Saudi and Egyptian news media are all up in arms today (15-16 July) over American and European arms sales to Qatar. These reports come in the wake of reports out of Italy that Italian authorities have busted a neo-Nazi group and found in their possession a French Matra (air-to-air) missile.
The group has no Airforce but they were looking to sell the missile on the black market.
This particular missile was one that France had sold to Qatar. In conjunction with this, Italy is accusing Qatar of selling NATO weapons to Iran.
Egyptian and Saudi media are concerned that NATO weapons sold to Qatar will end up not only in in the hands of Iran but also in the hands of the various terrorist groups operating in the region.
These Arab media figures are also extremely concerned over President Trump’s selling of “tens of Billions of dollars worth of weapons to Qatar” during the Emir of Qatar’s recent visit to Washington. In this regard Egyptian talk show host ‘Amru Adeeb pointed out that Qatar’s armed forces do not have the capacity to absorb all the armaments they’ve been purchasing. So he asked rhetorically: “Where are the weapons?” (Implying that Qatar is either selling them to Iran or giving them to terrorist groups like those fighting in Libya).
COMMENT: The White House is apparently oblivious to the fact that not only does Qatar financially support the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups active in the Middle East, and supplies them with arms, but is also a close ally with Turkey and Iran, the top two state sponsors of terrorism in the world (with Qatar being #3). Trump was also unaware that Qatar routinely violates the embargo on Iran, the selling of weapons of which is only one.
These failures of judgment can be directly attributed to the failure on the part of our intelligence agencies to provide the president with the latest intelligence out of the world’s most volatile region—and is yet another example of why we need a comprehensive reform of our intelligence agencies.
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Barry Webb had a 25-year career as an Arabic translator for the NSA, hold two MA degrees in related subject matter, and is currently a senior fellow with Americans for Intelligence Reform. He is the author of Confessions of an (ex) NSA spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is: www.barrywebbauthor.com
Brad Johnson, President, and retired CIA Senior Officer and Chief of Staff. Insight into current events from an intelligence angle.