US President Donald Trump, a bitter critic of Muslim countries, has silently buried his strident opposition to the Islamic fundamentalism as he arrived in Riyadh to seal a $110-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
With any reference to Wahabi thought emanting from Saudi Arabia, Mr Trump’s speech, preceded by a traditional Quranic reading, held Iran responsible for global extremism, urged Arab and Muslim nations to freeze channels of funding for groups, including the Islamic State and Hezbollah.
During a meeting of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, the US President said Muslim-majority states should take the lead in combating extremism: “A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists... Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your community.” He said “terrorists do not worship God, they worship death.”
“This is not a battle between different faiths... this is a battle between good and evil.”
He said Iran was responsible for training armed groups in the wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. “The government that gives terrorists safe harbour, financial backing... It is the regime that is responsible for so much instability in that region.”
Mr Trump once mused that he thought “Islam hates us” and repeatedly slammed former President Barack Obama for refusing to use the term “radical Islamic extremism.”
Yet Mr Trump himself backed away from the term as he stood before the region’s leaders. He condemned “Islamists” and “Islamic terror,” but never specifically referred to radical Islam.
