UK misled minster in frantic bid to sell arms for Saudi’s war on Yemen

British Defense Ministry (MoD) has been accused of “seriously misleading” a cabinet minister in frantic efforts to win export licenses for sale of UK-built missile to Saudi Arabia for its brutal bombing campaign in neighboring Yemen.

The UK’s former business secretary Vince Cable insists that he was given specific assurances by the MoD about oversight of potential targets – which he deemed an essential safeguard to minimize the risk of civilian tolls in the massive Saudi airstrikes throughout Yemen, The Guardian reported Saturday.

Citing an interview with Cable, the daily further quotes the ex-secretary as saying that he signed off on export licenses for delivery of laser-guided Paveway IV missiles, which he had blocked amid concerns about civilian deaths after receiving assurances by the UK government that it would enhance its oversight of what was being bombed by the Saudi military.

However, the daily adds, the MoD insists it has no military personnel in the Saudi “targeting chain” and denies ever offering Cable such assurances last year.

“That is categorically contrary to what I was told was going to happen,” Cable was quoted as saying. “If what they are now saying [is] I was not offered oversight …, then I was seriously misled. That is total fabrication because that was very specifically stated. That is not something that I would have made up.”

The daily then cited a second source involved in the discussions at the time, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, as corroborating Cable’s account saying, “Mr. Cable was told we would have oversight of targeting. He wouldn’t have agreed to the licenses without this.”

She further added that “It is extremely disturbing to discover the sale of arms for use in Yemen was approved by Vince Cable on the basis of a lie, and it provides yet more evidence that limiting civilian casualties in this conflict has been the least of the government’s concerns.”

“Given the MoD have now confirmed they have no control over what the Saudi airstrikes are targeting, any notion that Britain is acting as a restraining force on the coalition forces is plain nonsense,” Thornberry emphasized.

Huge British arms sales to Saudi Arabia have come under scrutiny for months due to the kingdom’s role in inflicting massive civilian casualties through its bombing campaign across Yemen.

The despotic Persian Gulf regime has spearheaded the bombing in Yemen – prompting concerns that UK weapons may have been used in airstrikes that resulted in growing civilian tolls. Earlier this year, the UN declared that 119 Saudi-led coalition attacks had breached international humanitarian law, with many involving “multiple airstrikes on multiple civilian objects” such as hospitals, schools, factories and homes.

With concern over climbing civilian deaths last year, the report said, Cable suspended the sale of Paveway bombs to the Saudi royal air force. He said he would not approve the licenses until the MoD agreed to extra safeguards to minimize the risk of British missiles causing casualties. The suspension caused uproar within the MoD, the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

According to the daily, British prime minister at the time, David Cameron, called his deputy Nick Clegg to ask him why Cable was dragging his feet. Michael Fallon, the defense secretary, and Philip Hammond, then foreign secretary, also lobbied for the immediate resumption of sales.

“The MoD was desperate to get the licenses signed,” the report added, quoting unnamed Whitehall sources. “The Saudis were putting enormous pressure on the government, and this hold-up was extremely embarrassing. They’d already told the Saudis: ‘This stuff is coming.’ And then it got held up and they couldn’t explain to the Saudis what was going on.”

“The Saudis are extremely important to us, both as a customer but also in strategic terms in the region. The bottom line is, if we don’t sell these arms to them, someone else will,” the daily further underlined quoting another source.

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