Trump Rolls Out Red Carpet for MBS: Yemen Bombing, What Yemen Bombing?
Donald Trump officially welcomed Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House with a military flyover and horse procession, an honor typically reserved for heads of state. The pomp and circumstance, as detailed by Al Jazeera, carefully side-stepped the uncomfortable reality that MBS's ascension to power coincided with Saudi Arabia's devastating war in Yemen, a conflict that
has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The US, under both Trump and Biden, continued to approve massive arms sales to the Saudi kingdom—arms that have been repeatedly used in Yemen, as documented by organizations like Amnesty International. One might wonder if the horses were there to distract from the cries of civilians caught in a conflict enabled by decades of bipartisan US
support. The US-Saudi relationship has historically prioritized oil and regional 'stability'—read: countering Iran—over human rights, a pattern of appeasement that finds its pinnacle in such 'lavish ceremonies.' The narrative demands we overlook the drone strikes, the famine, and the dismembered journalists, focusing instead on shared geopolitical interests and the spectacle of power.