Saudi Arabia does not have a formal treaty of alliance with the United States — meaning there is no piece of paper obligating the US to do anything whatsoever in response to an attack against Saudi Arabia. And while the US has been intimately involved in the Saudi oil industry going back to the 1930s, nobody has ever claimed there is a deep connection grounded in values between our two countries.
But the Saudi royal family does seem to have a special relationship with Trump, who has repeatedly bucked bipartisan congressional majorities to back the Kingdom on topics ranging from its disastrous war in Yemen to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
It’s a fishy situation that naturally raises questions about Trump’s personal financial relationships with Persian Gulf monarchies — questions he and his allies in Congress have been successfully stonewalling for years.
Quotes
Saudi Pensacoloa base shooting
Saudi Arabia is not really a nation, it’s a family business that profits from oil and religious tourism. It’s not even comparable to a mafia, because a mafia relies on the goodwill of its members to survive. The Saudi ‘royals’ have no such goodwill. Without the protection of various western governments, they would be overthrown and Khaddaffi’ed within a week.
There is no reason, aside from the fact that, as Trump said, ‘they pay cash’ for us to support them in any way. Our alliance with them is a net loss.
From SIX Saudi nationals arrested after Pensacola naval base shooting | Daily Mail Online
The Air Force trainee who killed three and injured eight when he opened fire at a naval base in Florida assailed the United States as ‘a nation of evil’ before he went on his shooting rampage, AFP reports.
The man, first identified by NBC News as Saudi national Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, opened fire inside a classroom at Naval Air Station in Pensacola early Friday morning. Police quickly responded to the scene and he was shot dead.
US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the suspect was a second lieutenant attending the aviation school at the base.
Meanwhile six other Saudi nationals were arrested near the base shortly after the attack, as investigators began to probe a terror link.
Three of the six were seen filming the entire incident as it unfolded, a source told The New York Times on Friday evening.
US arms sold to Saudi Arabia wind up in Al Qaeda’s hands
Hodeidah, Yemen (CNN) – Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners have transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other factions waging war in Yemen, in violation of their agreements with the United States, a CNN investigation has found.
The weapons have also made their way into the hands of Iranian-backed rebels battling the coalition for control of the country, exposing some of America’s sensitive military technology to Tehran and potentially endangering the lives of US troops in other conflict zones.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, its main partner in the war, have used the US-manufactured weapons as a form of currency to buy the loyalties of militias or tribes, bolster chosen armed actors, and influence the complex political landscape, according to local commanders on the ground and analysts who spoke to CNN.
via US arms sold to Saudi Arabia and UAE end up in wrong hands
The remarkable similarities between 9/11 and Jamal Khashoggi’s murder | TheHill
But the most striking similarity of the two attacks was the relationship between the attackers and the Saudi ruling elite. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, shared a close relationship with the Saudi monarchy, mainly because of his father Mohammed bin Laden’s business in constructing and restoring mosques in Mecca and throughout Saudi Arabia. Until his death in a 1967 plane crash, the senior bin Laden enjoyed a close friendship with the Saudi king; his sons, including Osama bin Laden, inherited that relationship.
Based on several media accounts, the team of 15 Saudis arrived in Turkey aboard jets owned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (known as MbS). Several members of the team allegedly provided personal security for MbS and are said to have been directed by MbS’s closest lieutenants, including adviser Saud al-Qahtani and Saudi deputy intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri.
Although the links between the Saudi military and government in the Khashoggi killing appear to evident, the links between Saudi government officials and the 9/11 attacks remain somewhat murky. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. In a 2017 investigation, Politico documented one lawyer’s quest to prove Saudi Arabia bankrolled the 9/11 attacks. New York attorney Jim Kreindler, who represents the families of more than 800 victims of the attacks believes the terrorists had help from the Saudi government.
He is not alone in this opinion. Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), co-chair of Congress’s 9/11 Joint Inquiry, is on record stating, “I’ve stopped calling what our government has done a cover-up. Cover-up suggests a passive activity. What they’re doing now I call aggressive deception.”
Graham further notes, “I came to the conclusion that there was a support network by trying to assess how the 19 hijackers could pull it off with their significant limitations. Most couldn’t speak English, most had never been in the United States, and most were not well educated. How could they carry out such a complex task?”
via The remarkable similarities between 9/11 and Jamal Khashoggi’s murder | TheHill
Report: The Saudis Used Veterans to Funnel Money to Trump
This story begins with a group offering vets free trips (funded by the Saudis) to the capital in order to lobby lawmakers in late 2016. The target of their ire was the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government. It became law in September of 2016 when Congress overrode Barack Obama’s veto and the Saudi lobbying effort began shortly thereafter.
