In a spat of arms deals ahead of the Trump administration’s White House exit, the US State Department approved the sale of $290 million in bombs to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, December 29. These arms deals have faced broad congressional and public opposition for the despicable human rights records of the nations concerned. In the case of Saudi Arabia, the imprisonment of women’s rights activist Loujain Al Hathloul and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi are some prominent cases of human rights abuse that have drawn global attention.
As per the US State Department’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency, Saudi Arabia will be sold GBU-39 small diameter bomb I (SDB I) munitions and related equipment for an estimated cost of $290 million. The Kingdom has requested three thousand GBU-39 SDB I munitions. On the same day, the US also announced a $4 billion deal for the sale of AH-64E Apache helicopters to Kuwait and $65.6 million deal in precision targeting equipment for Egyptian warplanes.
While the State Department has claimed that the arms deal will support US foreign policy and national security objectives vis-a-vis political stability and economic growth in the Middle East, critics fear the sale would fuel the war in Yemen which continues to witness a huge civilian death toll.
The massive sales come as Biden’s transition team accused Pentagon officials of setting up ‘roadblocks’ and ‘stalling the transition’ in the weeks preceding inauguration, on January 20. In a press briefing, Biden said, “Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It is nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”
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