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Trump Administration Moves to Approve New Arms Sales to Saudi Arabian War Criminals
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[link to www.blacklistednews.com]
the house of saud should be made extinct....selling weapons to them is the last thing you should do.
The State Department has approved a resumption of weapons sales that critics have linked to Saudi Arabia’s bombing of civilians in Yemen, a potential sign of reinvigorated U.S. support for the kingdom’s involvement in its neighbor’s ongoing civil war.
The proposal from the State Department would reverse a decision made late in the Obama administration to suspend the sale of precision guided munitions to Riyadh, which leads a mostly Arab coalition conducting airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
While the U.S. military has provided support to the Saudi-led air campaign since 2015, including aerial refueling for Saudi jets and a U.S. advisory mission in the Saudi operations headquarters, the Obama administration sought to scale back that support last year amid alleged Saudi strikes on civilian targets.
Despite Saudi hopes that the conflict would quickly restore Hadi to power, it is now approaching its third year. As of January, the conflict had led to the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.
Pressure increased on the Obama administration in October, when Saudi jets attackeda Yemeni funeral hall, killing more than 100 people. At the end of a review prompted by that strike, the Obama White House made the decision to halt the planned sale of roughly $390 million worth of precision munitions guidance systems to the kingdom.
Trump has already supported the expansion of a separate military campaign in Yemen, one that U.S. forces are now waging against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a potent militant group that has grown stronger amid Yemen’s instability.
If the White House gives its blessing to the new State Department position, the administration would then notify Congress about its intent to move forward with the sale. It could encounter resistance on Capitol Hill.
“If you are interested in radicalizing the Yemeni population against the United States and pushing them into al-Qaeda’s arms, then continue to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “The Saudis are deliberately going after civilian targets.”
Last fall, Murphy was the co-sponsor of a measure that would have blocked a separate sale of Abrams main battle tanks to Saudi Arabia. While the measure did not pass, it was a rare public sign of frustration with an allied nation that has been an important customer for U.S. defense companies.
That last sentence tells you all you need to know about what really drives U.S. policy in the region.
Moving along, although the situation looks bleak, there’s a chance for bi-partisan resistance in Congress which could prove more effective than the last go around.
As Al-Monitor reports:
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