Public Comment

It’s past time to apply the brakes on the Trump-Pompeo duo who are determined to remove the oversight guard rails of our democracy. The latest watchdog to receive a pink slip is State Department inspector general, Steve Linick who was reportedly close to completing his report on Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo’s efforts to bypass Congressional oversight in an end run to close a $8bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates. This is yet another example of “American Exceptionalism.” – selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the architects of 9/11, and the torture and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi. These weapons will enrich US defense contractors, but will be used to blow up innocent men, women and children in neighboring Yemen, a country on the brink of mass starvation, a cholera epidemic and Coronavirus pandemic. It is inconceivable that Pompeo and VP Pence, who claim to be devout Christians, would negotiate arms deals with such autocratic regimes. Jesus must be weeping. 

Linick’s firing is the latest in a string of dismissals of officials in watchdog roles, as Trump has steadily dismantled the machinery of government oversight. Linick was also investigating gross misuse of security staff to run errands for Pompeo and his wife Susan. They are also guilty of entertaining friends at expensive restaurants, all at taxpayer expense, a gross abuse of power. Trump should fire Pompeo and submit his own resignation. He is inflicting enormous harm to America, its people and the world at large.