A letter from James Inhofe and Patrick Leahy was co-signed by 25 US Senators and called on Biden to reverse US policy on Western Sahara
Rabat – US Senator James “Jim” Inhofe is at it again with a new stunt consisting of a letter to draw the Biden administration’s attention to Western Sahara. The letter, cosigned by Pat Leahy and 25 other senators, consisted of the same arguments Inhofe has presented to several US administrations without reply.
25 likely unwitting Senators appeared to have gotten roped into Inhofe and Leahy’s stunt, funded directly by Algeria’s top lobbying firm in Washington, MWN discovered.
The senators involved in the stunt included mostly “centrist” and corporate-funded senators including Senators John Boozman (R-Ark.), Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Susan M. Collins (R-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Disparaging a key US ally
Inhofe and Leahy’s letter to Biden calls the US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara as “misguided” and describes the US’ key non-NATO ally’s claims “illegitimate.”
Inhofe and his colleagues in their letter described former US President Donald Trump’s decision as “shortsighted” declaring that the move had “undermined” US policy and that it had “alienated a significant number of African nations.”
Inhofe’s letter to Biden declared that US strategic ally Morocco had consistently displayed a “unwillingness to negotiate in good faith” despite US policy for years endorsing Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
It accuses Morocco of not approving the organization of a referendum that excluded Moroccan residents while ignoring that Polisario leadership have done the same when the composition of referendum participants looked to favor Morocco.
Repeating misinformation
The letter to Biden echoed Inhofe’s previous attempts to spread his pro-Polisario perspective.
Inhofe, a notorious climate change denier and homophobe called on US President Joe Biden to aid refugees in “Tindoof,” misspelling the location of the Tindouf camps despite insisting that “some of us have visited the camps.”
Again Inhofe reiterated outdated and misleading statements on the history of the conflict, Morocco’s role and most importantly, leaving out much of the timeline regarding the issue.
The letter described the Green March as an attempt to “annex the territory with force,” and declares the Polisario to be the sole representative of the Sahrawi people.
In effect Inhofe’s letter called on Biden to break faith on an agreement with a major strategic ally and abandon the agreement that was part of the the deal with Israel, another favored US ally.
Paid for by Algeria
The letter, signed by 25 Republican and Democratic senators appears to be another remarkable example of the power of lobbying money in Washington. Preliminary research by Morocco World News has revealed that within a six-month period in 2020, both main authors of the letter had extensive contact with an Algeria-funded lobbying firm.
Both Jim Inhofe and Pat Leahy repeatedly met with lobbying firm Foley Hoag, Algeria’s main lobbying firm. Algeria pays Foley Hoag $420,000 a year to gain influence in Washington despite luke-warm ties with the US. Instead, Foley Hoag appears to be actively tasked with muddying the waters and spreading Algerian propaganda on the Senate floor.
In its investigation, MWN uncovered that within a six month period in early 2020, Foley Hoag had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Algeria to organize more than 23 “meetings and exchanges” with top US politicians.
A supplemental data disclosure by Foley Hoag revealed that all its Algerian-funded efforts were centered on Western Sahara.
Despite Algeria formally claiming to be a mere observer in the Western Sahara conflict, its lobbying firm organized three exchanges with James Inhofe and Patrick Leahy.
Today the result of hundreds of thousands of Algerian taxpayer-money is a letter filled with misinformation and signed by dozens of likely unwitting participants that have with little to no knowledge of the conflict.
In its misinformed delusion Inhofe’s letter to President Biden calls on the US to abandon its allies Israel and Morocco, in favor of Russia’s top strategic partner in Africa.
