost unheard of step among allies.
“Utterly baffling behaviour from the US,” one diplomat said. “No one in the US-UN [mission] or state [department] able to give sensible advice to Pompeo who was obsessed with Iran and deleting all language which the Saudis and Emiratis disliked.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chaos-home-fear-abroad-trump-060018803.html
33