US Senate against banning arms sales to Saudi Arabia
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The US Senate "strongly rejects" Resolution 31, which proposes to block the many-million dollars arms sales to Saudi Arabia that has been aggressing against Yemen since 2015.
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As the weapons business operates between the US and Saudi Arabia, Yemen's crisis is ongoing.
The US Senate "strongly rejects" banning the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which continues to aggress against Yemen.
After the US State Department approved to sell $650 million worth of arms to Saudi Arabia in December 2020 - which is the first major arms sale to Riyadh - Republican senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee and Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders issued a resolution to block the sales last month. However, the US Senate rejected the resolution.
Resolution 31, which was rejected on Tuesday, was to ban the sales of 280 advanced medium range-air-to-air missiles manufactured by war-corporate giant Raytheon.
“[The Senate resolution] would undermine the president's commitment to aid in our partner's defenses at a time of increased missile and drone attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia,” the White House Office of Management of Budget said in a statement.
The Senate argued that the sales "would replenish Saudi Arabia’s existing inventory of air-to-air missiles” to "defend" itself in the war it has waged on Yemen, which has left millions devastated and displaced.
Last month, Sanders contended, in a joint statement, that "as the Saudi government continues to wage its devastating war in Yemen and repress its own people, we should not be rewarding them with more arms sales."
“A message needs to be sent to Saudi Arabia that we don’t approve of their war with Yemen. By participating in this sale, we would not only be rewarding reprehensible behavior but also exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” Rand Paul said.
On February 4, the Biden administration claimed that the US would work to end the war on Yemen and to stop all US support for offensive operations, whilst asserting that Riyadh faces threats and is in need of protection.
The first major deal? Not so much
Data from the US Department of Defense, cited by Mint Press News, revealed the continued flow of US weapons to Saudi Arabia since the start of its aggression on Yemen.
The investigation showed weapon contracts worth about $28.4 billion were concluded since March 2015, including about 20 contracts approved by the administration of President Joe Biden this year, amounting to $1.2 billion.
Saudi Arabia spent about $34 billion on weapons from other parties for the same period. Accordingly, Saudi military purchases from US sources and firms are estimated at $63 billion since its aggression on Yemen, adding the collective contracts stipulated with US firms in which Saudi Arabia "was clearly the primary buyer."
