{"id":3553,"date":"2020-12-23T23:33:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T23:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=142975"},"modified":"2020-12-23T23:33:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T23:33:10","slug":"experts-on-military-industrial-complex-blast-trump-plan-to-sell-nearly-750-billion-in-bombs-to-criminal-saudi-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/23\/experts-on-military-industrial-complex-blast-trump-plan-to-sell-nearly-750-billion-in-bombs-to-criminal-saudi-regime\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts on Military-Industrial Complex Blast Trump Plan to Sell Nearly $750 Billion in Bombs to Criminal Saudi Regime"},"content":{"rendered":"
Experts on the adverse effects of the military-industrial complex on Wednesday blasted a plan by the Trump administration to sell nearly half a billion dollars worth of advanced U.S. bombs to Saudi Arabia, which for over five years has been leading an airstrike campaign and starvation blockade that have added tens of thousands<\/a> of civilian deaths to the already staggering toll in Yemen’s ongoing civil war. <\/p>\n “The Biden administration has indicated a desire to rethink the U.S. relation[ship] with Saudi Arabia. The outgoing president should not use his lame-duck period to make that more difficult.” Bloomberg<\/em> reports<\/a> the U.S. State Department has notified Congress of its intention to license the sale of some 7,500 Raytheon Paveway precision-guided, air-to-ground munitions valued at $478 million to the kingdom, despite its status as one of the world’s worst human rights violators<\/a> and prolific perpetrator of U.S.-backed war crimes<\/a> in Yemen. <\/p>\n After the license is approved\u2014likely before President Donald Trump leaves office next month\u2014Raytheon will have a green light to sell the arms directly to the Saudi regime. <\/p>\n Human rights advocates condemned the proposed sale, citing conduct by Saudi and allied military forces in Yemen. <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s finishing his to-do list: Congress must stop this sale to Saudi Arabia. #YemenCantWait<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/rzscio64vX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Win Without War (@WinWithoutWar) December 23, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n “This deal should not be allowed to stand,” asserted William D. Hartung, director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, in a statement Wednesday. “The United States should not be selling precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia at this time, given their leading role in the air war in Yemen which has killed thousands of civilians and prolonged a conflict that is now the world’s worst <\/a>humanitarian catastrophe.”<\/p>\n Hartung continued:<\/p>\n Saudi access to tens of thousands of precision-guided munitions thus far has not diminished the civilian toll in Yemen, so Pentagon claims that more accurate bombs will reduce civilian casualties don’t hold up to scrutiny. A sale could also be seen as a reward to the Saudi regime at a time when it has yet to take responsibility for the murder of [journalist] Jamal Khashoggi or reduced its campaign of internal repression against regime critics and human rights defenders. Last but not least, this should be a decision for a new administration, not a lame-duck president.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Jeff Abramson, a senior fellow at the Arms Control Association, accused the Trump administration of “dangerously pushing more weapons into the Middle East to countries that have a record of misusing them.:<\/p>\n “The United States simply should not be selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, especially given their role in exacerbating the suffering in Yemen,” stressed Abramson. “The Biden administration has indicated a desire to rethink the U.S. relation[ship] with Saudi Arabia. The outgoing president should not use his lame-duck period to make that more difficult.”<\/p>\n However, as Washington Post<\/em> military and national security reporter Missy Ryan noted<\/a> Wednesday, former four-star general Lloyd Austin, who is President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for defense secretary, is currently a member of Raytheon’s board of directors. <\/p>\n The United Nations\u2014which has called the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis\u2014in September recommended<\/a> that the International Criminal Court investigate possible war crimes committed by all sides in the six-year civil war, which has claimed<\/a> over 100,000 lives. <\/p>\n The U.N. cited U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrikes<\/a> that have killed thousands of civilians, the Saudi-led blockade that has exacerbated famine conditions<\/a> and disease<\/a> that have killed at least tens of thousands of people, and a wide range of human rights violations by both Yemeni government forces and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, including unlawful imprisonment and killing, forced disappearances, and use of child soldiers.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014Jeff Abramson,
Arms Control Association <\/span><\/p>\n\n
Attempting a coup to overturn the election
Pardoning war criminals
Rushing bomb sales to authoritarians <\/p>\n\n