US lawmakers seek to stop massive Trump Saudi weapons deal
US lawmakers have introduced legislation seeking to block at least a portion of US President Donald Trump's massive sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senators Chris Murphy and Al Franken introduced a resolution of disapproval in the Senate on Thursday to force a vote on whether to block about $500 million of the $110 billion arms deal.
Paul said he opposes the arms deal because Riyadh supports terror groups and could use the weapons in the war against Yemen.
“Given Saudi Arabia's past support of terror, poor human rights record, and questionable tactics in its war in Yemen, Congress must carefully consider and thoroughly debate if selling them billions of dollars of arms is in our best national security interest at this time,” Paul said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy $110 billion of US weapons, with options to buy up to $350 billion over 10 years. Saudi Arabia was the first stop on Trump's first overseas trip this week, and he marked the visit by announcing the arms deal in Riyadh on May 20.
Trump has said he wants to encourage international weapons sales as a way to create jobs in the United States.
Reportedly brokered by the Republican president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the massive package includes American missiles, bombs, armored personnel carriers, warships and munitions.
Read more:
- US-Saudi seal weapons deal worth $110 billion
- 'Kushner works for US armament industry'
- US Senate set to block Saudi arms sale
In September, the Senate voted 71-27 against a joint effort by the same three senators to block another military deal with Saudi Arabia worth of $1.15 billion, signed by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
Obama’s administration suspended the planned sale of precision-guided munitions in December 2016 because of concerns over the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen and civilian casualties.
The human rights group Amnesty International USA said the US is fueling serious human rights violations taking place in Yemen by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back to power the resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh, and to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement. The Riyadh regime has, however, failed to reach its goals despite suffering great expense.
The military aggression has claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people in Yemen.
Since 2011, the Saudi regime has also been sponsoring Takfiri terrorists fighting against the Syrian government, which has left hundreds of thousands people dead and millions more displaced.
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