You read where we’re sending some troops to Saudi Arabia. That’s true. Because we want to help Saudi Arabia. They have been a very good ally. They’ve agreed to pay for the cost of those troops. They’ve agreed to pay fully for the cost of everything we’re doing over there. . . . Saudi Arabia is paying for 100 percent of the cost, including the cost of our soldiers. And that negotiation took a very short time — like, maybe, about 35 seconds.”
— President Trump, remarks at the White House, Oct. 16
“We are sending troops and other things to the Middle East to help Saudi Arabia. But are you ready? Saudi Arabia, at my request, has agreed to pay us for everything we’re doing. That’s a first. But Saudi Arabia — and other countries, too, now — but Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay us for everything we’re doing to help them.”
— Trump, remarks to reporters, Oct. 11
“Then the president said, ‘Well, the reason I’m taking the troops out of Syria is because I promised them at campaign to bring the troops home.’ My question to him was, ‘Is Saudi Arabia home? Is Saudi Arabia home? Why are our troops going to Saudi Arabia if you promised to bring them home?’ He said, ‘Well, the Saudi Arabians are paying for it.’ Really, we’re putting our troops in harm’s way for Saudi Arabia because they’re paying — it just didn’t add up.”
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), recounting to reporters a conversation at the White House with Trump, Oct. 17
President Trump has a soft spot for Saudi Arabia. It’s where he took his first overseas trip as president. He also worked hard to rehabilitate on the world stage its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after the CIA concluded he had ordered the 2018 assassination of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The administration announced Oct. 11 that it was sending to Saudi Arabia an additional 3,000 troops, along with about four dozen Air Force fighters and Patriot antimissile batteries, in response to attacks on Saudi oil facilities that U.S. officials blame on Iran. “The United States is raising the costs of Iran’s revolutionary adventures while increasing incentives for pragmatism to prevail,” said Brian Hook, the State Department’s special representative for Iran.
What caught our attention is that the president claims that Saudi Arabia will pay all of the costs — “100 percent” — of the deployment, including “the cost of our soldiers.” Some critics have charged that Trump is turning U.S. troops into mercenaries, available to the highest bidder. Since the president has a long history of inflating what he has supposedly negotiated from Saudi Arabia, we thought we would investigate.
View the complete October 21 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.