Trumps in way over his head: Ignorant Qatar tweets make a bad situation worse
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON at Salon
http://www.salon.com/2017/06/07/trumps-in-way-over-his-head-ignorant-qatar-tweets-make-a-bad-situation-worse/
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(Trump Tweet)
.extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!
9:44 AM - 6 Jun 2017
40,183 40,183 Retweets 61,584 61,584 likes
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Those were the first public statements made by the president of the United States addressing the fact that Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — as well as the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, the Emirati-backed government in eastern Libya and the Maldives — suspended economic and diplomatic relations with Qatar. That happened on Monday, ostensibly over Qatar’s alleged support for Iran and terrorist organizations.
Always eager to pat himself on the back, Trump took credit for this crisis but seemed not to recall that on his trip he called Qatar a crucial strategic partner — which it is, since it hosts the regional headquarters of U.S. Central Command and tens of thousands of American troops are on the ground there. Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. may also going to break with Qatar could point toward an enormous military and strategic upheaval.
As usual, the president didn’t seem to have consulted with anyone before he issued his startling statements. The Pentagon praised Qatar for its “contribution to the security of the region” and for hosting the U.S. military, and had no answer for the question of what in the world Trump was talking about.The ambassador to Qatar took to Twitter to reassure the world that the U.S. was still an ally. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the parties to sit down and try to work things out.
If Trump were able to keep his attention on the topic longer than a couple of minutes, he might have learned that the disputes among these countries are far more complicated than Qatar’s support for terrorism. (Saudi Arabia is hardly one to talk.) This article in the Washington Post, from a few days before the announcement that these countries were cutting ties with Qatar, explains the underlying conflict in some detail.
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