Former US diplomat:

US defense of Saudi, defense of terrorism

Rasa - The United States security umbrella for Saudi Arabia amounts to defense of terrorism by Washington, suggests a former US diplomat in the Middle Eastern country.

News ID: 429330

Date: 30 April 2017 - 20:41

RNA - Michael Springmann made the comments in an interview, while commenting on President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of the long time US ally.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the new president asserted his campaign stance that Washington is “losing a tremendous amount of money in defending” the monarchy.

“There is absolutely no need for a security umbrella for Saudi Arabia unless you consider the countries that Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia-financed terrorists have destroyed,” said Springmann, referencing the kingdom’s victims, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, “and now Yemen.”

The two countries’ claims that “Iran is trying to destabilize the region” is “a straight Israeli propaganda line,” he added.

The former diplomat further questioned the American population’s “grasp” of the US politics in regard to the people’s alleged support for Trump’s interventionist policies.

“Trump, on the one hand, is vilified by the American people except when it comes to dealing with terrorist states and bombing Syria; and they love this,” he said. “I frankly don’t understand it because I think American don’t really have a grasp of what the rest of the world is like.”

Trump has said his administration is in talks about possible visits to Saudi Arabia and Israel next month.

Since he started campaigning for the 2016 presidential election, Trump has changed his tone about Riyadh several times, speaking both in favor of and against the monarchy.

847/940