More than sixty US Members of Congress have signed a letter urging President Obama to halt the sale of $1.15 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The petition, which was posted to Facebook by Republican congressman Justin Amash and sent to Obama’s office yesterday, responded to the administration notifying Congress of its intention to sell $1.15 billion worth of weapons to the Saudis – a deal that will provide more than 130 battle tanks to the Kingdom. The decision to sell the arms is awaiting approval from Congress, but critics believe the August recess, effectively a summer holiday for US lawmakers, means it won’t have enough time to properly debate the sale.
The Kingdom’s need for the equipment is unsettling to some. For more than a year now, it’s been leading a military coalition in support of the Yemen’s exiled government and against Houthi forces, waging a war that’s claimed large number of civilian lives.
In the petition, US representatives cited a UN estimate that more than 3,700 civilians had been killed in the ongoing violence, including 1,121children, and added that 83% of the country’s population are now dependent on humanitarian aid. Amnesty International estimates that around 35,000 people in Yemen have died in the coalition campaign.
But the extreme toll hasn’t stopped foreign governments continuing to trade arms with Saudi. Last year alone, the US government sold $20 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to Human Rights Watch. Other countries have, too: up until November 2015, the UK issued 152 export licenses for weapons including bombs torpedoes and missiles to Saudi, totalling $4.16 billion.
The petition urges Obama to stand by his own statement that the power of the United States is "rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." It urges delay of the proposed deal “so that the people's representatives in Congress can give these issues the full deliberation that they deserve.”
And this is hardly the only resistance to weapons sales to Saudi. A United For Peace campaign is currently backing the petition to urge Obama administration to rethink its links. And in August, the New York Times ran a prominent editorial arguing that the US was complicit in Saudi “carnage” in Yemen that included the bombing factories, schools and hospitals. The US “has enabled the coalition in many ways, including selling arms to the Saudis to mollify them after the nuclear deal with Iran,” it wrote. Donald Trump has also criticised the Kingdom and demanded the Clinton Foundation return up to $25 m received in Saudi donations.
So will the petition from Congress members make a difference? Though postponing the approval might bring some of the concerns out into the open, the Obama administration has shown little interest in cooling down the pace of arms sales to its ally. And for the civilian population of Yemen, that’s likely to mean more bombing.
Bethan Staton
