Rabat – An October 14 letter by US Senator Jim Inhofe is urging the US State Department to “engage” with Morocco on perceived human rights abuses.
A well-documented climate change denier and an unapologetic sexist who has been described as having “one of the most homophobic records in the Senate,” Inhofe is again championing a money-driven cause to the detriment of regional stability and peace.
As a US senator, his foreign policy recommendations commonly support only US business interests, military adventurism or protecting christians. Yet the work of Algerian-paid lobbyist firm Foley Hoag continues to see misinformed statements on Western Sahara come out of Inhofe’s office.
Algeria’s $420,000-a year lobbying firm in Washington, Foley Hoag, has had frequent meetings with Inhofe, unsurprisingly leading to the controversial senator repeating Algeria’s Western Sahara narrative word for word.
This time around, Inhofe is suddenly concerned with claims of human rights abuses of Polisario supporters in the region. He highlights the unproven claims as sufficient reason for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to “prioritize engagement” with Morocco.
Citing only unverified sources by Amnesty International, Inhofe claims there is an ongoing “crackdown” on supporters of the Polisario. While it’s highly likely that Morocco has stepped up surveillance of Polisario supporters, this would be because the group declared war on Morocco in November, 2020.
Similar to how Spanish intelligence kept tabs on the Catalonian independence movement, any group that claims to want conflict with the central government is a logical subject of state surveillance.
Inhofe stated that Morocco has been “emboldened” by the US recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara, without making any reference to the Polisario’s repeated vows for a never-ending war unless Morocco withdraws completely from the region.
Highlighting Inhofe’s shameless hypocrisy is his claim that “our nation’s actions should never be a license to engage in human rights violations.” In 2021 alone, Inhofe has called for more airstrikes in the Middle East and opposed the repeal of the war-powers act that sparked the last two decades of US conflicts in the region.
Driven by dollars and evangelical zeal, Inhofe again shows he has little regard for peace and stability in the region as he finds himself, once again, on the wrong side of history.
