US Saudi arms package faces fight in Congress
* I agree they could be doing a lot more and fall second only to Pakistan for playing both sides.
1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Lawmakers are striking a note of alarm over reported US plans to sell sophisticated satellite guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, as part of a 20 billion dollar arms sale.
A coalition of 188 members of the House of Representatives warned that if the technology fell into the "wrong hands" it could harm US forces in the Middle East and threaten Israel.
"Any sale of JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) technology to Saudi Arabia must come with guarantees backed by strict conditions notified to Congress followed by regular reporting," the lawmakers said in a letter to President George W. Bush.
They also called for tight congressional oversight of the sale, and intense US consultations with key US ally Israel.
The New York Times reported in April that the US-Gulf arms package had been delayed because of Israeli concerns over the sale to Saudi Arabia of certain precision guided munitions.
"Saudi Arabia remains in a formal state of war with Israel -- the preeminent democracy in the Middle East," the members of congress wrote in the letter.
"Additionally, Saudi groups continue to export Wahabi extremist ideology throughout the world -- an anti-American ideology we face on battlefields of the Global War on Terror."
Full story
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlXL0Fp_rGL5jYHcY2Ovtg56PuSg
* I agree they could be doing a lot more and fall second only to Pakistan for playing both sides.
1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Lawmakers are striking a note of alarm over reported US plans to sell sophisticated satellite guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, as part of a 20 billion dollar arms sale.
A coalition of 188 members of the House of Representatives warned that if the technology fell into the "wrong hands" it could harm US forces in the Middle East and threaten Israel.
"Any sale of JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) technology to Saudi Arabia must come with guarantees backed by strict conditions notified to Congress followed by regular reporting," the lawmakers said in a letter to President George W. Bush.
They also called for tight congressional oversight of the sale, and intense US consultations with key US ally Israel.
The New York Times reported in April that the US-Gulf arms package had been delayed because of Israeli concerns over the sale to Saudi Arabia of certain precision guided munitions.
"Saudi Arabia remains in a formal state of war with Israel -- the preeminent democracy in the Middle East," the members of congress wrote in the letter.
"Additionally, Saudi groups continue to export Wahabi extremist ideology throughout the world -- an anti-American ideology we face on battlefields of the Global War on Terror."
Full story
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlXL0Fp_rGL5jYHcY2Ovtg56PuSg
