A new report says that Saudi Arabia contributes major funds to encourage extremism in the UK, but the British government is trying to cover it up. The US did the same when it was revealed that the Saudis played a big role in 9/11. Ring of Fire’s Josh Gay tells you why.
Transcript of above video:
In March, it was the Westminster Bridge, in May – an Ariana Grande concert, in June we saw an attack at London Bridge, and a 19-year-old just plead guilty to plotting to bomb an Elton John concert. Britain has had a rash of terrorist attacks come at the hands of radical Islamists. Now, a new report has found strong ties between those attacks and Saudi Arabia – a major trade partner for the UK.
The report from the conservative Henry Jackson Society says that a number of Gulf states have directed funding to mosques that spread extremism in the UK. Saudi Arabia is the worst offender.
The report highlights a debate over trade with Saudi Arabia over their atrocious human rights record and funding for terrorism. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has even called for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.
But, just like here in the US, the UK has its sights set on billions of dollars in trade with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In fact, David Cameron commissioned a similar report to be completed by the British government, but the report has yet to be released because of its potentially embarrassing content.
So what is the priority? Are the United States or Britain really that interested in stopping terrorism? We certainly spend a TON fighting terrorism – the US spending an estimated $150 billion or 4 percent of our budget, and the UK spends around 2 percent of its entire budget on counter-terrorism. We also talk a huge game – in both countries, terrorism is THE major talking point in elections – making our citizens feel safe.
But think about that – we are spending billions of dollars on wars, police funding, security at airports, and counter-terrorism measures, but we aren’t actually confronting those that are funding the terrorists. The US did this in the wake of 9/11 – government officials from the Saudi government went as far as being in the hotel room of a hijacker the night before the attacks. So, how did we punish Saudi Arabia? With hundreds of billions of dollars in arms deals.
Similarly, the UK has sold over $4 billion worth of arms to the Kingdom since 2015 – in addition to importing billions in oil from the country over the same period.
Frankly, funding counterterrorism is big business – but it is little else. We are not willing to cease trade with the likes of Saudi Arabia – but we sure as hell will tell you that we need to put over 4% of our budget toward fighting terrorism. Look, in the UK there is an average of 1.4 people killed a year by terrorists, compared to 100 killed by hot water. In the US you are five times more likely to be killed by the police than a terrorist.
Still, terrorism is all you will hear about in the news or a political debate. Meanwhile, we’ll keep doing business with the people that are paying to keep terrorism alive and well.