How is it possible that the President can announce we're using U.S. troops as mercenaries, and yet absolutely no further information is available on the details of this arrangement?
It's as if Congress and the media have collectively decided "he's probably just making this whole receiving-a-billion-dollars-from-Saudi-Arabia-in-exchange-for-U.S.-troops thing up, we don't need to worry about it," but like, I have questions.
Even odder: as of Oct 2019, when Trump announced Saudi Arabia would be paying for U.S. troops to be deployed there, KSA was already behind on its bills to the U.S. military, and owed $181M for fuel and refueling services.
Has KSA even paid for that yet?
defensenews.com/congress/2019/…
Has KSA even paid for that yet?
defensenews.com/congress/2019/…
Confirmed: Saudi Arabia's unpaid bills to the U.S. military for refueling costs have not been paid.
So what's this "billion dollars" Trump claims Saudi Arabia has paid?
So what's this "billion dollars" Trump claims Saudi Arabia has paid?
It was Saudi Arabia that asked the U.S. for these additional deployments, and Trump agreed, claiming it was because "Saudi Arabia pays cash." But for over a year now, Trump has refused to address the fact that KSA was stiffing the U.S. on a $181M bill, with his apparent blessing.
That KSA was failing to pay the U.S. for agreed-upon refueling services did not come out until March 2018, when several Democratic senators raised it in a letter to Mattis.
Only then did DOD acknowledge that due to "errors in accounting," it had failed to collect from KSA.
Only then did DOD acknowledge that due to "errors in accounting," it had failed to collect from KSA.
And yet, for nearly two years now, President Trump – who almost never makes it through a rally without incoherent complaints about NATO members "not paying" – has been completely chill about KSA being a couple hundred million behind on bills owed directly to the United States.
I'm starting to wonder if Trump's lies about deploying U.S. troops based on who can pay are intended to disguise and distract from the fact that, in reality, it is Trump who is paying Saudi Arabia hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars, for unclear reasons.
