Regarding the US-Saudi alliance that was, in my words, "made in hell": I shared the following
on Facebook. A mix of fact and opinion from me, rather polemical, but absolutely sincere on my part. Take that as you will.
This is from June, but it's still quite relevant. The Saudi Arabian regime is the same regime that has funded (and still funds) - however indirectly - the likes of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Remember...15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11/2001 were Saudi nationals, as was Osama bin Laden himself, among many other violent jihadists and their major donors and supporters.
Let's be clear: the shockingly cruel and utterly brutal, inhumane, and completely illiberal and undemocratic regime of Saudi Arabia is no "friend" of the United States, human rights, or anything approaching equality or justice. Moreover, US Presidents, politicians, and other political and economic elites affiliated with both the Republican and the Democratic Parties are complicit in enabling what is widely acknowledged as one of the absolute WORST governments on the planet. Senator Sanders is absolutely right in calling out the evils of the Saudi Kingdom, and the US government itself for their continued support of the Saudi regime.
I maintain that the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history (if not world history) - the same attacks that "changed everything", that killed upwards of 3,000 innocent Americans and many from other countries; the same attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, severely damaged the Pentagon, and forever changed air travel, incited fear and anger toward Muslims and people of Arab/Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian descent (the vast majority of whom, of course, are 100% innocent as well; remember, the most common victims of the threat and violence posed "radical Islamic terrorism" are Muslims themselves, and it's not even close!)...the same "evil, despicable acts of terror" that President George W. Bush so aptly identified and condemned and that permanently traumatized the American psyche, would *not have been possible* - and thus, would NEVER have happened - if it were not for the alliance made in hell between the governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the decades of military, intelligence, economic (read: OIL), and geopolitical cooperation that has primarily benefited the wealthiest and most powerful in both countries - to the horrifying detriment of everyone else in the world.
Again: no US-Saudi alliance, no 9/11. Period. That is a matter of record, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, enough of my soap-boxing: here's an excerpt from Sanders's speech from June, on the ongoing Yemeni Civil War:
"The chaos in Yemen has also been strategically disastrous for the United States, providing fertile ground to extremist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS and creating new opportunities for Iranian intervention, in addition to being morally indefensible and strategically short-sighted." Sanders also attributes the spread of "an ultra-reactionary form of Islam throughout the world" to a "decades-long (U.S. funded) effort by Saudi Arabia."
Article link:
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/bernie-sanders-5-reasons-united-states-long-overdue-rethink-its-alliance-saudi
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