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Oct 27, 2017
3,036
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/02/middleeast/yemen-lost-us-arms/

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.

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edit: Sorry guys, I saw it on twitter with Trump quoted saying "beautiful weapons." If a mod can remove trump from the title so it is accurate, it would be appreciated.
 
Last edited:

mael

Avenger
Nov 3, 2017
16,826
Is there any way that Trump isn't an active traitor to the country?
 

WedgeX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,219
...remember when conservatives got mad about that ATF program that allowed some guns to get sold illegally while trying to track down the people that bought them?
 

PeskyToaster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,314
are you saying that america's policies in the middle east will eventually come back to bite us with our own weapons and training????
 

LQX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,871
Why the need to add Trump's name? The US selling weapons to these countries is nothing new, just like the weapons ended up elsewhere is nothing new.
 

moblin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,107
Москва
In 2015, Riyadh launched a coalition to oust Iranian-supported Houthi rebels from the country's capital and reinstate the internationally recognized government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. The war split the country in two, and with it came the weapons -- not just guns, but anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles, heat-seeking lasers and artillery -- all flooding into an unruly and complex state.

Since then, some of America's "beautiful military equipment," as US President Donald Trump once called it, has been passed on, sold, stolen or abandoned in Yemen's state of chaos, where murky alliances and fractured politics mean little hope for any system of accountability or tracking.

Trump was selling weapons to the Saudis as a presidential candidate? This is pretty big news.
 

Murderopolis

Using an alt account to circumvent a ban
Banned
Jan 12, 2019
105
The Yemen war was Obamas pet project, he also dramatically increased military cooperation and sale of weapons, with Saudi and UAE. And US has been selling weapons to them and the rest of the world for decades.
 

Greg NYC3

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,496
Miami
The Yemen war was Obamas pet project, he also dramatically increased military cooperation and sale of weapons, with Saudi and UAE. And US has been selling weapons to them and the rest of the world for decades.
Our sold weapons coming back to haunt us is nothing new, most of Iraq's WMD was bought from the USA, but Congress has recently been trying to stop these sales to SA as it becomes increasingly clear that they can't be trusted but Trump doesn't want to hear any of that.
 

shnurgleton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,864
Boston
basically when you sell weapons to anyone ever you should probably expect the worst people to end up with them

get me ollie north, south, east, and west
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,510
I mean, ofcourse they did.

Shit's been like that for a long ass time, not limited to Trump. Britain and the U.S are fucked up.
 

RDreamer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,109
I'm currently reading this:
71U5A7NY2hL.jpg



And things like this happening are the norm. Everywhere. Our "diplomacy" via military is atrocious.

Also I do recommend the book. The issues didn't start with Trump. He's making them worse though.
 

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
Saudi Arabia corrupt?

Say it ain't so.




Don't worry! Here's the plan!


1. Help carve up the middle east based on maps drawn by inbred aristocrats and the least talented civil servants of the 20th century.
2. Ignore tribal and sectarian divisions unless those sects play ball or pay up.
3. Badly mishandle religious schisms and help foment eventual Iranian Islamic revolution, toppling friendly secular govt.
4. Watch other previously secular and modern cultures collapse thanks to geopolitical malpractice.
5. Get in bed with Saudi Princes to ensure oil liquidity and keep a proxy neighborhood ally in case of fight with Iran and a check on OPEC
6. Create appearance of siding with Sunnis against Shia, and definitely side with Israel against everyone in the region including sunnis.
7. Ignore soviet invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent collapse into anarchy and Jihadi fundamentalism.
8. SPONSOR Afghani abandonment of secular principles and encourage jihad against cold war enemy.
9. Illegally supply arms to Taliban through proxy states and create network of rich Sunni jihadist hobbyists in Saudi Arabia
10. Ignore Saudi human rights atrocities because Commies. Ignore Saudi oppression of secular anything.
11. Try to juggle every Middle Eastern economic and religious rival simultaneously, making everyone mad.
12. Invade Iraq for quasi-valid reason but just the tip. Pull out before climax. Edging Sadaam Hussein and hardening him as fascist villain.
13. Ignore multiple opportunities to decapitate nascent Al Qaeda after first attempt to bomb WTC.- including now radicalized Osama Bin Laden, son of Saudi oil infrastructure billionaire - who is friend and biz acquaintance of Bush & Cheney families...
14. Invade Iraq again this time, based on evidence you faked to justify revenge for 911 (that had nothing tro do with Iraq but hey, Arabs, right?) and pretend WMDs but really for Military Industrial investors who reaslly wanted a war and access to Iraqwi oil taps, but without protection, and with no plan for power vacuum.
15. Install corrupt lackeys and lickspittles and split internal factions permanently leading to crisis and ungovernable shitshow in Iraq.
16. Ignore Somalia's descent into chaos (and several other African nations) because you're distracted by the war you made and then broke
17. Get stuck in Afghanistan and rev up Pakistani jihadists and fundamentalists - allowing them to protect and shelter Osama Bin Laden
18. Encourage American public to see Islam as a black and white enemy in the mold of communism.
19. Pretend you don't know Osama Bin Laden is literally retired in a Pakistani mansion with servants and shit until you can't anymore
20. Try to handle Syria like you're carrying two hundred loose tennis balls at once
21. Fail to take Russian meddling seriously and eventually elect literally the worst person in America.
22. Profit??


