Sunday, January 5, 2020

SALVAGING U.S. INTERESTES IN IRAQ - BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY INTERESTS IN IRAQ! WE ARE SERVANTS TO THE SAUDIS DICTATORS WHO HATE EVERYONE OVER THERE!

“The tentacles of the Islamist hydra have deeply penetrated the world. The Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood poses a clear threat in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood also wages its deadly campaign through its dozens of well-established and functioning branches all over the world.”
*
“The Wahhabis finance thousands of madrassahs throughout the world where young boys are brainwashed into becoming fanatical foot-soldiers for the petrodollar-flush Saudis and other emirs of the Persian Gulf.” AMIL IMANI


We will take advantage of their immigration policy to infiltrate them.

* We will use their own welfare system to provide us with food, housing, schooling, and health care, while we out breed them and plot against them. We will Caliphate on their dime.

* We will use political correctness as a weapon. Anyone who criticizes us, we will take the opportunity to grandstand and curry favor from the media and Democrats and loudly accuse our critics of being an Islamophobe.

* We will use their own discrimination laws against them and slowly introduce Sharia Law into their culture..

WHO FUNDS THE BUILDING OF THE BUSH, CLINTON AND OBOMB PRESIDENTIAL LIBARARY and BUILDING THE LA RAZA WELFARE STATE ON LEGALS’ BACKS!


The simple fact is Saudi Arabia is the principal ally of the US in the Arab world and a huge purchaser of US weapons. How we can continue to allow these double standards in our foreign policy is unimaginable, but one of the reasons why the Saudis get away with it is that they spend so much money influencing our media and our senior politicians.

IT GETS WORSE!

Barack Obama’s back door, however, was unique to him. Before prosecutors send some of the dimmer Hollywood stars to the slammer for their dimness, they might want to ask just how much influence a Saudi billionaire peddled to get Obama into Harvard.

“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today.” THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Nolte: Dems Promise to Take Away Our Health Insurance and Give It to Illegal Aliens


"The California dream of taking care of everyone's needs is undermined by the California dream of open borders. State lawmakers were forced to choose between them, and they chose open borders.” 

Salvaging U.S. Interests in Iraq



The killing of Qasem Soleimani is a seismic event with huge ramifications across the Middle East and worldwide. It underscores the need for a new approach in Iraq and the region. To salvage something from its invasion and occupation of Iraq, the U.S. should focus on the Kurds.
The Shiite-led Government of Iraq (GoI) has strongly protested the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. The Iraqi parliament will debate a resolution to terminate the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which provides a legal basis for the deployment of U.S. troops on Iraqi soil.
Iraqi rage will intensify, putting U.S. troops and personnel at risk. The spasm of violence is a reality check: Iraq is a failed state under Iran’s control. Iraqis are only unified by their hatred of America. The Kurds are the only friends we have.
How did Iraq get to this point? America’s failure to stand with the Iraqi Kurds created a gap that Iran has filled.
The U.S. brokered Iraq’s constitution in 2004. However, Baghdad refused to implement articles favorable to the Kurds. The Obama administration demurred when it should have pushed harder to uphold Kurdish interests. Baghdad’s failure, and America’s acquiescence, left the Kurds little choice but to initiate a process putting Iraqi Kurdistan on the path to independence.
Though 93% voted to disassociate in September 2017, the U.S. failed to support their national aspirations. It turned a blind eye when Iranian-backed militias, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMUs), occupied the oil-rich region of Kirkuk and evicted the Kurdish governor. The current crisis arose when PMUs, the same Khataib Hezb’allah militias who seized Kirkuk and stomped on the Kurdistan flag, attacked U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria last week.
After repeated provocations, the U.S. responded with air strikes that killed 24 militia members. Tensions intensified with the killing of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, head of Kataib Hezb’allah.
The U.S. has a big stake in Iraq, having sacrificed thousands of lives and spent trillions. In light of volatile conditions that exist today, how can Washington preserve its position and interests?
A direct line can be drawn between U.S. policy towards Iraq and Iran’s aggression. Previous policies under successive administrations have marginalized the U.S. and made Iran ascendant.
Qasem Soleimani was testing U.S. resolve. In 2019, the Quds Force seized oil tankers in the Persian Gulf; shot down a U.S. surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz; and bombed Abqaiq, a major Saudi oil processing plant.
Khataib Hezb’allah’s recent aggression was intended to provoke a response. Qasem Soleimani sought to turn popular protests over Iran’s role in the country, during which more than 500 people were killed, into anti-American demonstrations. Turning their anger from Iran to the U.S., protesters chanted “death to America” and demanded that U.S. forces leave the country. Rage and popular protests are likely to intensify after the killing of Soleimani and Muhandis.
America should reconsider its strategically flawed and morally defunct “one Iraq policy.” Recent events affirm America’s military superiority. At the same time, they underscore America’s irrelevance and diminished influence. In light of recent developments, the U.S. should pivot and support Kurdish national aspirations.
In Iraq and other countries where Kurds reside, Kurds are critical to peace and stability. A regional approach, focusing on the Kurds, would secure U.S. interests in Iraq and the region.
Candidate Trump pledged to withdraw from “endless wars” of the Middle East. He focused on bringing home U.S. troops from Iraq and Syria. However, his plan was delayed by the rise of ISIS.
Kurdish valor helped defeat the caliphate. Iraqi Kurds helped liberate Mosul. In Syria, 11,000 Kurds died and 23,000 were wounded fighting ISIS at America’s behest. When President Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces, Iran responded by ratcheting up operations against the U.S.
U.S. influence is diminished without boots on-the-ground. Iran, Russia, and Turkey shaped a UN-sponsored constitutional committee to kick-start negotiations on ending Syria’s civil war. Kurdish political parties, whose armed forces gained control over more than 30 percent of Syria’s territory fighting ISIS, were excluded. Sustainable peace is impossible without the Kurds, rendering the committee an exercise in futility.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan also took advantage of U.S. ambivalence, further polarizing U.S.-Turkey relations. Erdogan views the Syrian Kurds as an extension of the PKK, an armed rebel group fighting for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey, resulting in 40,000 deaths and millions displaced since the 1980s. The PKK wants U.S. mediation, but Erdogan rejects the participation of third parties.
Erdogan uses the conflict to justify draconian policies towards the Kurds and other oppositionists. His course has marginalized America’s influence, undermined Turkey’s democracy, and directed Turkey into Russia’s embrace.
Blood knows no borders. Just as conflict is transnational, peacemaking requires a regional approach.
James Jeffrey serves as Trump’s Special Envoy to Syria. Though Jeffrey is skilled and experienced, he is working with one hand tied behind his back. Current U.S. policy limits his ability to maneuver diplomatically. The killing of Soleimani and Muhandis will make his job even harder.
The Iraqi Parliament is on the verge of censuring the Trump administration and evicting U.S. forces. As the U.S. redeploys to Iraqi Kurdistan, it will need a legal basis for basing troops there. As Iraq becomes more violent, the U.S. might need to recognize Iraqi Kurdistan and an independent and sovereign state.
To manage the intricacies of U.S. policy towards the Kurds in Iraq and the region, President Trump should appoint a “Special Envoy for Kurdish Issues”. The envoy’s activities would be based on the recognition that Kurdish and U.S. interests align. Instead of placating our adversaries, such as the Shiite-led government, the U.S. should support its friends.
Ken Blackwell is the former award-winning United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He is a member of the Council On Foreign Relations.
David L. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. Her served as a Senior Adviser working on Kurdish issues at the State Department during the Bush administration. His recent book is The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East.

THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY STARTED TWO WARS WITH IRAQ ON BEHALF OF THEIR SAUDIS PAYMASTERS…. WHO FUNDED THE BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND THEN THE CLINTON AND OBAMA LIBRARIES. THE SAUDIS HAD A TIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH HILLARY CLINTON WHEN SHE WAS WHORING HER FOUNDATION’S INTERESTS AS SECRETARY OF STATE… THE SAUDIS PUMPED BIG MONEY INTO THE PHONY CLINTON SLUSH FOUNDATION.
WE NOW SEE TRUMP KISSING SAUDIS ASS.
WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT OUR NATION THAT THE TOP “LEADERS” ARE IN BED WITH THE GLOBAL FINANCIERS OF MUSLIM HATE, TERRORISM AND ANTI-AMERICAN, ANTI-JEWISH and ANTI-CHRISITIAN PEOPLES???
JUST FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twenty-eight pages of heavily redacted documents released in 2016 after being concealed from the public for 13 years established that Saudi intelligence officers funneled substantial amounts of money to the hijackers in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks, while assisting them with finding housing as well as flight schools to attend.

Sixteen years after 9/11: lies, hypocrisy and militarism
12 September 2017
The sixteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed more than 2,900 people in the United States were marked once again on Monday with ceremonies at the site of the World Trade Center’s demolished Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania where one of four hijacked planes crashed as passengers fought to regain control of the aircraft.
Thousands gathered in New York City for the solemn reading of the names of those who lost their lives to a criminal and reactionary terrorist attack that served only the interests of US and world imperialism, which ever since have exploited the events to justify wars of aggression and attacks on democratic rights the world over.
The genuine emotions of sorrow and remembrance shared by those who lost loved ones on 9/11 once again stood in sharp contrast to the banality and hypocrisy of the official commemorations staged by US officials.
This longstanding dichotomy reached a new level with the main speech of the day delivered by the fascistic billionaire con-man President Donald Trump at the Pentagon Monday. Trump, whose first reaction on the day of the attacks was to brag—falsely—that the toppling of the Twin Towers had made his own property at 40 Wall Street the tallest building in lower Manhattan, delivered remarks that consisted of barely warmed-over platitudes from previous addresses, repeated tributes to the American flag and a vow to “defend our country against barbaric forces of evil and destruction.”
Trump repeated the well-worn cliché that on September 11 “our whole world changed.” The phrase is meant to suggest that the unending wars, police state measures and sweeping changes in American political life over the past 16 years have all been carried out in response to the supposedly unforeseen and unforeseeable events of September 11, having nothing to do with anything that came before.
That this is a cynical and self-serving lie becomes clearer with every passing year.
On the eve of the anniversary, new revelations emerged linking Saudi Arabia, Washington’s closest ally in the Arab world, to the preparation of the September 11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens. The corporate media, which published nothing of any significance on the anniversary, largely blacked out this new evidence. The New York Times marked the anniversary with an editorial detailing efforts by the New York City medical examiner to identify human remains.
A federal lawsuit on behalf of the families of some 1,400 of the 9/11 victims has presented evidence that the Saudi embassy in Washington financed what was apparently a “dry run” for the 9/11 attacks in 1999. Two Saudi agents posing as students boarded an America West flight from Phoenix to Washington, D.C. with tickets paid for by the Saudi embassy. The lawsuit states that both men had trained in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan with some of the 9/11 hijackers. While on the flight, the two asked flight attendants technical questions about the plane that raised suspicions and twice attempted to enter the cockpit, leading the pilot to carry out an emergency landing in Ohio. Both men were detained and questioned by the FBI, which decided not to pursue any prosecution.
This is only the latest in a long series of revelations that have made it abundantly clear that the events of 9/11 could never have taken place without substantial logistical support from high places. Despite the repeated claims that the attacks “changed everything,” there has never been an independent and objective investigations into how they were carried out. And, despite being what is ostensibly the most catastrophic intelligence failure in American history, no one was ever held accountable with so much as a firing or a demotion.
What evidence has emerged makes it clear that the 9/11 hijackers were able to freely enter the country and attend flight schools despite the fact that a number of those involved had been subjects of surveillance by the CIA and FBI for as long as two years before the attack. Two of them actually lived in the home of an FBI informant.
Twenty-eight pages of heavily redacted documents released in 2016 after being concealed from the public for 13 years established that Saudi intelligence officers funneled substantial amounts of money to the hijackers in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks, while assisting them with finding housing as well as flight schools to attend.
While Saudi Arabia was the government most active in carrying out the September 11 attacks, the involvement of Saudi intelligence really means the involvement of a section of the American state apparatus. This is not a matter of conspiracy theories, but established fact. It is bound up with very real conspiracies involving the CIA, Afghanistan and Al Qaeda going back to the Islamist group’s founding as an arm of Washington’s dirty war against the Soviet-backed government of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Far from the attacks having “changed everything,” they provided the pretext for acts of military aggression long in preparation. In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union a decade earlier, the ruling class initiated a policy developed to use US military might to offset the decline of American capitalism on the world arena. Afghanistan and Iraq were targeted to secure military dominance over two major oil- and gas-producing regions on the planet, the Caspian Basin and the Middle East.
This thoroughly criminal enterprise, justified in the name of 9/11’s victims, has claimed the lives of over 1 million Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of Afghans and unleashed the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
The invocation of a “war on terror”—passed down from Bush to Obama and now to Trump—to justify these crimes has become not only threadbare, but patently absurd. The results of 16 years of uninterrupted US wars of aggression have included an unprecedented growth of Al Qaeda and related Islamist militias, largely as a result of US imperialism’s utilization of these elements as proxy ground forces in wars for regime change in Libya and Syria.
Moreover, the multiple wars and interventions conducted by the Pentagon and the CIA, from North Africa to Central Asia, can quickly metastasize into a global conflagration, with Washington simultaneously threatening nuclear war against North Korea and pursuing increasingly dangerous confrontations with its principal geo-strategic rivals, Russia and China.
September 11 did not “change everything,” but it did mark the beginning of an escalation of what George W. Bush called the “wars of the twenty-first century,” that is, escalating imperialist aggression that is leading mankind toward a third world war.
Bill Van Auken





