Donald Trump has signed the largest arms deal in history with Saudi Arabia despite warnings he could be accused of being complicit in war crimes and after blaming Saudi Arabia himself for producing the terrorists behind 9/11. The President confirmed he had signed a weapons deal with the Saudis worth $109.7 billion, predicted to grow to a $380 billion Saudi investment within 10 years, during his first trip abroad since his Inauguration. Mr Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the deal was positive news for American employment and the economy. Yet a February Gallup poll found that Saudi Arabia is one of the least liked countries by Americans, only slightly less than Russia. The deal would also appear hypocritical after the President publicly accused the Saudis of masterminding the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001. After his election, Mr Trump said Saudi Arabia should be banned from exporting oil to the US, and has accused the country of killing gay people and enslaving women. This is the same Saudi Arabia that Trump bluntly accused of masterminding 9/11, of loving to kill gays and enslaving women, the same country that Trump said, after his election, should be banned from exporting any oil to the United States. But this was a few days before the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began to court Trump, four months before his meeting in the White House was described as a turning point in relations between the two countries, seven months before Trump was received by the Saudi royal family with pomp, parades, horses and dancing princes. It’s tempting to say that Trump was welcomed as if he was Lawrence of Arabia, were it not for the fact that Lawrence disliked King Saud and said his rule would introduce extremist Wahhabist Islam to the Arabian peninsula. This is the same Islam that Trump said hates America, and therefore requires a travel ban to protect it. Source:
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