the state department approved the
paramilitary training of
four saudis who were involved in the
murder and dismemberment
of jamal khashoggi the state department
approved that paramilitary training
which by the way was conducted by a
private
company and it happened in the lead-up
to
jamal khashoggi getting murdered and
dismembered in
the turkish or i should say the saudi
consulate in
istanbul so that happened back in 2018
the story is out of control especially
when you consider
that the same military that believes
that
socialism is a national security risk um
the same state department that considers
socialism a national security risk
uh approves this type of paramilitary
training
uh for operatives from a you know
authoritarian and brutal regime such as
that
of the saudi royals now four saudis as i
mentioned
who participated in the 2018 killing of
the washington post journalist jamal
khashoggi
received paramilitary training by the
arkansas based security company tier one
group
which is owned by a private equity firm
known as cerebros
uh capital management in the united
states
the previous year under a contract that
was approved by the state department
but the murdering of jamal khashoggi
isn't the only downside of
a you a private us company training
uh these operatives so the instruction
occurred in
secret or as the secret unit responsible
for khashoggi's killing
was beginning an extensive campaign of
kidnapping
detention and torture of saudi citizens
ordered by crown prince mohammed bin
salman
saudi arabia's de facto ruler to crush
descent inside the kingdom
so a private us-based company
provided paramilitary training for saudi
operatives
who not only took part in murdering
jamal khashoggi
but then used that training to further
brutalize the people of saudi arabia
that's what the state department
approved and by the way
there is absolutely no remorse in the
response that we got
from a state department spokesperson
today now tier one uh has claimed
that look we all we did we provided
defensive training you know it's all we
did that's what we did that's our job
that's what we do
um these people did not engage in
defensive behavior they murdered a
washington post journalist and
dismembered him
so that's that's important to keep in
mind now one person familiar with the
training said it also included work in
surveillance
and close quarters battle now uh
the bloated defense budget certainly
plays a role in this
because a tier one group was founded to
train
u.s military personnel taking advantage
of an expanded
pentagon budget for military personnel
training in basic
counter insurgency skills and when
exactly did this
program take place when did the state
department approve this paramilitary
training
for these saudi operatives well it
actually started back in 2014. this was
not under the trump administration
this started under the you guessed it
obama administration
who was terrible on foreign policy
terrible when it came to these types of
issues clearly
because it was obama's state department
that approved
this private company offering this
paramilitary training to saudi
operatives
the state department initially granted a
license for the paramilitary training of
the saudi royal guard
to tier one group starting in 2014
during the obama administration
the training continued during at least
the first year of former president
donald trump's team
now in response to this as i had
referenced earlier the state department
seems to
lack any and all remorse because
ned price the state department
spokesperson said this
the administration insists on
responsible use
of u.s origin defense equipment and
training by our allies
and partners and considers appropriate
responses if violations occur
oh oh do you do you guys insist
do you guys insist that the operatives
of a
an autocratic regime
you know use the training that we've
provided them
in a responsible way is that what you
guys are suggesting okay great strong
words there
um and the comment continues to say that
saudi arabia faces significant threats
significant threats to its territory and
we are committed to working together to
help
riyadh strengthen its defenses
listen the united states sees saudi
arabia as an ally because the united
states is already engaged in a conflict
with iran
they see saudi arabia as an incredibly
important ally
in further isolating iran that's what
this is all about the united states has
a long history
of working with awful regimes
in order to fight against whoever
enemy is at the time right now it
happens to be iran
so we're even willing to offer up
paramilitary training
to operatives from saudi arabia because
we hate iran so much it's insane
but that's only i think half of the
explanation
there's also the issue of money in
politics
let me first just note that if you look
at the
funding that cerebros capital management
has offered
in lobbying in 2020 alone this is in one
year
they spent a whopping 6 million
449 979
dollars on contributions campaign
contributions in 2020 alone
so they want to ensure
that they get approved for this type of
project
and would you look at that they easily
do get approved because they pay for
that approval so money in politics plays
a role as well but i want to go back
to joe biden specifically because
he certainly had some strong words for
muhammad bin salman
the saudi royal prince or crown prince i
should say who had ordered
the murder and dismemberment of jamal
khashoggi when he was campaigning
when he was debating joe biden really
presented himself as a tough guy who
differentiated himself from donald trump
who really just served as
an mbs apologist a muhammad bin salman
apologist
take a look at this video this is from
one of the debates in the 2020 election
cycle
president trump has not punished senior
saudi leaders
would you yes and i said it at the time
khashoggi was in fact murdered and
dismembered
and i believe in the order of the crown
prince and i would make it very clear
we were not going to in fact sell more
weapons to them
we were going to in fact make them pay
the price and
make them in fact the pariah that they
are
oh he's going to make the saudis the
pariah that they are did he do
that so biden gets elected he says that
he's different from trump you know he's
not going to suck up to the saudis he's
going to hold them accountable
did that actually happen let's watch
i think biden failed by setting the the
expectations too high
uh when he was a candidate for the
presidency he said he wanted to make the
saudis in this case
particularly prince salma prince
mohammed
a pariah now that's a very high bar um
and he has spectacularly failed in that
he has
named and shamed uh the crown prince in
this report
uh but when it comes to actual actions
there are sanctions on 76 different
saudis
he's not among them so
no consequences for the ringleader here
mohammed bin salman
we're still working with uh the
saudi royals in regard to uh the
brutality that's taking place in yemen
i mean it's just it's shameful it's
disgusting and
these politicians who say one thing on
the campaign trail then turn around do
the exact opposite do they think we're
not paying attention
and what makes this story even more
infuriating
is that while the state department gave
a green light
to this paramilitary training four saudi
operatives who then
turned around and murdered jamal
khashoggi they're training
our soldiers to consider or think of
socialism as something that's as
dangerous
as nazi ideology in the united states
this is an incredible story written by
ken clippenstein please read
his work here because i think it's
important it gives you a sense in
just how members of the military are
indoctrinated and how
certain things get conflated and it's
just completely inaccurate and
destructive
a section of a navy counter-terrorism
training document
subtitled study questions includes the
following
anarchists socialists and neo-nazis
represent which
terrorist ideological category the
correct answer is political terrorists
so our military our state department
they think that socialist or socialism
is a form of political terrorism
on par with neo-nazism
but they'll approve the paramilitary
trading of operatives from saudi arabia
that's okay that's okay
but if you want to question the economic
model in the united states
it might be a terrorist it's just
disgusting and absolutely shameful