| On June 25, 1996, a tanker truck loaded with 25,000 pounds of explosives ripped through the U.S. Air Force military housing complex Khobar Towers in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen and wounding nearly 500 others. The attack, which could be heard 20 miles away, blew off much of the eight-storied building and left a crater 50 feet wide and 16feet deep. It was the deadliest attack against U.S. forces since the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in neighboring Beirut that left 241 dead. The bombers were later identified as a conglomerate of pro-Iranian militants, Hezbollah, and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda jihadists. Visions of Blood Money This is consequently why Donald Trump’s announcement to send 3000 more U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia caught some by surprise. To be sure, some predict the same Trump who tweeted the day before, “… trying to end America’s endless wars,” will only ignite more, including the killing that follows them. They not only point to history as proof but more criminal occupations in the name of U.S. corporations. (Due to the continued attack against U.S. forces, most American military personnel left Saudi Arabia in 2003. Only a small contingent associated with the campaign of drone strikes in Yemen are stationed at Prince Sultan Air Force.) Having U.S. troops occupy any part of the Muslim holy land in Saudi Arabia has always been historically controversial, if not deadly. Indeed, it served as the reason for widespread revolts and assassination attempts against Saudi rulers, and for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda-and dozens of other Islamic groups living in the kingdom-to declare Jihad against the U.S. in 1993. It’s also why thousands of more Americans died, specifically when the U.S. consulate in Jeddah was attacked, the USS Cole was bombed, and when Saudi nationals carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against America that destroyed the World Trade Centers and parts of the Pentagon. Only this time instead of killing thousands of people as a routine part of the criminal occupation of the Persian Gulf for oil, the killing will be for the Saudi Vision 2030 and Trump Organization-a group of approximately 500 business entities of which Trump is the sole or principal owner. Ground zero is the plan to diversify the economy by developing public service sectors such as health, education infrastructure, and, of course, recreation and tourism. Indeed, Trump and the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman have already finalized a deal to build a Trump Tower complete with restaurants and a golf course. It includes increasing spending on the military. Betray-And Switch Trump’s loyalty to his organization has led him to also abandon a long-time ally: the Kurds. Thanks to Trump Towers Istanbul, which has hundreds of offices and residential suites and some 80 shops and a multiplex cinema, he’s decided to placate Turkey’s president and step aside in Syria. What this means is that U.S. troops will be pulled out of Turkey which leaves the Kurds to defend for themselves. Kurds had been fighting alongside American forces for almost 40 years, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq and then Syria against ISIS. In the meantime, hundreds of stateless Kurds have already been killed with many more fleeing to other countries. The Kurds have been abandoned before by the U.S., during Gulf War One and later Gulf War Two-or no-fly-zone war over Iraq. To this day, the Kurds remain stateless. Trump’s betray-and-switch tactic moreover muddies NATO’s resistance to the Turkish Muslims’ map of a neo-Ottoman empire, one that maintains an active participation in NATO while pursuing a caliphate with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Just like President Vladimir Putin of Russia or Divine Leader Kim Jong Un of the Republic of North Korea, Erdogan is using Trump to keep his empire intact. The bait in this case is Trump Towers Istanbul and the threats of closing it unless Trump leaves Syria. The adverse consequences of Trump’s political and economic divides with his staff and the rest of Americans are magnified even further by another crucial fact: he is trying to build his own economic empire and be one of the super-rich, the One Percenters. This is the reason his actions do not match his words or promises. When it comes to profiting off people’s hopes and fears, their dreams and insecurities, or trust as in the case of the Kurds, he’s a smooth-talking con artist who seeks to rule not through rational argument, analysis, and truth-telling, but rather by manipulating imperfect reasoning and unreasoning emotions. Corporate Predator-in-Chief Sadly, Trump’s latest predatorial business schemes, his goal to hand the Kurds in Syria over to Turkey and send U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia to protect the Trump Organization, will likely lead to the deaths of many more Kurds and Americans. This, and other final schemes just like it, have always been the real conspiracy, the real plot of betrayal to cripple and corrupt America’s democratic institutions. By far, the most successful purveyors of lucrative lies and false promises could be found among the denizens of America’s palatial states and corporate boardrooms. Only with Donald Trump, they can now be found in the White House and corridors of political power. Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling. |