According to a report from Bloomberg, the Trump administration is pushing forward a sale of 7,500 precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia. The sale is estimated to be worth about $478 million.
Sources told Bloomberg that the State Department notified Congress on Tuesday that it is issuing a license to Raytheon that will enable the weapons maker to make the sale directly to Saudi Arabia.
The sale is expected to be complete before Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th. Selling weapons to the Saudis could raise concern in Congress over the war in Yemen.
Since the US-backed Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, the coalition has regularly targeted civilian infrastructure, leading to widespread disease, food shortages, and mass starvation.
Despite the pattern of indiscriminate killing, the US continues to support the war. In September, a report from The New York Times revealed that some US State Department officials fear being arrested for war crimes while traveling overseas for facilitating Saudi arms sales.
Joe Biden has said he would end US support for war with Yemen. The incoming administration is expected to reevaluate the US-Saudi relationship, although Biden picked a Raytheon board member to be secretary of defense.
Who is surprised? Who will expect Biden to be different-the “Democratic Party” loves wars as well, and supports democracies like Saudi Arabia and Israel.