HE HAD TO TRADE SOMETHING...:

Is Mike Pompeo the worst secretary of state in U.S. history? It's possible, though he has lots of competition.

Unfortunately, he appears to be determined to continue his malign activities until his very last day in office. His latest awful act was buying Morocco's support for the normalization of relations with Israel by endorsing that latter's seizure of the Western Sahara.

Rabat had no colorable claim, religious, cultural, ethnic, economic, or historical, to the territory, which is why no other country or organization has officially accepted the annexation. And the International Court of Justice and United Nations affirmed the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. Yet the Trump administration is backing the aggressor. Alas, noted Stephen Zunes of the University of San Francisco: "The failure of the international community to force Morocco to live up to its international legal obligation is what has led to the Western Saharan crisis in the first place."

King Mohammed VI brilliantly played Pompeo, winning something for almost nothing. The former did not even agree to open an embassy, despite America's lavish PR claims. In a game of strip poker with Morocco's monarch, America's secretary of state would be naked after the first round. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe complained: "He could have made this deal without trading the rights of a voiceless people."

Still, the worst part of the agreement is the substance. Hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi people suffer because of Morocco's ruthless land grab. The State Department admits that not all is well for those living under Rabat's rule, with human rights issues including: "allegations of torture by some members of the security forces, although the government condemned the practice and made efforts to investigate and address any reports; allegations of political prisoners; undue limits on freedom of expression, including criminalization of libel and certain content that criticized the monarchy and the government's position regarding territorial integrity; limits on freedom of assembly and association; and corruption." On top of this, there was "a widespread perception of impunity."

Tweet   @brothersjudd