Trump administration to sell $500 million in weapons to Saudi Arabia

(June 1 )The Trump Administration has notified the US Congress confirming plans to sell $500 million in weapons to Saudi Arabia in an upcoming round of arms sales.

Plan includes the sale of Paveway bombs

The sales to the Saudis would include Paveway laser-guided bombs. Raytheon would also receive licenses to manufacture such bombs within Saudi Arabia itself. The Paveway bombs are part of a 2019 deal that saw the Saudis intend to buy 60,000 precision munitions.

The new deal would see the Saudis buy 7,500 of Paveway IV precision-guided missiles that are manufactured by Raytheon Technologies Corp. This would be in addition to the 60,000 that were bought in the 2019 deal. The US government is also committed to Raytheon manufacturing an additional $106 million in weapons within Saudi Arabia with details to be determined.

Deal faces resistance in the US Congress

Many US critics of the sales argue that the Saudis have been committing war crimes using US-supplied munitions in their air war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

US concerns were also exacerbated when the Saudis assassinated journalist Jamal Khashoggi giving rise to a considerable negative political backlash. So far the Trump administration has gone ahead with sales in spite of all Congressional critics.

Middle East weapons sales pushed by US presidents

For years US presidents have made large arms sales to Middle East countries especially those who are well off such as the Saudis a high priority in spite of many critics pointing out serious human rights issues with the sales. Such sales also exacerbate instability in the region.

The May 2019 deal

In May of last year the Trump administration declared an emergency that Mike Pompeo the US Secretary of State claimed involved threats from Iran. This declaration enabled the Trump administration to bypass US Congress notification procedures applicable to arms sales and sell more than $8.1 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The move elicited protests from Democrats and even a few Republicans but failed to prevent the weapon sales.

Previously published in the DIgital Journal

Most Americans think that US arms sales make the country less safe

(September 10)Although most Americans want the US to maintain strong overseas alliances they do not want the government to use arms sales as a means to do so. Both the Obama and Trump administrations have used these sales as a tactic to cement alliances.

Trump administration working to sell more arms

As long ago as March last year Reuters reported: " President Donald Trump will soon make it easier to export some types of lethal U.S.-made drones to potentially dozens more allies and partners, according to people familiar with the plan. "

The Trump administration also bypassed the US Congress to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera reported on May 24: " US President Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress on Friday to complete the sale of over $8bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan."

Survey shows most Americans think arms sales make US less safe

Ivo Daalder president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that carried out the survey said: “Americans don’t like selling weapons to other countries." Seventy percent of those polled believed that selling arms to other countries made the US less safe while only 9 percent thought it made the US safer.

Daalder said in Washington yesterday: “There’s just a very strong negative bipartisan view that selling weapons is — it doesn’t make Americans safer, it’s not a good thing to do.That said, if you would — I’m sure that if we change the way the questions get phrased, which is “Do you believe the United States should provide, sell military equipment to our allies so we can fight better together?” I’m pretty sure that we’ll get very high numbers saying yeah, it makes sense for our allies who are flying F-18s when we’re flying F-18s. But as an issue, the president in particular has raised weapons sales as sort of the be all and end all of our relationship with Saudi Arabia. The American people aren’t buying that one.”

BIll Hartung director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy also commented on the issue: “Americans have long been skeptical of the purposes and impact of foreign arms sales, but for many years the issue did not rise to the level of public discussion or debate...This may be changing, now that Congress has taken consistent action aimed at ending sales of U.S. weapons to Saudi Arabia for use in its brutal war in Yemen. The lack of public support for arms sales suggests that Congress can and should go further in restricting U.S. sales that may be used to harm civilians or escalate conflicts, in Saudi Arabia and beyond.”

The survey of 2,059 adults was conducted from June 7 to 20.

US exports a huge number of arms

In fiscal year 2018 the US exports of arms were worth $180 billion according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)

The GAO found that arms transfer policies of both the Trump and Obama administration were broadly similar in content.

Trump has touted arms exports as a great job creator. The exports also generate profits for US arms manufacturers. The Pentagon regularly tells the US Congress that the sales promote "political stability and economic progress".

Previously published in the Digital  Journal