Re: Biden USAID Nominee Lavished Praise on Saudi Arabia誘ntil It Stopped Funding Her Think Tank

[Harry]

In article <XnsACBFBC43...@95.216.243.224>
Rudy Canoza <j_ca...@gmx.com> wrote:
>
> https://nytimes.com
> Opinion short man's disease Rudy doesn't like cats?

President Joe Biden’s pick for a top spot at the U.S. Agency for
International Development praised Saudi Arabia’s "exciting,
productive, inspiring" social progress after her employer
received a large grant from the kingdom—and did an about-face
months later when the financial agreement was cut off after
Riyadh’s assassination of activist Jamal Khashoggi.

Tamara Cofman Wittes, a longtime fellow at the Brookings
Institution, is seeking Senate confirmation for her nomination
as assistant administrator at USAID. During her time at the
think tank in 2018, Wittes received as much as $499,999 from
Saudi Arabia, according to its annual report. Brookings told the
Washington Post the Saudi grant was intended to fund an analysis
of the "Saudi think tank sector," which is relatively small
compared with other countries in the region. Saudi Arabia has 13
think tanks, according to an unrelated 2020 global study by the
University of Pennsylvania, compared with 87 in Iran, 47 in
Egypt, and 29 in Yemen. At the time of the grant, Saudi Arabia’s
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud was trying to rebrand
the country as modernizing and progressive.

Wittes visited Saudi Arabia in February of that year, posting a
slideshow on the Brookings website that highlighted an alleged
increase in women’s freedom and a growing tourism industry.

"The pace of change is really notable compared to my previous
visits to the kingdom where there was a sense that the
leadership of the country moved very slowly and cautiously. … It
is clear that’s not the case now," she told Washington Jewish
Week in a glowing article headlined "Saudi expert eyes changing
kingdom."

While the nation said it would loosen restrictions on women's
attire and driving in 2018, Saudi Arabia faced allegations of
far-reaching war crimes in Yemen and crackdowns on dissidents
and women's rights. Wittes published a mild criticism of the
arrest of a Saudi female driving activist in May 2018, calling
it "deeply sad and ironic" and a contrast with the "swift pace
of change" she witnessed in the country.

Her comments could add to concerns from Republicans that Wittes
helped bolster the reputations of Gulf state countries that
donated to Brookings. Senate Republicans already raised
questions during a confirmation hearing last week about Wittes’s
praise for Qatar, which donated at least $22 million to
Brookings during her employment. The think tank is facing
scrutiny after its president, Gen. John Allen, stepped down last
week amid a federal investigation into allegations that he
worked as an unregistered lobbyist for Doha.

After Brookings terminated the Saudi funding in response to
Khashoggi’s assassination, Wittes gave a much bleaker assessment
of the country’s leadership—arguing that Khashoggi’s murder
"catalyzed concerns that had already been growing about the
young crown prince and his policy choices on other issues as
well," and praising the U.S. Senate’s decision to cut off
funding for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.

"President Trump’s [supportive] behavior toward the Saudis and
his statements make it look more like he’s the one being used.
Like he’s being Mohammed bin Salman’s [son of a bitch] if you
will," Wittes said on a Brookings podcast. "He doesn’t mind
their gross violations of international norms, whether it’s
murdering a journalist, hitting civilians with bombs, or other
moves in regional policy."

Wittes also called for the United States to take a tougher
stance against Saudi Arabia, telling the New York Times after
Biden’s election that the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia
has "a lot of value" but "it simply cannot continue in the way
it has for the last four years."

Wittes did not respond to a request for comment.

Republicans raised concerns at a Senate Foreign Relations
Committee hearing last week about Wittes receiving funding from
the Qatari government—a country with a record of human rights
abuses and anti-Israel terror financing—and for posting
criticism about the historic peace accords between Israel and
Arab states.

"The president of Brookings has resigned over [his financial
ties with Qatar], but you ran the Middle East Center at
Brookings," said Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas). "Should the American
taxpayers be concerned that President Biden wants to put in
charge of distributing millions of dollars of taxpayer money
someone who has spent years being funded by a foreign nation who
is not our friend?"

The Free Beacon first reported last week that Wittes described
Qatar's capital city Doha as a "global gathering place for
dialogue" and amplified Qatari leaders' claims that they support
human rights and oppose "extremists who exploit religion to
incite violence," while Brookings was raking in millions from
the government.

She also posted articles on Twitter decrying the Abraham
Accords, Israel’s normalization agreement with the United Arab
Emirates, as misogynistic, a "new Naksa"—referring to the
Palestinian word for "setback"—and as a "triumph for
authoritarianism."

Wittes denied that she opposed the accords, telling Cruz that
she was "skeptical when the Emiratis made their announcement,
which was breathtaking, in August 2020. I was skeptical that
other Arab states would join them, and I was proven wrong."

Martin Indyk, the former vice president of Brookings who helped
raise the funds from Doha, denied that the Qataris exercised any
influence over the think tank’s work.

"They never showed any interest in what we wrote, the content,"
Indyk, who also served as former president Barack Obama's Middle
East envoy, told Politico in an article last week. "What they
were interested in was the cachet."

If confirmed, Wittes wouldn't be the first Biden administration
official who received funding from the Qataris. Robert Malley,
the special envoy for Iran and Biden's point man for the nuclear
negotiations, ran the International Crisis Group when it took in
$4 million from the Qatari government.

Hady Amr, the administration's special envoy to the
Palestinians, was the founding director of the Qatari-funded
Brookings Doha Center. Senior administration adviser Erin Pelton
was previously a registered lobbyist for Qatar.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-usaid-nominee-
lavished-praise-on-saudi-arabia-until-it-stopped-funding-her-
think-tank/