Bonus activity for extra credit: kill the regulated Fairness Doctrine - but also encourage and push the fourth estate to create an appearance of equal and fair reporting that relies on the faulty assumption that both sides are entitled to define their own facts - and that lies from either party must simply be identified as equally valid opinions by mealy-mouthed and defanged reporters. This includes the insistence on hosting panels so that both "pro punching a Baby in the face" and "anti punching a baby in the face" movements are given equal time and validity.

Also, treat the FIrst Ammendment as if it means anything you like. A Joker as a wild card. If you want it to mean "secretly bribe politicians?" That's fine. If you want it to mean "Spend taxpayer money on statues of Slavers with flasehoods engraved on them" go nuts. if you want it to mean "Allow racism and religion to be embroidered into government" that's also fine. Make the publication or repetition of deliberate and malicious falsehoods impossible to punish or even identify.

----------
I'm not ignoring the responsibilites of the other nations involved, and of course, you could make a list hundreds of items long, or even a list with opposing views or contradictory elements - I'm just listing a bunch of things that WE KNEW AT THE TIME THEY WERE BEING CONSIDERED - including the sometimes very obvious results - not hindsight, not a cabal of quiet think tanks realizing this stuff in an academic vacuum- but mainstream media warning itself and the nation that this stuff was all going to fail, and letting Military Industrial Complex, jingoism and even Evangelical Rapture doctrine to drive us deeper into problems or in some case create them from whole cloth. And I am by no means an isolationist.
 

smurfx

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,578
this is by design. those guys get guns and then we sell guns to the guys fighting them. only thing that matters is weapons dealers profiting.
 

Deleted member 15440

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,191
when official enemies of the US do this we say they're directly arming terrorist groups, when america does it it's always some weird accident
 

Shadybiz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,125
Yeah...thread title really needs to be changed. This is not exclusive to Trump...like at all.
 

Frozenprince

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,158
The country run by an insane family of autocrats that wouldn't be out of place in a parody of the roaring 20's is a corrupt hellscape that finances and supplies the terrorist enemies in our "war on terror" that we've spent trillions of dollars and untold human capital to fight?

Well I never.

If we aren't off the Saudi teat soon it's going to all come crashing down on us. This country needed to stop enabling the house of Saud decades ago.
 

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,142
Sydney
If this happened in 2015 it'd be on Obama.

Really the only thing Trump has done differently with regards to the Saudis is he ripped off the mask of naked self interest.

When Khashoggi was carved up like a cake he just came out and said there was really nothing to be done since they got so much money from the Saudis for arms.
 

MrCinos

Member
Oct 26, 2017
740
As someone who's no idea about US candidates' views/policies for the next Presidential elections does any of those candidates have a critical stance on SA?

I'm sure the next US president would take a harder stance on Russia (as it's deserved and he/she definitely should), but I also hope that SA would be getting more than some stern warnings for the illegal (to say the least) stuff and atrocities it does constantly. I know SA is an ally to US, but there's got to be a limit and/or some consequences.