Election day changed the dynamics of the United States relationship to the Middle East and the world.
Election day changed the dynamics of the United States relationship to the Middle East and the world.
The past weekend was the most dramatic example of that reality. We saw a majestic welcome of President Trump to Saudi Arabia with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud meeting our Commander-in-Chief at the airport with a red carpet and full honors.
Remember Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia in 2014? No King, no red carpet, no honors at all. It was clear the Saudis were finished with any interest in dealing with Obama. Now, they see a President who shares their concerns about confronting the Shiite Iranian terrorist-sponsoring nation and the brutal Isis fighters who all parties agreed must be eliminated.
What can the Left possibly say now? Here you have a President who has embraced a meaningful partnership with the leaders of 55 Arab and Islamic nations to clear the world of this cancer called terrorism.
What can the Left say about the fact that a Center has now been created in Riyadh to stop financial funneling of funds to Hamas, Hezbollah, Isis, Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations? After all, isn’t that a way of embracing and working with Islamic and Arabic nations in precisely the way that all rational people would agree is getting to the core of the problem? And, we all know that the Left-Wing media would have been on their hands and knees to Obama had he accomplished what President Trump accomplished this weekend.
Clearly this is only a first step. But here you have a reversal of American policy in the Middle East, in that Obama gave Iran hegemony in the Middle East and President Trump has neutralized that with the boost to Saudi Arabia in the region.
The $110 Billion dollar armaments agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia accomplishes exactly that result. There will be a total of $350 Billion over the 10 years of this historic joint venture and will assure the ability of the Sunni nations to stand up to Iran, their greatest fear. Now, Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and other Gulf Cooperation Council nations will diminish the Iranian influence in the region.
It is also historic that a United States President spoke in the Palace in Riyadh about resolving the Arab-Palestinian conflict. Who would ever have thought that the Arab world would applaud a speech in which the idea of making peace with Israel would become a reality? The world view has changed, in large measure, due to the policies and priorities of our newly installed President.
It is, of course, also the case that the interests of Israel and the Gulf states have come together. Both groups have their primary concern for their own security to be Iran and its export of Radical Islamic Terrorism. There have already been quiet and confidential meetings between Saudi and Israeli leaders regarding their mutual interests to stop terrorism.
The President’s visit to the Middle East will clearly be a catalyst to further cooperation between these nations in a mutual concern for their own safety and even survival. A nuclear Iran is unacceptable. The Saudis know what the Israelis know: Iran wants control of the Middle East, squeezing Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States to being controlled by the Ayatollahs in Iran. That would be catastrophic for the region and would clearly impact the national interest of the United States.
We know that funding for terrorism has come from very high places in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle east, and this commitment by King Salman to stop terror funding and financing must begin with his own country. That is why the past weekend was a beginning. Now there must be follow up and as President Reagan admonished us: “Trust but Verify.”
Barack Obama left us with a volatile and unstable reality in the Middle East with the likely probability of Iranian hegemony in the region. Now we see a brighter future thanks to President Trump.
With all the wringing of the hands by the Left in this country about comments made about Muslims by the President during the campaign, we see the reality: 55 leaders of Arabic and Islamic nations welcomed our President as “Excellency” with all the honor due the leader of the world’s greatest superpower. Perhaps those same Left Wing interests will reflect back to how their hero, Barack Obama was treated by the Saudis with disregard and disrespect.
The Left ought to be big enough to be thankful that we have a President now who has opened up relations with the Islamic and Arab World in a way that has not been done previously. Historically there has been mistrust in the Middle East due to the Western nations treating the Middle East in a colonial fashion. Now President Trump has created a full-fledged partnership on equal footing with these nations. And, he made it clear that the nations attending this weekend conference must take the lead in fighting, deterring, and eliminating terrorism. We created a responsible approach to supporting the region with military equipment funding and the nations of the region taking the lead militarily.
The President completed a brilliant first step in this process and we should be feeling pride for those efforts and put aside the political differences that the Left likes to overdramatize.
Finally, ask yourself this question: What would the relationship between the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council look like if Hillary Clinton were President?
#MikeSiegel