The vets, who were told that the bill would allow other countries to charge U.S. troops for crimes committed overseas, stayed in two non-Trump hotels on their first trips to Washington. But then the organizer found an opening at Trump’s lavish spot in downtown D.C. Michael Gibson, who helped run the trips on behalf of the Saudis, said this had nothing to do with the regime’s trying to curry favor with a new U.S. president. He also said the rooms, which averaged $768 a night at the time, were provided at a discount.
via Report: The Saudis Used Veterans to Funnel Money to Trump
US Senators bribed by Saudis
Let’s face it, this has been going on for years. But now, the press is actually talking about it
via Republicans Senators Who Tried to Kill Yemen War Resolution Were Paid by Saudi Lobbyists
America’s CIA Won’t Let Donald Trump Shield MBS Over Khashoggi – Bloomberg
via America’s CIA Won’t Let Donald Trump Shield MBS Over Khashoggi – Bloomberg
This tells us a few things. First, the CIA must be sure it has powerful evidence of the prince’s alleged responsibility — tapes and phone intercepts included. Second, the agency must believe that MBS isn’t essential to American security interests in the region. Had the spies agreed with the president’s assessment, it is unlikely they would have leaked their conclusion of MBS’s guilt. This is significant because the CIA works closely with its Saudi counterparts, and would not have made such a determination lightly. And third, the CIA is determined not to be involved in a shabby cover-up.
Is This the Break With Saudi Arabia We’ve Been Waiting For? | The American Conservative
Despite its alleged complicity in the 9/11 attacks, a long history of supporting radical Islamist groups, one of the world’s worst human rights records, and the prosecution of a savage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia—up until now—has largely escaped censure by both Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
In fact, politicians from both parties have implausibly lauded Saudi Arabia as one of Washington’s most important allies. However, the Trump administration appeared to have taken this obsequious approach to the House of Saud to a new level. He and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have lavished praise on Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, often referred to as MbS. In his speech to the United Nations in September, Trump singled out the Saudi king and crown prince citing their “bold new reforms.” The president has hardly been alone. For much of the last three years, the crown prince has been able to count on a devoted fan club that includes prominent columnists, philanthropists, and titans of industry.
via Is This the Break With Saudi Arabia We’ve Been Waiting For? | The American Conservative
Don’t run, we are your friends – ‘How Saudi became a US ally’
The 1973 oil embargo was a major rough patch. For a year, the Saudis quit selling to the U.S. in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. But the two countries made up, united in opposition to the Soviet Union. Even the 9/11 attacks couldn’t loosen the bond. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Saudi nationals, and U.S. public opinion turned strongly against the kingdom after Saudi citizens were allowed to leave the U.S. right after the attack — before the FBI could interview them. But President George W. Bush, whose family had long-standing Saudi business relationships, stood by the alliance, and in 2005, he was photographed holding hands with then–Crown Prince Abdullah. In the decade after 9/11, the Saudis spent more than $100 million on public relations in the U.S., trying to overcome the country’s image as an exporter of terrorism.
Is that image true?
Yes. Decades ago, the Saudi monarchy made a tacit bargain with radical Islamists in the country: It would fund the spread of Wahhabism, the Saudi form of ultraconservative Islam, and jihadism around the world, as long as the radicals didn’t blow up targets inside Saudi Arabia. Saudi money funded Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, and the Russian province of Chechnya. After 9/11, Saudi officials claimed to have turned off the money spigot. But secret U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in 2009 said Saudi Arabia “remains a critical financial support base” for al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, giving them “millions of dollars annually.”What about human rights?
With its draconian form of sharia law, Saudi Arabia’s autocratic government is consistently rated among “the worst of the worst” human rights offenders. Its gender apartheid system treats women as second-class citizens — shrouded in abayas, dependent on male guardians, and mostly barred from going out alone and from any form of public life. There’s no freedom of religion, and the press is censored. Brutal, public floggings and stonings are the penalty for such crimes as adultery and apostasy. Those arrested are routinely tortured to extract confessions. Last year, Saudi Arabia put to death 146 people for crimes including murder and drug dealing; most of the executions were beheadings.What’s in it for the U.S.?
For the average US citizen, we ‘benefit’ by being soft targets for Saudi-supported groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS. But our 1% benefits a lot from Saudi bribes.
Saudis working with al-Qaeda
The Saudi-backed coalition, which receives U.S. support, has been working alongside al-Qaeda militants as it fights the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: Fighting al-Qaeda has been a primary goal of the U.S. military in Yemen, which faces what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. But according to the AP, the military has looked the other way in some instances as deals were made with al-Qaeda fighters to clear out certain areas in the country.
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What’s happening
The U.S. is aligned with the the Saudi-backed coalition in eliminating fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — “the most dangerous branch of the terror network that carried out the 9/11 attacks.”At the same time, the coalition is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Per the AP, AQAP is “effectively on the same side” as the coalition in their fight against the rebels, and by extension on the same side as the U.S.
Al-Qaeda militants have been paid off to evacuate certain areas that were being targeted by the coalition, the AP reports.
In one instance, al-Qaeda fighters left major port city Mukalla after being “guaranteed a safe route and allowed to keep weapons and cash looted from the city.”
Another deal allowed militants to leave six towns in the Abyan region; they were assured that the coalition and U.S. would “cease all bombings as AQAP pulled out with its weapons,” five tribal mediators involved in the negotiations told the AP.
via Report: Saudi coalition in Yemen working with al-Qaeda – Axios
Mary P. Madigan 
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