Medea Benjamin: Congress Should Halt Trump's $110B Arms Deal over Saudi Atrocities in Yemen & Region

In his first foreign trip abroad as president, Donald Trump traveled this weekend to Saudi Arabia, where he signed an arms deals totaling $110 billion. This comes in addition to more than $115 billion offered in arms deals to Saudi Arabia by President Obama during his time in office. The deal also includes precision-guided munitions, which the Obama administration had stopped selling Saudi Arabia out of fear they would be used to bomb civilians amid the ongoing Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. Since 2015, 10,000 people have been killed in the ongoing fighting, which has also decimated the country’s health, water, sewage and sanitation systems. Over 10,000 civilians have died since the Saudi invasion began in 2015. The arms deal includes tanks, artillery, ships, helicopters, a missile defense system and cybersecurity technology. We speak to Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink and author of the book "Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection."

UK and Turkey Sign Defence, Trade Deals

British Prime Minister Theresa May has signed a $125m weapons deal with Turkey as the two countries promised to ramp up trade partnerships.

May, who arrived in Turkey on Saturday after a trip to the US, visited both countries for the first time as prime minister, promoting trade agreements to strengthen her hand in the UK's negotiations to leave the European Union, or Brexit.

Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego reports.

Andrew's Trip to Yemen Was Followed by Arms Deal
THE INDEPENDENT: The Government licensed the sale of £160,000 worth of bullets and body armour to the Yemeni government after Prince Andrew met the country's Prime Minister for trade talks.

It was the Duke of York's third meeting in quick succession with leaders of the small Arab republic, which has been ruled with an iron hand for more than 20 years by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but is now experiencing the wave of popular protest sweeping the Middle East.

Though less well-publicised than the more violent events in Libya, the Yemeni protests have persisted for weeks.

Yesterday, a man died from gunshot wounds after troops fired on hundreds of protesters who had gathered in the university campus in the capital, Sana'a. Five others were seriously injured and about 90 more received minor injuries after troops used live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas. Continue reading and comment >>> Andy McSmith | Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ron Paul: No Weapons for Saudi Arabia!


RONPAUL.COM: This month the US Administration notified Congress that it intends to complete one of the largest arms sales in US history to one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Saudi Arabia has been given the green light by the administration to spend $60 billion on some 84 new F-15 aircraft, dozens of the latest helicopters, and other missiles, bombs, and high-tech military products from the US weapons industry.

Saudi Arabia, from where 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers came, is a family-run dictatorship, where there are no political parties, no independent press, and where any form of political dissent is met with the most severe punishment. We are told that we must occupy Afghanistan to encourage more rights for women, an issue on which the Saudi regime makes the Taliban look rather liberal by comparison. We are told that our increasingly aggressive policies toward Iran are justified by that country’s rigid Islamic laws and human-rights violations, while the even more repressive Islamic rule in Saudi Arabia is never mentioned.

So why would the US government, which spends hundreds of billions of dollars yearly and maintains hundreds of bases overseas to push global democracy, approve a deal like this with such a regime? As Stockholm Institute scholar Pieter Wezeman told the Washington Post, “Of course it’s against Iran. Of course it’s against Yemen. You can read between the lines … but there are not any official statements about it.” Although the deal must be approved by Congress, there is little chance of any significant Congressional opposition for the above reason. >>>Ron Paul | Monday, November 01, 2010

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US Secures Record $60 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia
THE TELEGRAPH: The United States is selling $60 billion (£40 billion) worth of aircraft to Saudi Arabia in a huge deal that will increase unease about a gathering arms race in the Middle East.

In what is the largest ever US arms sale of its kind, Riyadh has agreed to spend $30 billion up front on top range fighter jets and helicopters, with the rest following at an undisclosed date. The two countries are also discussing an upgrade naval package potentially worth $30 billion, but the timing of that deal is not clear.

The deals are a coup for the Obama administration ahead of the midterm Congressional elections. The aircraft contracts are set to benefit defence manufacturers in 44 states and help to protect 77,000 jobs. Democratic candidates are expected to come under severe pressure in the elections in part because of the US's high unemployment rate.

But the deal will raise concerns about the militarisation of the Gulf states and the Middle East, which in part seems to be being driven by the Iranian nuclear development programme. The rush by Tehran towards nuclear weapons, which it denies but is widely disbelieved, is prompting defence reviews across the whole region. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Monday, September 13, 2010

George Bush in Saudi Arabia: The 20 Billion Dollar Arms Deal


Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bush Brown-noses Saudis
Photo of the Bush courtesy of The Sunday Telegraph
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: US president George W. Bush is to promise $20 billion in advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia as he travels through the Gulf states to garner support for further sanctions against Iran.

Yet even that gesture will not be enough to convince moderate Arab states to shun Iran, in a sign of its growing status as a Muslim world superpower.

The weapons deal, which is to include precision-guided missiles, first surfaced last autumn but was postponed over opposition in the US Congress.

Now the Bush administration is to notify Congress on Monday of its intent to conclude the deal, as Mr Bush lands in Riyadh. George Bush to push $20bn Saudi weapons deal >>> By Carolynne Wheeler, Middle East Correspondent

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

US Aims to Strengthen Its ‘Friend’, Saudi Arabia, with $20billion Arms Deal in Bid to Contain Iran
BBC: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that Iran poses the biggest threat to US Middle East interests, as she begins a major regional tour.

Ms Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab ministers at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The tour is aimed at uniting US allies against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.

It is also trying to win support for a Mid-East peace conference planned for later this year, correspondents say. Iran 'biggest threat to Mid-East' (more)

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Iran is ‘biggest threat’

Mark Alexander