September 11, 2017
Were the Saudis Behind 9/11?
1. On September 9, 2017, Paul Sperry of the New York Post dropped the biggest headline hint so far that, Yes, the Saudis plotted, trained, funded, ordered, and covered up the assault on America on 9/11. 
The headline does not come out and actually say that the Saudis committed the greatest anti-American civilian atrocity 16 years ago. It just says that "the Saudis allegedly funded a "dry run" of the 9/11/01 attack two years before it was actually executed. But by now we know so much supportive evidence that we might as well tell the whole truth.
Two years before the airliner attacks, the Saudi Embassy paid for two Saudi nationals, living undercover in the US as students, to fly from Phoenix to Washington “in a dry run for the 9/11 attacks,” alleges the amended complaint filed on behalf of the families of some 1,400 victims who died in the terrorist attacks 16 years ago."
Well, if you're a bank robber, and you go through a "dry run" of the robbery two years before actually committing it, and "somebody" then carries out the outrageous crime, chances are that the dry runners and the perps are the same. 
We have plenty of evidence of Saudi guilt for 9/11. We know that the 17 Wahhabi (Saudi-indoctrinated) terrorists killed civilian cabin personnel and pilots in those four "American" and "United" airplanes, slitting their throats with utility knives, according to the ancient Koranic war command, "you shall cut them at the neck." 
We have seen plenty of actual beheadings on ISIS videos, and we know that the Wahhabi priesthood in Saudi Arabia has endorsed ISIS for its Nazilike murders, rapes, kidnappings, and sadistic treatment of innocent children, women, and men wherever ISIS operate. It is vital for Americans to understand that the war theology of "ISIS," "Al Qaida," "Al Nusrah", "Al Qaida in the Maghreb," on and on, are all the same. The hierarchy that runs it from the Sunni Gulf States is the same, the methodology is the same, the utter inhuman cruelty of killing innocents is the same, the religious rationale is the same, on and on and on. 
However, it should be understood that the Shi'ites of Iran run a separate chain of command, with separate murderers, etc. We have two fanatical enemies, both based in the war verses of the Koran,  but they hate each other to death. Donald Trump has just exploited that split between mass murderers hailing from Sunni Islam, and the mass murderers coming from Shi'te Islam. Trump is now in a formal alliance with the Saudis (and Israelis, and other Sunni Gulf States) against Iran, the Shiite head of the monster. 
During WW I the British brought the Saudis to power in order to drive out the Ottoman Turks. British agent "Lawrence of Arabia" (T.E. Lawrence) convinced the Arab speakers of the Arabia desert to rebel against the Turks, supplying them with British arms and advice. 
http://admin.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2017-09/200611_5_.pngLawrence of Arabia described the exact tribal war activities we see today in ISIS, including male rape. The Brits then brought the Saudi tribe to power.
Saudi Arabia is always on the edge of collapse, because it is not a modern nation, but a desert tribal federation. 
The war theology of desert Islam has been well-described by now, in excellent, scholarly sources freely available on the web.
In human tribal history, war theologies are not unusual. Japanese State Shinto, which led to WW II, was based on Bushido a debased version of the Samurai code. The Teutonic Knights were a similar war cult that eventually led to Bismarck's Prussia, which then forced the unification of the German-speaking provinces in the 19th century in a single, top-down controlled Reich. Hitler's war started as a revenge for losing World War I. Hitler came to power by peddling the "stab-in-the-back" myth to explain Austro-Hungarian defeat in WWI. 
Human tribal warfare is very common, as shown by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, based on his field work with the Yanamamo of South America. In human tribal history, up to 30% of adult males die in intergroup violence. So war cults and martyrdom cults are part of human history. The Kim dynasty in North Korea has always prepared for and encouraged war. Today, the Iranian Muslims (Shi'a) constantly chant, "Death to America! Death to Israel!" Terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizb’allah also raise their children to kill any designated enemy, preferably through martyrdom. Successful killer-martyrs are promised life eternal in Heaven, with all the virgins and all that. 
American liberals keep telling the world that such things could not exist, because people are fundamentally good. They are utterly ignorant, and "none so blind as will not see." 
What happened on 9/11?
The attackers commandeered civilian passenger planes, and suicidally flew them into the Twin Towers in Manhattan; a third passenger plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth airplane crashed when its passengers heroically rebelled against the throat-cutting murderers and crashed in Pennsylvania. These assaults count as the biggest enemy attack on American civilians in history. In the Geneva Conventions, the politically motivated murder of civilians is treated even more seriously than surprise attacks on members of the military  in uniform. 
​These are the most likely hypotheses based on the evidence. But we will not know the full truth until the 28 censored pages from the 9/11 Report are published. The U.S. media, which evidently colluded in the greatest national security coverup, must now tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If any media outlet fails to cover this, American patriots must simply boycott them and their owners and sponsors. This is a question of national life or death. 
​2. Who did the coverup?
When the 9/11 attacks took place, none of our presidents, nor our enormous Deep Government, nor any major news outlets told the truth. 
