Hillary Clinton told Goldman Sachs in a private speech that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are funding Jihadists in Syria. All three countries have been sold weapons by the United States and are still considered allies.
The comments from Clinton came in October 2013 several months after she left office as secretary of state. It was in one of three speaking appearances that Clinton got paid $675,000 to deliver to the mega-bank.
When speaking about Syria to Goldman Sachs in New York, Clinton described it as a proxy battle with multiple levels. “We’ve got Iran with their agents in Hezbollah, and they’re being taken on by indigenous rebels but increasingly a collection of Jihadists who are funded by the Saudis, funded by the Emiratis[sic], funded by Gotter (phonetic)[sic], and you have the Turks that were very active in the beginning, but then began to be concerned by some of the development inside Syria, particularly among the northern and northeastern Kurdish population in Syria,” the Democratic nominee said.
Clinton here definitively says that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are funding Syrian jihadists. She seems to suggest that Turkey, a NATO member, is helping out groups in Syria, though it is unclear exactly what she means or who they’d be funding.
This wouldn’t be the first reference in the Wikileaks release of Clinton saying Gulf state partners support Islamic terrorists. In a leaked 2014 email to Podesta, Hillary wrote that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both funding and giving logistical support to ISIS and other extremist Sunni groups.
These are countries that publicly considered allies of the United States. A year before these comments to Goldman Sachs, Clinton said, “We consider the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a close and strategic partner in many of the critical issues facing our world today.”
While serving as secretary of state, Clinton said, “Qatar is a friend and an ally of the United States.” Clinton congratulated the UAE on its 40th National Day and said, “our two countries are working together to promote peace and security.”
All three nations, which Clinton said fund jihadist terrorists, have given millions to the Clinton Foundation. The UAE gave up to $5 million in 2014. Since the Foundation was started in 1999 the Saudis have given up to $25 million. Qatar gave up to $500,000 in 2014 and before that donated up to $5 million.
Even more troubling is that while serving as secretary of state, Clinton approved massive weapons deals for some of these nations. In 2010, the U.S. sold $60 billion in aircraft to Saudi Arabia and the next year agreed to another $33.4 billion deal with the Gulf nation. In 2011, a little over $4 billion in weapons and assorted military equipment was sold by the U.S. to the UAE.
In 2014, after Clinton left office, the U.S sold $11 billion in helicopters and anti-aircraft missiles to Qatar. (RELATED: WikiLeaks: Qatar Gave Clinton Foundation A Million Dollar Check For Bill’s Birthday)