Trump stated at the UN today regarding Iran: “We cannot allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the planet’s most dangerous weapons.”

BEAU GROSSCUP,  bgrosscup at csuchico.edu
Grosscup is emeritus professor at California State University, Chico. His books include The Newest Explosions of Terrorism and Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment.

He said today: “In Trump’s speech, as is often the case from U.S. government pronouncements, the emphasis is on counter-terrorism with Saudis. Among other things, this ignores how U.S. and Saudi policies have enabled groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. We saw this same ‘us vs. them’ approach in the State Department ‘report on terrorism’ that was just released last week.

“The demonization of Iran was particularly ironic given that civilians were just killed in what would ordinarily be called a terrorist attack there.

“Particularly notable was Trump painting the Saudis as part of the solution in the Yemen war when they have been unleashing horrific bombing in that country with catastrophic results.”