As a result, even today, most Americans know little, except that fake "Islamophobia" is a terrible thing. Americans need to learn the truth and we must know the truth to understand that Jihad War that was launched against us on that second Day of Infamy. No nation can protect itself against future dangers if it only learns lies about previous acts of national aggression.  
​3. Who ran the coverup and why? 
The 9/11 attack was covered up. 
a. 9/11/ was not the first attack by Al Qaida and its militant networks against the Twin Towers. There was an amazingly similar truck bomb attack in 1993 by the same network, and some of the perps were caught and sentenced to jail terms. 
Andrew McCarthy of the National Review was the federal prosecutor in that case, and has written extensively about it. McCarthy has been one of the truth-tellers in a time of shameful lies and coverups. 
Bill and Hillary Clinton knew about the failed truck-bomb attack on the Twin Towers in 1993. We know that Bill was offered Bin Laden's head on a platter by four different Arab regimes, in secret, and that he refused four times. There is no question that the Clintons knew about the danger ahead of time, and utterly failed to pursue Bin Laden's AQ network when there was still time to knock them out. That abject cowardice is interpreted in war theologies like desert Islam as a plain and obvious sign of weakness, and it always increases the chance of more attacks. This is elementary logic about hyperaggressive regimes. 
​Instead of revealing and mobilizing American public opinion against a clear and obvious danger, the Clintons made money off it. The fact that Huma Abedin has become Hillary's closest friend and assistant over the last 20 years, and that Huma comes from a Muslim Brotherhood family that runs a "charity" in the UK to promote Jihad​, makes Huma, Hillary, and Bill criminally liable. They owe the American People an explanation, and instead, they have been taking tens of millions of dollars from known Jihad sources. 
We do not know whether Bush-Cheney knew about the danger of attack ahead of time, but it seems unlikely. The assault happened early in the Bush II administration, possibly before they were warned. 
We have to understand that after 9/11, every major intelligence agency in the world must have known who the perps were.
Former UCMC Commandant Jim Mattis has often said "There is always treachery." It is a basic rule of war in his lifelong teachings. The fact that Mattis is now SecDec shows where Trump is moving -- against Jihad, finally, after decades of Democrat and RINO betrayal of the American people in their greatest danger. 
If you do not believe we are in very great danger today, consider that Kim III now has ICBMs and nuclear weapons, and that Kim always works in collusion with Iranian Jihad. North Korea is thought to have gotten its latest mass murdering toy with cooperation from Tehran. Although Pakistan, which also follows a Jihadist war theology, is another candidate. 
On the honorable side, Admiral James Lyon (USN, Ret) has been publicly warning against the Jihad being obviously waged against the U.S. (and other "Christian" countries) by Jihad, both the Sunni and Shi'ite imperial aggressors. I believe Adm. Lyons risked his life to expose the truth, the last time at the Press Club in Washington, DC. 
I believe that Donald Trump guessed or knew the truth, as an international businessman, with his own intelligence sources. When Trump ran for office, the Deep State freaked out, in fear of exposure, along with the mass media, which also understood what was going on. The Democrats, the mass media, and the Deep State are basically one.
The Obama Administration was clearly penetrated by pro-Jihad, anti-American forces from the beginning. Obama all but publicly endorsed the Jihad against America. The flagrant use of an Arabic name, instead of his given name Barry Soetoro, is only one little sign. Another is the "disguised" Shahada ring he has worn ever since his trip to Pakistan as a college student with his Pakistani roommate. The Shahada is the oath of loyalty to Islam. Deception is a major war tactic in Islam. Yet a third sign of Obama's Jihad loyalties is his symbolically vital visit to a Muslim Mosque in the waning days of his presidency; the mosque had a prominent sign (shown in the New York Times) that "nothing is achieved without struggle." (The Arabic word for "struggle" is Jihad.) The Obama years constantly played in Muslim Jihadist hints, knowing that most Americans are utterly ignorant about all that. It is part of Obama's personality disorders.
Valerie Jarrett (Obama's "alter ego") was brought up in Iranian-style Islam (Shi'ite). She sold out U.S. and Western safety to Iran in the infamous nuclear agreement. 
OIL, OIL, OIL. 
The Saudis controlled OPEC, the oil cartel. That gave them worldwide price control, a sword hanging over the heads of all modern nations. Jimmy Carter's Arab oil embargo showed how much power the desert tribes of Arabia had. That is probably why they took the risk of assaulting the United States, and then serially Britain, France, Spain, on and on. 
Please note a few bottom lines: 
1. The U.S. was betrayed over and over and over again by our political class, by our Deep State, and by our media oligopoly. 
I think the Bushes are patriots, but they also have major oil connections. 
2. Donald Trump has been brilliant, and he certainly comes across as a genuine patriot. That is why the corrupt Deep State, and the even more corrupt Democrats and media, hate Trump. But slowly, slowly, the truth has been emerging in the Trump campaign, and then in the first Trump year. Without American leadership against evil, the world is full of cowards and traitors. 
3. Saudi Arabia has now lost control of the price of oil. Trump's vigorous opening up of U.S. energy has made a huge difference, because now we have the biggest clout over the world price. That was a very deliberate move, previously sabotaged by environmental fanatics who were probably bought off by both kinds of Muslim oil regimes. 
So yes, oil was a big part of the picture, but with the advent of shale exploitation around the world, plus the American resurgence in domestic energy production, we now have the upper hand. 
September 11, 2017

