Arab Analyst:

Trump Puts US Centcome in Al-Udeid on Auction to Blackmail S. Arabia, UAE

Rasa - Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, said US President Donald Trump humiliated and blackmailed the Arabs in his recent interview with CBN news channel.

News ID: 431035

Date: 16 July 2017 - 21:29

RNA - In his interview with the CBN, Trump said that he traveled to Saudi Arabia and the UAE after the two Arab states accepted to pay hundreds of billions of dollars to purchase the US-made weapons and equipment, Atwan wrote on Sunday.

He also said that 10 countries are willing to host the US military base in Qatar, named al-Udeid, and they will pay all expenses related to the base, the Arab analyst added.

"The gist of Trump's comments is that he has put the base for auction and is after the highest price offer with the hosting country Qatar having the advantage of winning the bid," Atwan said, adding that while Trump is in office, he will continue blackmailing the Persian Gulf Arab states.

Qatar is home to the al-Udeid airbase that holds the forward headquarters of Central Command and hosts around 10,000 American troops.

But while saying there are "10 countries willing to build us another base", Trump said "we will not have a problem with the military base".

"We are going to have a good relationship with Qatar and not going to have a problem with the military base," Trump said in an interview with CBN News aired on Wednesday.

"If we ever had to leave, we'd have 10 countries willing to build us another one. And they'll pay for it. The days of us paying for things are largely over."

Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May on the first leg of his first foreign trip since taking office and held a series of meetings with the king and other Arab and Muslim leaders.

During the two-day visit, Trump also signed an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth almost $110bn - something he alluded to in the interview.

"Saudi Arabia put up hundreds of billions of dollars of money going into buying our planes and our military equipment and investing in our country. And I said, ‘You have to do that otherwise I am not going.’ So they spent hundreds of billions of dollars right in front of us," Trump said.

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