[Serious] 15 of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 were Saudi Arabian. Why hasn't Trump banned Saudi Arabian Citizens?

I thought this point was repeatedly raised to show the hypocrisy of Trump and not expecting a real answer.

My dad has worked in the ME in oil&gas companies for 38 years.The main reason of US involvement in the Middle-East is oil, and their most stable and profitable partners are the Gulf countries. It doesn't make sense for them to antagonize every Middle-Eastern country, so they will pick a side to support and oppose what could be competition. The Gulf countries had problems with the rising threat of Iraq with a strong military, or Iran which follows a different sect of Islam? The US helps in its own way to strengthen their allies in the area. Now this is assuming Trump has the best interests of the US in mind, these are the additional points which come to mind,

  • The chosen countries are poor countries where it is more easier to radicalise and misguide people. Many acts of terrorrism are acts of desperation.

  • These are areas who are in a war-zone, where the US definition of terrorism could apply to any group fighting in the civil wars on sides which do not align with the interests of the US. Also, many people have justified reasons to believe the US was responsible for creating this hostile situation. While Gulf countries have really peaceful conditions due to the strong and stable oil economy. For example Qatar being ranked the second-safest country in the world. In fact one of the conditions on which Osama Bin Laden was allowed to leave Saudi Arabia was that he would not promote terror activity of any kind on Saudi soil.

  • People tend to underestimate the US-Gulf countries relationship. Pretty much all equipment and infrastructure(worth billions of dollars) in the Oil and Gas companies are bought from the US. Many US oil companies have significant shares in these companies. The US also get to maintain military bases in these countries which is for mutual benefit. Not to mention the initial huge reason, the Petrodollar which gave a significant boost to the value of the dollar.

These are the sensible reasons, why it would not be prudent for Trump to just toss in Saudi Arabia like he could Somalia just for pandering to the right-wing voters.

The main reason would ofcourse be that Trump is hardly acting in best interests of the US, and such an exercise is just an attempt to keep up with his ridiculous election promises and keep the Republican party satisfied(like throwing Iran into the mix for no reason).

/r/AskReddit Thread