The first official foreign visit of President Donald Trump since his election was one full of symbolism and hypocrisy. As a successful real estate tycoon who made it to the White House, maybe he thought it would be easy to transform his business to one that could make him a statesman. It was a visit by a businessman. Neither could it be said a symbolic pilgrimage to the capital of the world’s three major religions to make him consistent to his mould that made him a successful businessman.
It was a visit characterized by ambivalence. President Trump cemented further US-Saudi relations; that the champion of democracy and freedom signed an arms deal worth $350 billion spread over the next 10 years and $110 billion that will take effect immediately with Saudi Arabia, a country which has a dismal record of tolerance. Saudi Arabia is a theocratic feudalistic monarchy governed on the extreme interpretation of the Sharia (Islamic law). In many ways, that country is the alter ego of the dreaded terrorist group called ISIS.
Maybe Trump was consistent with his “America First” motto regardless of the consequence how that obsession could be obtained. It was good for the US to be assured of oil while at the same the time raking in billions of dollars by selling arms to one of the most ruthless monarchies the world has witnessed in contemporary history. The man whom many thought would bring about change in US policy completely ignored the kingdom’s political track record. The arms deal unequivocally amounted to approving Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen where close to half a million children are dying of starvation. He also closed his eyes that he was dealing with a country that supports Islamic terrorist groups all over the globe, the latest of which was the bombing in Manchester where 22 were killed and 59 injured. Most distressing is that Trump ignored the clamor to reopen the 9/11 case that could make Saudi Arabia liable for the death of the more than 3,000 Americans after it was discovered that 16 out of the 19 people who hijacked the planes were Saudi nationals.
To most political observers, the visit was like a businesslike assessment of the prospects in store for the US. It was also meant to synchronize US partnership with Saudi Arabia and Israel on how to get rid of Bashar al Assad of Syria, to overcome the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, to keep at bay the Shiite-led Iraqi government, and to convince Turkey to remain within the folds of Nato, despite being double-crossed by the US support to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (or PKK – Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê) and the People’s Protection Units (or the YPG- Yekineyen Parastina Gel).
While Saudi Arabia and Israel are indigenous enemies because of religious differences, they discovered they have more common interests if they stick together under the protective umbrella of the US. In fact, their rivalry has now spilled over to Yemen where Houthis, who are mostly Shiites, are battling again the Saudi-installed Sunni government. Neither will Saudi Arabia allow Iran to wrest the leadership in the Islamic world, for that could endanger the House of Saud. Iran’s political line that the two major Islamic faith should unite against a common enemy is a proposition which Israel considers dangerous to its existence.
The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel has steadily been cemented. The Israeli position not to compromise with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah has visibly tarnished the image of both Saudi Arabia and Israel. The spectacular bombing in October 1983 of marine barracks that took the lives of 241 Americans and 58 French has become focal why Hezbollah has been marginalized from any peace negotiations. This has also resulted in the clash between the Sunni-led Hamas based in Gaza Strip against Israel, and the reason why the West Bank has slowly been gobbled up with Saudi Arabia being blamed for not exerting enough influence to stop the Israeli settlement. This has also become humiliating to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas.
While the US and Israel have constantly projected Iran as their bogeyman because of the active participation of Iranian and the Hezbollah fighters in the Syrian conflict, they cannot be considered terrorists but proxy fighters. In fact, their role has somewhat been exaggerated to legitimize the US to intervene, which reason sparked the Syrian civil war. Right now, Sunni-inspired terrorist organizations are having difficulty determining their enemy much that the US remains supportive to the Shiite-dominated government in Iraq. The same can be said of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In other words, it is only in Yemen, in Syria and in Gaza where the ideological demarcation between Saudi Arabia and Iran is clear.
Many Islamic fundamentalist organizations have become the breeding ground for fanaticism and later on evolved to become terrorist organizations. US and Israeli collaboration to blame Iran are all designed to gloss over the truth that Saudi Arabia remains the biggest funder of Islamic organizations. It cannot be denied that Al Qaida was originally made up of Saudi nationals; the al Nusra, a splinter from the Al Qaida, came about at the height of Nato’s bombing of Libya; the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was born after Islamic fighters attempted to form a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Even terrorist organizations like the Talibans in Afghanistan and the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan are closely identified with the Sunni brand of Islam.
In the Philippines, we experienced the same sporadic but violent surge of terrorism waged by Islamic fundamentalism. When the original Islamic secessionist organization, the Moro National Liberation Front, split into two to form the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, gradually that saw the organization evolved to become a terrorist organization. Terrorism became the standard method to wage war after the Abu Sayyaf was founded in 1991 by veteran mujahedeen fighters who fought in Afghanistan. Within the MILF, another split took place only to morph to a terrorist organization like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. External Islamic terrorist organization such as Jemaah Islamiya also exercised influence to local Muslim terrorist exemplified by the role of Zulkifli bin hir alias Marwan to the members of the MILF.
All these are cited because what was wrapped up during Trump’s visit only reaffirmed America’s position as the leading war merchant of the world. Nothing on how to bring about peace and political stability in the region was taken. It was just a rebalancing of power with the US overseeing Israel to check Iran and Hezbollah, while ensuring that Saudi Arabia still exercises dominance to compel Arab states to rally against the so-called infidels in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.