Broken Promise?
TimeWatch Editorial
November 15, 2016
Mark Hensch wrote an article for THE HILL website on the 16th of August 2016 entitled “Trump: Saudi Arabia 'should pay us' in which he quoted Donald Trump as describing the relationship that the United States has maintained with Saudi Arabia as one sided.
“GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia is not properly compensating America for its diplomatic partnership. Trump called on Riyadh to share its vast wealth with the U.S. in exchange for the alliance between the two nations. “They make a billion dollars a day,” he told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Saudi Arabia, if it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t be here,” Trump said. “They wouldn’t exist.” “They should pay us,” the billionaire businessman added. “Like it or don’t like it, people have backed Saudi Arabia. What I really mind though is we back it at tremendous expense. We get nothing for it.” Mark Hensch, Trump: Saudi Arabia 'should pay us' THE HILL website, the 16th of August 2016
The New York Times on November 10, 2016 published an article entitled, “Across the World, Shock and Uncertainty at Trump’s Victory.” The article was an exhaustive one that detailed the feelings of a number of countries regarding the result of the Presidential Election held in the United States. In the part of the article that dealt with the feelings of those governments and peoples in the Middle East the following paragraph included the reaction of Saudi Arabia.
“President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim of Turkey quickly congratulated Mr. Trump, but official reaction was scarce from Saudi Arabia. Mr. Trump said the kingdom may no longer be able to count on American defense guarantees and should give the United States “free oil for the next 10 years.” “Across the World, Shock and Uncertainty at Trump’s Victory” The New York Times on November 10, 2016
What might be useful therefore, is an explanation of the development of our relationship with the Saudi’s in the first place. Jerry Robinson in his article entitled, “The Rise of the Petrodollar System: “Dollars for Oil” published on the FINANCIAL SENSE Website, February 23, 2012 explains the connection. In 1944 there was an agreement made by 44 nations to fix the price of gold at $35.00 US an ounce. By the 1970s however the agreement started to fall apart and other nations decided that they would prefer to purchase gold in their own currency. The government of the United States saw the writing on the wall. Listen to how Jerry Robinson describes the solution that Nixon came up with.
“President Richard M. Nixon and his globalist sidekick, Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, knew that their destruction of the international gold standard under the Bretton Woods arrangement would cause a decline in the artificial global demand of the U.S. dollar. Maintaining this "artificial dollar demand" was vital if the United States were to continue expanding its "welfare and warfare" spending. In a series of meetings, the United States — represented by then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger — and the Saudi royal family made a powerful agreement. According to the agreement, the United States would offer military protection for Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. The U.S. also agreed to provide the Saudis with weapons, and perhaps most importantly, guaranteed protection from Israel. The Saudi royal family knew a good deal when they saw one. They were more than happy to accept American weapons and a U.S. guarantee to restrain attacks from neighboring Israel.” Jerry Robinson, “The Rise of the Petrodollar System: “Dollars for Oil” the FINANCIAL SENSE Website, February 23, 2012
The fact is however that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia began before the time of Nixon. Robert E. Looney, in his book entitled “ Handbook of Oil Politics” takes the relationship back to World War II and the time of President Roosevelt. Hear what he says on page 32 of his book.
“Whereas most of the rest of the gulf area was under British dominion, and that of Britain’s state controlled oil company, APOC, Saudi Arabia had largely escaped British control. In addition, the Saudi Monarch King Abdul Aziz Ibin Saud had granted a substantial oil concession to an American Oil Firm, The Standard Oil Company of California SOCAL, given the United States a significant presence in the country. Early geological studies had suggested moreover that the concession area harbored vast reserves of oil. On the basis of these considerations, Roosevelt decided in 1943 to anoint Saudi Arabia as America’s chosen foreign supplier of oil, and be brought under American military protection. To cement this arrangement, Roosevelt met with Abdul Aziz on February 14, 1945 and forged an agreement with him under which the USA received privileged access to Saudi Oil in return for a US pledge to protect the monarchy, against all enemies foreign and domestic. From this point onward it was America’s policy to prevent any hostile power from invading Saudi Arabia or otherwise impeding US access to the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf Area.” Robert E. Looney, “ Handbook of Oil Politics” page 32.
More was to follow. There was a definitive expansion of the connection between the Saudi Kingdom and the United States of America.
“The USA proceeded to insert a permanent military presence in the Gulf Region. This led in 1946-47 to the establishment of an air base in Dhahran and a naval base at Bahrain. The USA also began to provide Saudi Arabia with advance weaponry and other forms of military assistance.” Robert E. Looney, “Handbook of Oil Politics” page 32.
During those year immediately following the Second World War, the Soviet Union was seen to be a conceivable threat to the interests of the United States in that part of the world. So the question must be asked and answered, is the subtle threat of the President Elect regarding Saudi Arabia based upon a lack of information regard the history of our connection with the kingdom, or is there another as yet unstated objective? We certainly do await the revelation.
Cameron A. Bowen