Who are our Real Enemies?

A good novel allows readers to learn and question, a gateway to world events. Such is the case with Vince Flynn’s Enemy Of The State by Kyle Mills. Flynn warned Americans on the dangers of Islamic terrorism in his first CIA operative Mitch Rapp book, Transfer of Power, published in 1999. This was two years before 9/11. Fast-forward eighteen years and Rapp books still discuss the dangers of jihadists. Mills took the torch from the late Vince Flynn, and has written a gripping novel about the Saudi involvement with terrorism. This is where fiction blends with reality.
Mills noted, “I thought about the redacted section from the 9/11 report that possibly showed the Saudi involvement. After reading the book people will understand I am not a big fan of the Saudis. Historically we have overlooked a lot of what they do in order to keep alive our strategic relationship. They not only support terrorism, but the schools that teach it. There is not much civil liberties and human rights there. I always wanted to see them slapped down and I enjoyed watching Mitch do it.”
It is rumored that this portion of the report details contacts between Saudi officials and some of the September 11 hijackers, checks from Saudi royals to operatives in contact with the hijackers, and the discovery of a telephone number in an Al Qaeda militant’s phone book that was traced to a corporation managing an Aspen Colorado, home of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then the Saudi ambassador to Washington. The document is harsh in its criticism of Saudi efforts to undermine American attempts to dismantle Al Qaeda in the years before the September 11 attacks. Moreover, it portrays the F.B.I as generally in the dark about the maneuverings of Saudi officials inside the United States during that period.
In Enemy of The State, the CIA operative Mitch Rapp is quoted, “How many times are we going to have to go through this with them? We let them off the hook for the most deadly terrorist attack in US history and now here we go again.” It sure seemed that way when President Obama bowed before the Saudi King Abdullah at the opening of the G20 meeting in London in 2009.
Even President Trump seemed to be softening on his view of the Saudis. His speech in Saudi Arabia this May called them friends and allowed them to buy a $110-million-dollar defense purchase. This is a far cry when during the 2016 campaign he called on them to provide troops and funds to fight ISIS.
A powerful quote in the book shows the two sides of the Saudi regime, “It was a country with sufficient resources to provide prosperous lives for its citizens and to be a force of good throughout the region. Instead, these resources had been used to enrich a handful of monarchs and to promote the cycle of violence and misery that the Middle East was currently mired in.”
On the one hand it appears that they are now committed to fighting terrorism. Isobel Coleman, a Saudi expert for the Council on Foreign Relations, felt they had a change of heart. She noted, “For a long time the Saudi state encouraged Saudi men to fight Jihad. It was a heroic thing to do.  The Saudis had a profound change after they had to deal with internal terrorism.”
http://admin.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2017-09/200612_5_.pngDuring the May speech, President Trump announced Saudi cooperation to fight terrorism, “Muslim nations must be willing to take on the burden if we are going to defeat terrorism and send its wicked ideology into oblivion. The first task in this joint effort is for your nations to deny all territory to the foot soldiers of evil. Every country in the region has an absolute duty to ensure that terrorists find no sanctuary on their soil… I am proud to announce that the nations here today will be signing an agreement to prevent the financing of terrorism called the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center, co-chaired by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and joined by every member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.”
Yet, on the other hand, Saudi Arabia is still denying any involvement in the September 11th attacks even though fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudis. They even threatened to sell off $750 billion in U.S. assets if Congress passes legislation allowing them to be sued for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a move that could destabilize the U.S. dollar.
Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida, says ISIS "is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money, and Saudi organizational support." Graham went on to say that ISIS represents a form of Wahhabi ideology, in which the monarchy has lost control. He believes it is a cancer that now threatens the kingdom, and that in order to stop ISIS the ideology must be dried up at the source.
Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, wrote, ”The Saudi government has given over its textbooks to the clerical Wahhabi extremists that it partners with to maintain control of the country.” She explained, each year, these textbooks speak of direct religious hatred, violence and indoctrinate a war mentality. Yet, their role in advancing Islamist extremist ideology has not been taken seriously as a U.S. national security concern. Since 9/11, regardless of which party is in power, the State Department has barely raised the issue and at times has even worked to cover up their toxic content.
As President Trump stated, "Muslim nations must be willing to take on terrorism and send its wicked ideology into oblivion… Terrorists do not worship God, they worship death.” Enemy Of The State shows how important it is for the U.S. to make sure the Saudis continue to hold up their end of the relationship by not promoting hatred against the West and stamping out the supporters of terrorism. In a sense the book is a reminder to Americans that September 11th should never be forgotten.
The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews, author interviews, and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles.

House Votes to 'Enhance the Border Security' of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia--Not the USA



