{"id":1251,"date":"2018-10-17T09:16:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T13:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2018-10-17T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T13:27:13","slug":"our-friend-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Friend Saudi Arabia \u00a0 \u00a0 (thanks West Wing)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWho will rid me of this meddlesome Priest?\u201d \u2013 Henry II of England, speaking of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.\u00a0 Four of his knights then murdered him.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere we go again \u2013 guilty until proven innocent\u201d \u2013 President Trump about Saudi involvement in the Jamal Khashoggi murder<\/em><\/p>\n

So the Saudi \u201cre-write\u201d of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is coming out.\u00a0 Now his torture, death, and dismemberment is being blamed on \u201cover-achieving\u201d subordinates of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, MBS.\u00a0 MBS plotted to have Khashoggi drawn back to Saudi Arabia earlier in the summer, probably to be held in custody.\u00a0 Since Khashoggi wouldn\u2019t fall for those inducements to return to Saudi Arabia, the unofficial word now is that the Prince\u2019s subordinates took it to the next level, without his knowledge.<\/p>\n

Turkish authorities have released the names of the fifteen Saudis who arrived on two separate private jets the morning Khashoggi disappeared.\u00a0 Eleven are listed as members of Saudi security forces or the Saudi Royal Guard.\u00a0 One, Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, has travelled with MBS and other top members of the Saudi Royal family on past US trips.\u00a0 Another, Muhammed Saad Alzahrani, is a direct bodyguard of the Prince.<\/p>\n

We are now to believe that the elite guards of Prince Monhammad bin Salman, took it upon themselves to commit international murder of a US resident and Washington Post columnist without the knowledge of their boss.\u00a0 And we are also to believe that the \u201cpoor\u201d Prince has been in a deep depression since the killing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Saudi Arabia, and if necessary, heads will roll, literally, to keep the reputation of the Prince intact.\u00a0 The cover story is coming together, and like the famous opening lines of the Mission Impossible <\/em>franchise, \u201c\u2026should any of your force be caught or killed, the Prince<\/em> will disavow any knowledge of your actions.\u201d\u00a0 Only the victim was killed so far, but the international outrage that resulted may require a \u201cfull disavowal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next question is what will the United States do?\u00a0 Secretary of State Pompeo was sent by the President to \u201cgo talk to Prince bin Salman,\u201d but the images that came back from that conversation looked more like a pleasant conversation with a photo op.\u00a0 And the President himself has been a driving force in the cover story; the first to release the idea of the \u201crogue agents\u201d acting alone, and already is building excuses for the Prince.<\/p>\n

The rest of the Republican leaders are trying to provide the \u201cmoral cover\u201d for the Party.\u00a0 Lindsey Graham said about MBS:<\/p>\n

\u00a0“This guy is a wrecking ball, he had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey, and to expect me to ignore it, I feel used and abused.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But don\u2019t expect Graham and others to act on their statements; as soon as the cover story is fully in place, they will condemn MBS for not controlling his subordinates, then let relations with Saudi continue on their \u201cmerry way.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s about jobs and money, American jobs and money.\u00a0 While the President has vastly overstated Saudi commitments to buy US weapons, saying the deals have been made for $116 billion (the actual number is closer to $30 billion,) as he says, Boeing, and Lockheed (or Lock-heeyeed<\/em>,) and Raytheon are depending on Saudi contracts.\u00a0What\u2019s the murder of one Saudi citizen, who happened to live in Virginia and write for the Post, <\/em>compared to that?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also about the Trump\/Kushner \u201cgrand plan\u201d for Middle East security.\u00a0 Jared Kushner, who has developed an extremely close relationship with Prince bin Salman, sees Saudi as the Islamic pillar of his peace plan, cooperating with Israel to counter-balance the force of Iran.\u00a0 The US arms sales are to build Saudi up to compete with Iran, ultimately pushing the Iranians back out of Syria and Iraq, and reducing their influence with extremists in Lebanon and Palestine.<\/p>\n

All of this sounds persuasive:\u00a0 a master plan to rebuild the Middle East, based on the power of US and Israeli arms and the strength of Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 The problem with the strategy:\u00a0 Saudi Arabia historically has been a \u201ctransactional partner\u201d with every nation.\u00a0 They make the best deal they can at the time, but that deal does not mean any kind of long-term commitment.\u00a0 If the next deal from someone else is better, they go with that.\u00a0 To sink billions of dollars of weapons into Saudi may be a good short term US economic move, but does not guarantee Saudi loyalty to a future Middle East vision.<\/p>\n

What it does do is show that the United States is no longer a nation dedicated to principle.\u00a0 We are willing to allow \u201cour friends\u201d to violate international law, and even murder those who are under an umbrella of US protection, as long as the \u201cprice is right.\u201d\u00a0 Our international standing, long based on the \u201cCity on a Hill\u201d image of the US, is now based on cash; a transactional one, like the Saudis.<\/p>\n

No wonder they get along with the Trumps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Friend Saudi Arabia \u00a0 \u00a0 (thanks West Wing) \u201cWho will rid me of this meddlesome Priest?\u201d \u2013 Henry II of England, speaking of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.\u00a0 Four of his knights then murdered him.\u00a0 \u201cHere we go again \u2013 guilty until proven innocent\u201d \u2013 President Trump about Saudi involvement in the Jamal … Continue reading “Our Friend Saudi Arabia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOur Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Friend Saudi Arabia \u00a0 \u00a0 (thanks West Wing) \u201cWho will rid me of this meddlesome Priest?\u201d \u2013 Henry II of England, speaking of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.\u00a0 Four of his knights then murdered him.\u00a0 \u201cHere we go again \u2013 guilty until proven innocent\u201d \u2013 President Trump about Saudi involvement in the Jamal … Continue reading "Our Friend Saudi Arabia"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Our Friend Saudi Arabia\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":843,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/17\\\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Friend Saudi Arabia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia \u00a0 \u00a0 (thanks West Wing) \u201cWho will rid me of this meddlesome Priest?\u201d \u2013 Henry II of England, speaking of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.\u00a0 Four of his knights then murdered him.\u00a0 \u201cHere we go again \u2013 guilty until proven innocent\u201d \u2013 President Trump about Saudi involvement in the Jamal … Continue reading \"Our Friend Saudi Arabia\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia","datePublished":"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/"},"wordCount":843,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/","name":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-17T13:16:18+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-17T13:27:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2018\/10\/17\/our-friend-saudi-arabia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Friend Saudi Arabia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1254,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}