Trump's weapons deal ratifies US support for Yemen war
by Joel Gehrke | May 20, 2017, 6:08 PM President Trump's newly announced arms agreement with Saudi Arabia ratifies an Obama administration policy that has drawn criticism from a voluble, bipartisan minority of senators.
Saudi Arabia, armed with American weapons, fought a proxy war with Iran in Yemen, where the government was overthrown by a rebel group tied to the Iranians. Allegations that Saudi Arabia has bombed civilians and committed other human rights abuses compromised what would otherwise tend to be unanimous U.S. support for the conflict. A $1.15 billion arms deal last year turned controversial, but that pact is dwarfed by the $110 billion pact signed Saturday.
"[M]any of the armaments we're providing to Saudi Arabia will help them be much more precise and targeted with many of their strikes, but it's important that pressure be kept on the rebels in Yemen," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters following meetings in Riyadh.
But Saudi Arabia has attacked civilians intentionally, according to Senate critics of such agreements, rather than by mistakes borne of imprecise airstrike technology.
"[T]he country is on the brink of famine in part because the Saudis have intentionally destroyed transit hubs and key bridges, and blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid into Yemen," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., wrote in a piece published by the Huffington Post. "By selling the Saudis these precision-guided weapons more — not fewer — civilians will be killed because it is Saudi Arabia's strategy to starve Yemenis to death to increase their own leverage at the negotiating table. They couldn't do this without the weapons we are selling them."
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