The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has voted to fund efforts to "enhance the border security" of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia while moving to deny all funding to build walls, fencing or any other structures to enhance the border security of the United States.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants have their priorities.
To them, borders on the other side of the world are more important than our own.
On June 19, the House approved a massive spending bill. In an act of legislative polygamy, it "married" the appropriations bill for the Department of Defense to the appropriations bills for the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated this monstrosity would cost taxpayers $984.7 billion in fiscal 2020.
Yet there is one thing this bill would forbid the Trump administration from spending one penny to accomplish.
On page 304 (of 650), it says: "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act or any prior Department of Defense appropriations Acts may be used to construct a wall, fence, border barriers, or border security infrastructure along the southern land border of the United States."
A month later, the House Appropriations Committee sent the full House a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
This bill — so far — is unmarried and would cost taxpayers $63.8 billion.
President Trump had requested that it include $5 billion to use in constructing barriers at the border.
How much did the committee give him?
"No funding is provided in the bill for new physical barriers along the southwest border," said the committee report.
It also said, "The recommendation provides no funding for additional Border Patrol Agents."
Thus, the Democrat-controlled House is advancing discretionary appropriations bills that would spend more than $1 trillion in one year but provide zero dollars to build physical barriers to stop illegal aliens, human traffickers and drug smugglers from crossing our southern border.
Yet that does not mean the Democrat-controlled House is not planning to spend some money to enhance border security.
It just depends where the border is.
In that 650-page spending bill that prohibits Defense Department money from being used to defend the southern border of the United States, there is a section that creates a $1.295 billion fund for use by the secretary of defense.
"For the 'Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Fund', $1,295,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2021," says the bill. "Provided, That such funds shall be available to the secretary of defense in coordination with the Secretary of State, to provide assistance, including training; equipment; logistics support, supplies, and services; stipends; infrastructure repair and renovation; and sustainment, to foreign security forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals participating, or preparing to participate in activities to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and their affiliated or associated groups."
"Provided further," says the bill, "That these funds may be used in such amounts as the Secretary of Defense may determine to enhance the border security of nations adjacent to conflict areas including Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Tunisia resulting from actions of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria."
So, the secretary of defense could take a chunk of this $1.295 billion and give it to the government of Egypt to secure its border with post-Gadhafi Libya, where ISIS is active.
And he could give a chunk to Tunisia to secure its border with Libya.
Or he could give some American tax dollars to unnamed "irregular forces, groups, or individuals" who, someplace in this world, are "preparing to participate in activities" to counter ISIS, or at least groups that are "affiliated or associated" with ISIS.
But according to the House appropriations bills, President Trump cannot spend a penny to build structures at our own border to secure our own territory and our own people.
By contrast, the Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a Homeland Security spending bill that does include $5 billion to build "pedestrian fencing" — to stop people on foot and in vehicles from crossing our southern border. Also, that committee's defense spending bill does not prohibit the president from using defense money to build barriers to defend our own border.
It even includes a larger fund ($1.8 billion) than the House bill that, among other things, can be used "for enhanced border security" not only in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia but also in Oman.
We are now more than a month into fiscal 2020. The government is running on a continuing resolution that expires Nov. 21.
President Trump should deliver a simple message to Speaker Pelosi: He is not going to sign a spending bill that funds border security in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia but not California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
He should put America first — even if Pelosi will shut down the government trying to stop him.
(Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSNews.com.)


US sends 3,000 more troops to defend Saudi monarchy

 

The Pentagon confirmed Friday that 3,000 more US troops are being deployed to Saudi Arabia to defend the blood-soaked monarchy led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and prepare for war against Iran.
The deployment includes two fighter squadrons, one Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), two more Patriot missile batteries, and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).
According to a Pentagon statement Friday, the US Secretary of Defense phoned Crown Prince bin Salman (who also holds the post of Saudi minister of defense) to inform him of the coming reinforcements, which he said were meant “to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia.”
The Pentagon also acknowledged that the latest escalation brings the number of additional troops sent into the Persian Gulf region since May to 14,000. They have been accompanied by an armada of US warships and a B-52-led bomber task force. The Pentagon has also announced that an aircraft carrier-led battle group will remain in the Persian Gulf.
US soldiers deployed in the Middle East (U.S. Army by 1st Lt. Jesse Glenn)
While initiated as a supposed response to unspecified threats from Iran, the US buildup in the Persian Gulf region has constituted from its outset a military provocation and preparation for a war of aggression. This military buildup has accompanied Washington’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of sweeping economic sanctions that are tantamount to a state of war. The aim, as the Trump administration has stated publicly, is to drive Iranian oil exports down to zero. By depriving Iran of its principal source of export income, Washington hopes to starve the Iranian people into submission and pave the way to regime change, bringing to power a US puppet regime in Tehran.
The latest military buildup was announced in the immediate aftermath of an attack on an Iranian tanker in the Red Sea, about 60 miles from the Saudi port of Jeddah.
The National Iranian Tanker Co. reported that its oil tanker, the Sabiti, was struck twice by explosives early Friday morning, leaving two holes in the vessel and causing a brief oil spill into the Red Sea.
While Iranian state news media blamed the damage on missile attacks, a spokesman for the company told the Wall Street Journal that the company was not sure of the cause.
Some security analysts have suggested that the fairly minor damage to the vessel could have been caused by limpet mines. Such mines were apparently used last June when two tankers—one Japanese and one Norwegian-owned—were hit by explosions in the Sea of Oman. At the time, Washington blamed the attacks on Iran, without providing any evidence. Tehran denied the charge, saying that it sent teams to rescue crew member of the damaged tankers.
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted an unnamed Iranian government official as stating that the Iranian tanker had been the victim of a “terrorist attack.”
“Examination of the details and perpetrators of this dangerous action continues and will be announced after reaching the result,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
The National Iranian Tanker Co. issued a statement saying that there was no evidence that Saudi Arabia was behind the attack.
The incident raised the specter of an escalating tanker war that could disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows. News of the attack sent crude oil prices spiking by 2 percent.
In addition to the June attacks on the tankers in the Gulf of Oman, in July British commandos, acting on a request from Washington, stormed an Iranian super tanker, the Grace 1, in waters off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. In apparent retaliation, Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged Stena Impero for what Tehran charged were violations of international maritime regulations as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Both tankers were subsequently released.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement charging that the Iranian super tanker, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, had offloaded its oil in Syria in violation of European Union sanctions and a pledge made by Tehran to the UK at the time of the vessel’s release. He demanded provocatively that “EU members should condemn this action, uphold the rule of law, and hold Iran accountable.”

