{"id":5931,"date":"2018-11-26T10:50:41","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T15:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/susanwright\/?p=5931"},"modified":"2018-11-26T10:50:41","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T15:50:41","slug":"new-report-trump-wanted-payment-in-oil-from-middle-eastern-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/susanwright\/2018\/11\/new-report-trump-wanted-payment-in-oil-from-middle-eastern-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report: Trump Wanted “Payback” in Oil From Middle Eastern Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You can probably go ahead and add this new report to the long list of evidentiary proof of Donald Trump\u2019s incompetence as a world leader (as well as an utter embarrassment to the reputation of the United States).<\/p>\n

Sources have spoken with Axios<\/a> about an obsession President Trump has with raiding the resources of other nations as \u201cpayment\u201d for American efforts during the wars in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

In 2017, early in the Trump administration, the president even went so far as to approach the Iraqi prime minister with his notion of repayment.<\/p>\n

The president first brought it up in March 2017, near the end of a meeting with then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very run-of-the-mill, low-key, meeting in general,\u201d a source who was in the room told Axios. \u201cAnd then right at the end, Trump says something to the effect of, he gets a little smirk on his face and he says, \u2018So what are we going to do about the oil?'\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s go ahead and clarify here that what President Best Brain was suggesting is a violation of international law.<\/p>\n

The prime minister asked what he meant, only to get this doozy:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Trump\u2019s like, \u2018Well, we did a lot, we did a lot over there, we spent trillions over there, and a lot of people have been talking about the oil.'\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Abadi \u201chad clearly prepared,\u201d the source added, \u201cand he said something like, \u2018Well, you know Mr. President, we work very closely with a lot of American companies and American energy companies have interests in our country,'\u201d the source added. \u201cHe was smirking. And the president just kind of tapped his hand on the table as if to say \u2018I had to ask.'\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Admittedly, this was early in Trump\u2019s presidency, and he was clearly unprepared. He has done little to prepare for anything else he may encounter in the world, since that time. We are, however, post-competence and post-preparedness in the United States, these days. Experts in government are now eschewed by both sides of the political aisle, so we\u2019ll just have to learn to deal with these embarrassments.<\/p>\n

The sources within the room were apparently flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018Wow. He said it. He couldn\u2019t help himself,'\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

A second source who was in the room confirmed this account. \u201cIt was a look down and reach for your coffee moment,\u201d the second source said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t you just know that there are Trump staff now, who may be asked in future job interviews what they did from 2016 to 2020, and their desperate reply may be to say they were in prison?<\/p>\n

At least one adult in the room who wasn\u2019t going to sit by and just let Trump drive our foreign policy over a cliff was H.R. McMaster, the now former national security adviser.<\/p>\n

He apparently brought the subject of Iraqi oil and repayment up again with the al-Abadi in the summer of 2017. McMaster later smacked his hands.<\/p>\n

In the source\u2019s recollection, the former national security adviser said to Trump, \u201cWe can\u2019t do this and you shouldn\u2019t talk about it. Because talking about it is just bad,\u201d the source said, channeling McMaster, \u201cIt\u2019s bad for America\u2019s reputation, it\u2019ll spook allies, it scares everybody, and it makes us look like \u2014 I don\u2019t remember if he used words this harsh \u2014 like criminals and thieves, but that was the point he was trying to get across.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t be able to do it anyway and you\u2019ll harm our reputation and your own reputation just from talking about it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And let\u2019s not forget the propaganda win this would be for those who seek to criminalize the efforts of the United States abroad.<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t in Iraq as liberators. We were there to steal their oil!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a line that has been used for years, and we\u2019ve been able to blow it off, because there was no deal made benefit from the Iraqi oil, other than to topple an oppressive regime.<\/p>\n

In the face of critics, we still get to claim altruism and honor as the reasoning behind bringing down Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n

Then along comes Trump the Corrupt, the walking, talking embodiment of every anti-American argument ever made.<\/p>\n

McMaster, who Trump reportedly never really warmed to, and was more than happy to replace with a more MAGA-friendly John Bolton, was not the only adult trying to clean up behind this abomination of a president.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a one-time thing. Two sources described being in the Situation Room in 2017 with Trump, Defense Secretary Mattis and national security officials discussing Iraq. Both said Trump brought up the prospect of seizing Iraq\u2019s oil, and Mattis pushed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump was like, \u2018We\u2019re idiots,'\u201d recalled one of the sources who was in the Situation Room for the conversation. \u201c[Trump] was like, \u2018What are we doing there, what do we get out of this, why don\u2019t we take the oil?\u2019\u2026 And then Mattis spoke up. Made the same point that H.R. made. There\u2019s no physical way to do it. It would be a violation of international law, it would be demoralizing for allies in the region, it would give our enemies propaganda \u2014 they\u2019d be able to accuse us of theft.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See?<\/p>\n

Of course, talk of raiding the Middle East for resources has settled down, for now, but the report is still shocking. It reveals just how potentially disastrous a Trump presidency was \u2013 and still is \u2013 for our nation.<\/p>\n

It also highlights how badly good people are needed to act as buffers between us and what Trump would do, if given his own way.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can probably go ahead and add this new report to the long list of evidentiary proof of Donald Trump\u2019s incompetence as a world leader (as well as an utter embarrassment to the reputation of the United States). Sources have spoken with Axios about an obsession President Trump has with raiding the resources of other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3473,"featured_media":5937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,1464,1461],"class_list":["post-5931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-donald-trump","tag-iraq","tag-oil"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Report: Trump Wanted "Payback" in Oil From Middle Eastern Nations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Early in his presidency, Trump brought up the idea of getting "paid back" for U.S. war efforts in the Middle East, by way of Iraqi oil.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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