One thing President Donald Trump has achieved in his maiden trip to the Middle East is the multi-billion Arms Deal his government has secured with Saudi Arabia. According to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the US has signed the largest arms deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The $350bn (£270bn) arms deal are the largest sale ever made to a foreign nation in the US history according to White House source.
Deal to counter Iran’s strength
In as much as the US has the right to sell arms to any willing nation, the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia is ill informed.
Tillerson affirmed that the sole purpose of the deal was to counter the growing military strength of the Islamic state of Iran. Although Iran is not listed as a member of the Arab League, it is strictly founded on Islamic principles just like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agenda of the Arab league is to protect the interests of Muslims globally. The two Islamic nations may outwardly appear to be enemies and at a perpetual state of warfare but it’s unlikely they can declare full-fledged war against each other.
Americans don’t trust the Saudi Kingdom
Building up the Saudi Arabia army should never have been given top priority as the Trump administration has done. Technically, the deal will massively empower a nation whose citizens principally masterminded the Pentagon and Twins Towers attacks.
In 2016 President Barack Obama released part of the initially classified Congressional report that investigated the involvement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the deadly 9/11 attack. To this day millions of Americans have not read the document. What if the document had been doctored to absolve the Saudis' so as to avoid potential trade conflict between the nations?
Before arming the Saudi Kingdom, the US president should have pushed for payment of victims and families of the 9/11 attack.
Weapons could end up in wrong hands
The Middle East is rife with extremist groups including ISIS and Al-Qaeda. The Saudi Kingdom is actively backing Sunni rebels battling a legitimate Syrian regime. These sophisticated weapons may easily end up in the hands of the wrong groups.
It would have been wise if President Donald Trump had pushed for the establishment of a US military base in the Muslim-majority country instead of giving them weapons without a proper system of accountability. At least the American people would have been assured that weapons manufactured in the US would not be used against Americans or her allies. Arming a nation that presumably planned the September 11 attacks is the greatest political miscalculation.