The Trump administration, which in May of last year unilaterally and illegally abrogated the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and the major powers has been pressuring the European signatories to the deal—Germany, France and the UK—to follow suit.
While the respective governments of the three countries have insisted that they still support the nuclear agreement, they have repeatedly bowed to Washington’s war drive, while failing to take any significant actions to counter the effects of the US “maximum pressure” campaign and deliver to Tehran the sanctions relief and economic normalization that it was promised in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program.
Most recently, the three European governments backed Washington in blaming Iran for a September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities that temporarily shut down half of the kingdom’s oil production and sent crude prices spiraling by 20 percent—again without providing a shred of proof.
Washington is seeking to topple the Iranian regime or bully it into accepting complete subordination to US imperialist predatory interests in the energy-rich and geostrategically vital Middle East.
The US sanctions regime and military buildup have placed the entire region on a hair trigger for the outbreak of a catastrophic war that could engulf not only the Middle East, but the entire planet.
All of the regimes involved in the escalating conflict are gripped by crises that make the drive to war all the more explosive.
The impact of the sanctions on Iran’s economy has been devastating. It is estimated that oil exports last month fell to just 400,000 barrels per day (b/d), compared to 1.95 million b/d in September 2018. Left with little means of combating spiraling inflation and growing unemployment, Iran’s bourgeois-clerical regime is caught between intense pressure from imperialism on the one hand, and the growth of social opposition among Iranian workers and poor on the other.
The Saudi monarchy is confronting the debacle of its four-year-old and near genocidal war against the people of Yemen, made possible by the weapons and logistical aid provided by Washington, even as Prince bin Salman remains a global pariah for his ordering of the grisly assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year in Istanbul.
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, incapable of forming a new government after two elections and confronting criminal indictments, has grown increasingly concerned over the apparent lack of appetite by the Persian Gulf Sunni monarchies for military confrontation with Iran and Washington’s failure to carry out military strikes after the downing of its drone in June and the attacks on the Saudi oil facilities last month. Clearly, Tel Aviv, which has cast Iran as its strategic enemy, would have a motive for attacking Iranian tankers in the hopes of provoking a response that could lead to US military action.
And then there is Trump. He has proclaimed his determination to halt the “endless wars” in the Middle East and provoked a political firestorm by pulling back a relative handful of US troops in Syria, allowing Turkey to launch a long-planned attack on the Pentagon’s erstwhile proxy force, the Kurdish-dominated YPG militia.
Faced with an escalating political crisis and growing social tensions within the US, along with an impeachment investigation by the Democrats in Congress that is focused entirely on the national security concerns of the CIA and the Pentagon, he has ample motive for launching a new war.
While the Democrats’ exclusive focus on Trump’s failure to pursue a sufficiently bellicose policy against Russia and prosecute the war for regime change in Syria has allowed the US president to absurdly posture as an opponent of war, the reality is that he has overseen a staggering increase in military spending designed to prepare for “great power” confrontations, particularly with China.
Meanwhile, whatever his political pretense, Trump has done nothing to end any of the wars in the Middle East. While he has ordered US troops to pull back, allowing the Turkish invasion, none of them have been withdrawn from Syria.

With the latest buildup of US forces in Saudi Arabia, Washington is preparing, behind the backs of the working class, to launch a catastrophic military conflict with Iran. The most urgent task posed by these developments is the building of a global antiwar movement led by the working class. This movement must be armed with a socialist and internationalist program to unify working people in the United States, Europe and the Middle East in a common struggle against imperialist war and its source, the capitalist system.

 TRUMP AND THE MURDERING 9-11 MUSLIM SAUDIS…
Why is the Swamp Keeper and his family of parasites up their ar$es??


WHAT WILL TRUMP AND HIS PARASITIC FAMILY DO FOR MONEY???

JUST ASK THE SAUDIS!


JOHN DEAN: Not so far. This has been right by the letter of the special counsel’s charter. He’s released the document. What I’m looking for is relief and understanding that there’s no witting or unwitting likelihood that the President is an agent of Russia. That’s when I’ll feel comfortable, and no evidence even hints at that. We don’t have that yet. We’re still in the process of unfolding the report to look at it. And its, as I say, if [Attornery General William Barr] honors his word, we’ll know more soon.

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and 

Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy 

approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This 

is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---

- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER


PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES DONALD TRUMP: Pathological liar, swindler, con man, huckster, golfing cheat, charity foundation fraudster, tax evader, adulterer, porn whore chaser and servant of the Saudis dictators


THE TRUMP FAMILY FOUNDATION SLUSH FUND…. Will they see jail?


VISUALIZE REVOLUTION!.... We know where they live!
“Underwood is a Democrat and is seeking millions of dollars in penalties. She wants Trump and his eldest children barred from running other charities.”


Opinion: Trump And Pompeo Have Enabled A Saudi Cover-Up Of The Khashoggi Killing

October 2, 201911:45 AM ET
AARON DAVID MILLER
RICHARD SOKOLSKY
In the weeks following the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important ally than he did reacting to the killing.
Hasan Jamali/AP
Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department Middle East analyst, adviser and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations. He is the author most recently of the End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President.
Richard Sokolsky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, worked in the State Department for six different administrations and was a member of the secretary of state's Office of Policy Planning from 2005 to 2015.

