AmericanCrow
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Play Nice 46th President of the United States: Joe Biden 2: Incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim
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GreyCrow
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Bob Woodward claims, in his new book, that Lindsey Graham and Joe Biden had active discussions about the possibility of committing American troops to go to war with and on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
Graham reportedly said that only Biden could secure a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty, because it would "take a Democratic president to convince Democrats to vote to go to war for Saudi Arabia" during a meeting last year. "Let's do it," Biden responded, according to Woodward.
The conversation took place in the context of Biden's attempts to negotiate a "megadeal" between the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Graham had a publicly reported meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in support of the deal in April 2023. The idea, which Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R–Ohio) also supports, was to create a permanent, U.S.-led security alliance in the Middle East.
At the time, the Biden administration was downplaying the level of commitment it was willing to offer Saudi Arabia. Anonymous officials kept claiming that the proposed agreement would fall short of a full commitment to go to war. As a trial balloon, the administration signed a vaguely worded defense agreement with Saudi ally Bahrain without asking Congress, and insisted that it "does not cross the threshold of a treaty."
But behind closed doors, the administration and its allies were reportedly very straightforward about what they wanted to commit Americans to do. Graham told Biden at the White House that bin Salman is "willing to do [the deal] because he gets under our nuclear umbrella and he doesn't have to worry about building a bunch of bombs," according to Woodward.
Graham reportedly said that only Biden could secure a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty, because it would "take a Democratic president to convince Democrats to vote to go to war for Saudi Arabia" during a meeting last year. "Let's do it," Biden responded, according to Woodward.
The conversation took place in the context of Biden's attempts to negotiate a "megadeal" between the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Graham had a publicly reported meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in support of the deal in April 2023. The idea, which Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R–Ohio) also supports, was to create a permanent, U.S.-led security alliance in the Middle East.
At the time, the Biden administration was downplaying the level of commitment it was willing to offer Saudi Arabia. Anonymous officials kept claiming that the proposed agreement would fall short of a full commitment to go to war. As a trial balloon, the administration signed a vaguely worded defense agreement with Saudi ally Bahrain without asking Congress, and insisted that it "does not cross the threshold of a treaty."
But behind closed doors, the administration and its allies were reportedly very straightforward about what they wanted to commit Americans to do. Graham told Biden at the White House that bin Salman is "willing to do [the deal] because he gets under our nuclear umbrella and he doesn't have to worry about building a bunch of bombs," according to Woodward.
GreyCrow
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Im as confused as Joe is. Isnt it Genocide Joe? Isnt Joe an Israeli plant?
Plus the headline is click bait - Anonymous officials kept claiming that the proposed agreement would fall short of a full commitment to go to war
I dont know what the talks were attempting - maybe a release valve?
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I'm also a little confused. How do those of you who scathingly criticise Biden for his pro-Israel stance react to this?
Are you now lauding Biden for engaging with the 'other side' in the Middle East conflict?
Saudi Arabia aren't the "other side" of the Middle East conflict - as the article gets at, their support for Palestine is one of lip service at most, with leaders who don't really care about the Palestinians but can't be too supportive of Israel lest they lose legitimacy in the eyes of the people they rule over. Iran, Lebanon, Syria, the Yemeni Houthis - the countries who've been caught in the crossfire of Israeli aggression aren't allied with Saudi Arabia.
At best, Biden and Graham were looking to continue Trump's policy wherein he sought normalisation of relations between Israel and US-allied countries in the region. It's a proven failure, as it ignored the actual Palestinian people being kept in the open air prison, and we saw that they acted anyway, even as governments lined up to throw them under the bus. But this suggests an added kicker of giving the Saudi Arabians US military support, in a period where they were committing atrocities in Yemen.
I think Woodward is a bit of a hack and it's fair to have reservations about the story, but I don't think it's something laudible.
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