US officials have no intention to end Saudi crimes: ex-US diplomat
The US government is only blowing hot air with its condemnatory rhetoric against the Saudi regime and will never take concrete steps to end Riyadh’s crimes against humanity, says a former American diplomat in Saudi Arabia.
J. Michael Springmann, a Washington-based author and the former head of the US visa bureau in Jeddah, made the remarks regarding the US stance on a Saudi airstrike in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a that killed at least 140 civilians.
After Saturday's strike, which targeted a funeral hall and injured over 500 people, White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said Washington would review its support for the Saudi monarchys’ aggression against its impoverished neighbor, which has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis since its onset in March 2015.
“I frankly have to say that talk is cheap, it is easy to say something and it is very hard to do,” Springmann said.
Washington has time and again criticized its allies like Israel for their crimes against humanity but has never taken any measures to punish them, the analyst noted.
Springmann argued that the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which was recently passed by the US Congress to allow victims of the 9/11 attacks sue Saudi Arabia, amounts to a great example of America’s double policy.
“In the past, the United States, according to the Congressional Research Service, has given the Saudis $115 billion worth of [military] equipment since January 2009,” he noted. “These are fighter jets, helicopters, naval missiles, weapons, bombs, etc.”
In August, the US State Department approved the sale of more than 130 Abrams tanks, 20 armored recovery vehicles and other equipment worth about $1.15 billion to Saudi Arabia.
“It is not a blank check. It is very simple to turn the check in half and feed it into a shredder,” Springmann continued. “Stop giving the Saudis this money, stop giving the Saudis diplomatic cover.”
Concluding his remarks, Springmann doubled down on his point that American officials do the “talk” but what the Americans do "is what is important to watch.”
Saudi Arabia was the world’s largest arms importer in 2015, purchasing $9.3 billion in military equipment, according to IHS, a consulting company in Englewood, Colorado.
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