It has been a year since Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul where he was slain and dismembered. There is still no objective or comprehensive Saudi or American accounting of what occurred, let alone any real accountability.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's admission in a recent CBS interview that he takes "full responsibility," while denying foreknowledge of the killing or that he ordered it, sweeps under the rug the lengths to which the Saudis have gone to obscure the truth about their involvement in the killing and cover-up.
The Saudi campaign of obfuscation, denial and cover-up would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for the Trump administration's support over the past year. The president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not only refused to distance themselves from the crown prince, known by his initials MBS, but also actively worked to relegitimize him. The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump acquiesced in the cover-up and worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi relationship and soften the crown prince's pariah status. In short, without Trump, the attempted makeover — such as it is — would not have been possible.
The Saudis killed Khashoggi but Trump acquiesced in the cover-up and worked hard to protect the U.S.-Saudi relationship and soften the crown prince's pariah status.
Weak administration response
The administration's weak and feckless response to Khashoggi's killing was foreshadowed a year before it occurred. In May 2017, in an unusual break with precedent, Trump visited Saudi Arabia on his inaugural presidential trip; gave his son-in-law the authority to manage the MBS file, which he did with the utmost secrecy; and made it unmistakably clear that Saudi money, oil, arm purchases and support for the administration's anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli policies would elevate the U.S.-Saudi "special relationship" to a new level.
Predictably, therefore, the administration's reaction to Khashoggi's killing was shaped by a desire to manage the damage and preserve the relationship. In the weeks following Khashoggi's death, Trump spent more time praising Saudi Arabia as a very important ally, especially as a purchaser of U.S. weapons and goods, than he did reacting to the killing. Trump vowed to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi killing but focused more on defending the crown prince, saying this was another example of being "guilty before being proven innocent."
Those pledges to investigate and impose accountability would continue to remain hollow. Over the past year, Trump and Pompeo have neither criticized nor repudiated Saudi actions that have harmed American interests in the Middle East. Two months after Khashoggi's death, the administration, in what Pompeo described as an "initial step," imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi individuals implicated in the killing. But no others have been forthcoming, and the visa restrictions that were imposed are meaningless because none of the sanctioned Saudis would be foolish enough to seek entry into the United States.
What's more, the administration virtually ignored a congressional resolution imposing sanctions on the Saudis for human rights abuses and vetoed another bipartisan resolution that would have ended U.S. military assistance to Saudi Arabia's inhumane military campaign in Yemen.
The Saudis opened a trial in January of 11 men implicated in the killing, but the proceedings have been slow and secretive, leading the United Nations' top human rights expert to declare that "the trial underway in Saudi Arabia will not deliver credible accountability." Despite accusations that the crown prince's key adviser Saud al-Qahtani was involved in the killing, he's still advising MBS, has not stood trial and will likely escape punishment. A year later, there are still no reports of convictions or serious punishment.
Legitimizing Mohammed bin Salman
The Trump administration has not only given the crown prince a pass on the Khashoggi killing, but it has also worked assiduously to remove his pariah status and rehabilitate his global image. Barely two months after the 2018 slaying, Trump was exchanging pleasantries with the crown prince at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires and holding out prospects of spending more time with him. Then this past June, at the G-20 in Osaka, Japan, Trump sang his praises while dodging questions about the killing. "It's an honor to be with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine, a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
And you can bet that when Saudi Arabia hosts the G-20, scheduled to be held in its capital of Riyadh in November 2020, the Trump administration will be smiling as its rehab project takes another step in its desired direction.
What the U.S. should have done
Trump has failed to impose any serious costs or constraints on Saudi Arabia for the killing of a U.S. newspaper columnist who resided in Virginia or for the kingdom's aggressive policies, from Yemen to Qatar. In the wake of the Khashoggi killing, the administration should have made it unmistakably clear, both publicly and privately, that it expected a comprehensive and credible accounting and investigation. It should have suspended high-level contacts and arms sales with the kingdom for a period of time. And to make the point, the administration should have supported at least one congressional resolution taking the Saudis to task, in addition to triggering the Magnitsky Act, which would have required a U.S. investigation; a report to Congress; and sanctions if warranted.
Back to business as usual
The dark stain of the crown prince's apparent involvement in Khashoggi's death will not fade easily. But for Trump and Pompeo, it pales before the great expectations they still maintain for the kingdom to confront and contain their common enemy, Iran, as well as support the White House's plan for Middle East peace, defeat jihadists in the region and keep the oil spigot open.
Most of these goals are illusory. Saudi Arabia is a weak, fearful and unreliable ally. The kingdom has introduced significant social and cultural reforms but has imposed new levels of repression and authoritarianism. Its reckless policies toward Yemen and Qatar have expanded, not contracted, opportunities for Iran, while the Saudi military has demonstrated that, even after spending billions to buy America's most sophisticated weapons, it still can't defend itself without American help.
Meanwhile, recent attacks on critical Saudi oil facilities that the U.S. blames on Iran have helped rally more American and international support for the kingdom.
When it comes to the U.S.-Saudi relationship and the kingdom's callous reaction to Khashoggi's killing, the president and his secretary of state have been derelict in their duty: They have not only failed to advance American strategic interests but also undermined America's values in the process.


The U.S. Military is Sending Thousands of Troops and Even B-1 Bombers into Saudi Arabia (To Counter Iran)

The National InterestNovember 3, 2019
On October 6, around fifty U.S. commandos in northeastern Syria tasked with hunting down ISIS forces were withdrawn from territory near the Turkish border controlled by the Kurdish-Arab SDF faction.
The U.S. withdrawal was a prerequisite for a Turkish attack against the SDF which subsequently took place. The remaining hundreds of U.S. forces elsewhere in northeastern Syria were endangered in the crossfire and had to be withdrawn a few days later.
The U.S. withdrawal was post-hoc justified on the basis that they were no longer needed in the Middle East and it was time to “bring the troops home.” 
But in the weeks since, the United States has deployed over 3,000 more troops to the Middle East—including hundreds of National Guardsmen in Syria, and thousands of soldiers and airmen deployed to Saudi Arabia.
While a companion article looks at the deployment of a mechanized battalion to defend an oil field in southeastern Syria, this second part looks at the rapid buildup of U.S. forces in the wealthy Kingdom in response to intensifying clashes with Iran following the United State’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal with Tehran.
Return to the Kingdom
The deployments to Saudi Arabia marks a dramatic turn around from sixteen years earlier in 2003, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pulled out thousands of U.S. troops. Their presence had long been cited as a factor radicalizing Muslims across the planet who objected to the presence of foreign troops so close to the holy city of Mecca.
Apparently, these concerns have since faded, despite political headwinds from a U.S. Congress angered by Saudi Arabia’s grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul.
The buildup has been prompted by Iranian harassment of shipping in the Persian Gulf, the shootdown of U.S. surveillance drone over the Persian Gulf in June, and a drone and missile attack on Saudi oil refineries in September that was almost certainly of Iranian origin but which Yemeni rebels took credit for.
First, following the loss of drones in June, that the Defense Department announced it was doubling troop deployment to the Kingdom from 500 to 1,000 personnel.

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