At The American Conservative’s annual foreign policy conference in October, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, “If you ask me who’s the worst at spreading hatred and trying to engender terrorism around the world, it’s Saudi Arabia hands down.”
Paul was comparing Saudi Arabia to Iran in terms of which country should be considered more a threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. The senator has warned for years that sending American military aid to alleged allies abroad could end up in terrorists’ hands, which has happened repeatedly.
On Monday, we learned it’s been happening again.
CNN reported that Saudi Arabia has been giving American-made weapons to groups linked to al Qaeda. The Saudis have been using weapon sales to gain leverage in the ongoing war in Yemen.
In August, the Washington Post reported, “New Associated Press reporting from Yemen has laid bare the fact that the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been busy cutting ‘secret deals with al-Qaida fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash … hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.’”
Now CNN reveals this is happening with American weapons. Why wouldn’t this happen? Anyone could have predicted it. After all, Saudi Arabia is America’s number one weapons customer.
The weapons and equipment CNN learned are in al Qaeda’s possession were sold by the U.S. during the Obama administration, though sales continue under President Trump.
Paul has long been one of the most vociferous opponents of sending U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia under both Democratic and Republican administrations, a position reinforced in the minds of many in the wake of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.
Paul also led the fight in 2013 against arming Syrian rebels with U.S. weapons, worrying they could end up in the hands of al Qaeda. Guess what? That’s what happened. Maj. Anas Ibrahim Obaid even told Fox News that he gave American weapons and trucks directly to al Qaeda.
Paul worried that weapons the U.S. gave to Libyan rebels in 2011 to topple dictator Moammar Gadhafi could end up being used by terrorists. That’s exactly what happened when the weapons ended up in Syria. “Extremist fighters, some of them aligned with Al Qaeda, have the money to buy the newly arrived stock, and many rebels are willing to sell,” the New York Times reported in 2013.
For at least eight years now, the U.S. has found ways to inadvertently fund the group that attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11.
Paul recalled this history on the Senate floor Monday in a speech opposing an amendment condemning President Trump’s planned troop withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan.
“We’ve given [Middle East allies] trillions of dollars, the uniforms, the weapons, everything has been ours,” Paul said. “But every time we say we have to be involved there are unintended consequences.”
“In Syria we gave arms to people who were radical extremists,” the senator said. “We gave arms to people who were actually allied with al Qaeda.”
“At one point in time it was said that ISIS had a billion dollars worth of Humvees that were U.S.” Paul added.
Lest we forget, the U.S. has not just been funding al Qaeda indirectly, but also the Islamic State.
“The arms that were coming out of Libya, that Hillary Clinton supported bringing those arms, they were going to the wrong people,” Paul continued. “We were taking one set of bad people and giving them to another set of bad people.”
“Maybe sometimes there isn’t a lesser of two evils?” he concluded.
When will the U.S. stop this destructive habit? How many times do weapons sent abroad have to end up in terrorist hands before leaders rethink these policies?
Perhaps Washington politicians fond of restricting gun sales should start with themselves.
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
