The Trump Administration has sent a notification to Congress confirming plans to sell $500 million in weapons to Saudi Arabia in an upcoming round of sales. The plan would include sales of Paveway bombs to the Saudis, and licenses to Raytheon to let them manufacture the bombs directly in Saudi Arabia.
These bombs are part of a 2019 deal in which the Saudis intend to buy 60,000 precision munitions. The deal has continued to face heavy resistance in Congress, in no small part because the Saudis have been committing war crimes with these US-made arms.
Concerns about US culpability in having provided these arms were compounded with the Saudi assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which fueled a substantial political backlash. So far, the Trump Administration has resisted letting Congress block any sales, but each announcement starts the battle anew.
Large sales of arms to the Middle East have been a high priority for years for US presidents, and that push looks likely to continue until Congress finally gets enough resistance in the way to force a rethink of the wisdom of heavily arming nations in war-torn parts of the world.
Good old TRUMP.
Nothing will stop his pursuit of the MIGHTY DOLLAR.
He makes money while the country burns.
Reminds me of NERO fiddling whilst ROME burned.
Another decaying Empire
Nero had a higher IQ than our man 🙂
Heck, let’s just give them the BOMB.
From 5000 feet.
Exactly what I wuz implying 🙂
The EXTORTION RACKET
USA prohibits oil sales by Iran, Venezuela, and Russia.
Allows only petrodollar oil purchases from Saudis.
Other nations forced to give tribute to US financial racketeering.
Saudi oil monopoly profits used for US treasuries & weapons purchases.
Thus other nations buying oil indirectly subsidize the global Pentagon/MIC.
The military industrial complex. America’s most “essential” industry.
Time to milk the prince again…..!
Waiting for a group of democrats and maybe Rand Paul and Mike Lee from the GOP to voice their displeasure but, lo and behold, the sales will eventually go thru yet again. It’s like the movie “Ground Hogs Day”, we just keep reliving these same things over and over.
Aggressive regimes like the US and UK call the bombs faced by their troops ‘improvised explosive devices’ in the hope people at home don’t realise a few things. The people who make these IEDs are fighters in the field resisting our imperialism, while they make bombs using parts from “conventional” bombs; hi-tech instruments of death sold by war profiteers thousands of miles away.
In my eyes an IED has more legitimacy than any conventional bomb.
Yup, aren’t all bombs IEDs ? The west has em mass produced…..
raytheon: their headquarters is in US but they are a “multinational corporation”, meaning that they actually hold no allegiance to the US. their revenue for this year so far is $97 billion. i don’t see how america has anything to do with this latest deal except to act as a middleman for a percentage of raytheon’s profit.
way to go MAGA = making arabia guns again
The arms sale is illegal. Congress should stop it. The Saudi monarchy has been using U.S. bombs to massacre Yemeni civilians. Aside from the abetting of Saudi war crimes, the proposed sale violates two U.S. laws:
— The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 requires that any arms exports go for “internal security or legitimate self-defense” and not cause or escalate conflict. The U.s. arms will further Saudi aggression against Yemen. The UN has found the Saudis violating international law by targeting civilians in homes, hospitals, markets. etc.
— The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 bans assistance to any government that has engaged in a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations. That describes the Saudi monarchy, which tortures and beheads nonconformists. even juveniles. And remember the Khashoggi murder.
The ’76 Act also requires that arms exports not “support international terrorism.” The Saudi kingdom has been a supporter of terrorism. It financed Osama bin Laden for years. Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis.
And, with U.S. support, Saudi Arabia continues to terrorize the people of Yemen.