When Obama arrives in the Saudi capital on Wednesday, April, 20, 2016, he’ll face an…
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How about President Obama bowing to the Saudi king in 2009?
Will’s opinion reflects the growing sentiment in this country that the Saudi government was given a pass first by Republican President George W. Bush and is now being protected by Democrat Obama.
That dynamic makes Obama’s request for greater efforts against ISIS somewhat awkward, though US officials insist the two countries are aligned in attempting to stabilize the region. The bill allows the victims to file a lawsuit against governments of other nations that have provided financial support to al-Qaeda – which conspicuously includes Saudi Arabia. Yet “they managed to get everything they needed, from housing to flight lessons”, after being seen in the company of a diplomat from Saudi Arabia’s Los Angeles consulate.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
Amid arguments the U.S. still needs Saudi Arabia (and presumably that Saudi Arabia still needs the U.S.) President Obama departs for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, and while the 28 pages stay in a secure basement of the White House, they will remain over his head like a perhaps more-than-metaphorical Sword of Damocles.
“There are a lot of rocks out there that have been purposefully tamped down, that if were they turned over, would give us a more expansive view of the Saudi role”, Bob Graham, former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said to CBS. Schumer broke with Obama on last year’s nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, which was also strongly opposed by Republicans.
Fahad Nazer, a senior political analyst at JTG Inc. and a former political analyst at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, said Prince Turki’s letter, published in Saudi newspapers, was “the tip of the iceberg”.
Presidential candidates were also unmoved. “But I’m not willing to throw the 9-11 victims under the bus because of the botched and misguided policies of the administration dealing with Iran”.
‘This is a matter of how generally the United States approaches our interactions with other countries, ‘ he said. “Chuck Schumer that would allow Americans, including the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, to use US courts to determine if foreign entities are culpable for terrorist attacks in the United States and seek restitution for the damages and lives lost”.
Obama has been as critical of the Gulf kingdom as perhaps any sitting American president.
He said Saudi Arabia promotes an extreme and “very destructive” version of Islam.
What role did Saudi Arabia play in the attacks of 9/11, and what role do Saudi nationals continue to play in the funding and support given to terrorist groups?
The U.S.-Saudi relationship has become a talking point in the presidential race. “It is important for the Americans to understand that we are not happy with the overtures that the United States has been prepared to make towards Iran at our expense”, said the Gulf official. There are few places in the world where civil society faces more restrictions than Saudi Arabia. Well, our Saudi “friends” for starters and the Obama administration, which is lobbying against the bill.
The kingdom also remains the United States’ second-biggest foreign oil supplier, delivering an average of about 1 million barrels a day.
This story has been corrected to note this will be Obama’s fourth visit to Saudi Arabia since taking office.
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“They’ve had enough of empty promises….”
