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Trump Ready to Approve Blocked Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

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posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:35 PM
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A package of precision-guided missile technology for Saudi Arabia, valued around $300 million, and a $4 billion deal to provide F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain are now ready for clearance from the White House, a US official involved in the transfers told The Washington Times.

During his final months in office, former president Barack Obama had blocked the transfer of precision munitions to Riyadh because of the outcry over large-scale civilian casualties resulting from Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.

The Pentagon has been providing logistics and surveillance support to Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, the kingdom’s impoverished southern neighbor, which has killed at least 11,400 civilians since its onset in March 2015, according to a latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.

The Obama administration also notified Congress that it would not complete approval for Bahrain to buy as many as 19 F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. until the kingdom could demonstrate progress on human rights.

The US already uses Bahrain as a base of operations for the US Navy in the Persian Gulf. Since 2011, the overwhelming majority of the people of Bahrain took to the streets to demand political reform. The regime, backed by Saudi Arabia, then launched a crackdown on the peaceful opposition that included conducting thousands of arrests and systematic torture.

The arms packages, if approved, would underscore the priorities of the new administration.

“These are significant sales for key allies in the [Persian] Gulf who are facing the threat from Iran and who can contribute to the fight against [Daesh],” the official who spoke with The Times said on condition of anonymity.

“Whereas the Obama administration held back on these, they’re now in the new administration’s court for a decision — and I would anticipate the decision will be to move forward.”

However, the White House will face opposition in Congress where Democrats and a number of Republicans have called for restrictions on sales of weapons to the two monarchies, in particular to Saudi Arabia which has been pounding Yemen since March 2015.

In August, 64 House members signed a letter calling on Obama to delay the sale of cluster munitions to the kingdom, and in September, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a resolution to block a multi-billion dollar sale of battle tanks and other military equipment to the Saudi regime.

The Obama administration ultimately approved the deal on tanks transfer. However, the former president did not give the final go-ahead to the now-pending package of precision-guided weapons technology.

However, the US official told The Times that the Trump administration was now poised to embrace the deal. “If they’re going to drop stuff, it should be precision-guided rather than dumb.”

Saudi Arabia has purchased billions of dollars worth of American warplanes and other weaponry that it is using in its military campaign in Yemen.

The military aggression has destroyed much of Yemen's infrastructure. It has also claimed the lives of over 11,400 Yemenis, including women and children, according to the latest tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.


Congress and various Senators have tried to stop this but now it may be going forward. When they say "cluster munitions" are they talking about cluster bombs or does that mean something else? Is this a wise decision to continue arming or should Pres Trump continue blockage? One dead Navy Seal, 6 others wounded and 11,400 dead civilians, what a mess. I'm not sure what to think but wanted to bring this onboard for some feedback. This is not a Trump hit piece, I realize it's a sticky situation and I just wanted to be informative as well as gain some perspective, thx.
Link

Yemen calls for reassessment of US terror raid.


Yemen's foreign minister said Wednesday his government has asked for a "reassessment” of a U.S. anti-terrorism raid last month that apparently caused the deaths of several women and children, but he denied reports that the government requested a suspension of American ground operations.

“Yemen continues to cooperate with the United States and continues to abide by all the agreements,” Abdul-Malik al-Mekhlafi said, according to the Associated Press. He said the government “is involved in talks with the U.S. administration on the latest raid.”

His remarks followed news reports that Yemen's government had demanded a halt to U.S. special operations. He said the reports are “not true,” according to the AP.

Yemen's government controls only part of the country, which has been divided by civil war. A Saudi-led coalition is fighting Houthi rebels, which are supported by Iran. The chaos has allowed al-Qaeda to grow in strength.

The Jan. 28 raid against al-Qaeda militants in central Yemen resulted in the death of Navy SEAL, William "Ryan" Owens and wounding of six servicemen. A U.S. aircraft was destroyed so that it wouldn't fall into the hands of militants after it became disabled during the raid.

The Pentagon said the raid resulted in the capture of a trove of intelligence and the deaths of 14 al-Qaeda fighters.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that American officials said Yemen, angered by the civilian deaths, has withdrawn permission for U.S. special operations ground missions against suspected terrorists there.

edit on 8-2-2017 by waftist because: add linky



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:37 PM
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If you looked at the King of Saudi arabia arse you would likly find oranage fake tan there............


Instead of new weapons they should be added to the travel ban list!



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:41 PM
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originally posted by: crazyewok
If you looked at the King of Saudi arabia arse you would likly find oranage fake tan there............


Instead of new weapons they should be added to the travel ban list!



Yep, yep and yep.

Never gonna happen.

The mighty petrodollar is worth far, far more than some Yemeni life, or U.S Citizen's lives for that matter; if the Saudis were behind 9/11, as Congress has suggested.
edit on 8/2/17 by Cobaltic1978 because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:42 PM
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Well I guess this proves Trump isnt anti Muslim, sadly thats the only positive I can take away from this



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:46 PM
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a reply to: crazyewok

No one had the slightest issue with Obama dropping off 1.7 billion to Iran, which helps fund a variety of terrorist organizations. Also, there's a reason Saudi Arabia isn't on the list. I'll let you try to think of the very logical reason by yourself. Hint: it requires no tin foil hat and has nothing to do with 9/11 or Donald Trump.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:47 PM
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a reply to: waftist

Making America great by selling Cluster munitions and aircraft to unsavory nations ?
Money talks civilians die.


However, the White House will face opposition in Congress where Democrats and a number of Republicans have called for restrictions on sales of weapons to the two monarchies, in particular to Saudi Arabia which has been pounding Yemen since March 2015.

Let's hope that continues and this Bad Deal for America falls through.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:48 PM
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The block on the F-16 sale to Bahrain was one of the things that made me scratch my head. They gave weapons to so called moderate rebels in Syria, and sold weapons to pretty much anyone that had enough money, but Bahrain, who has been a strong ally, and has given us basing rights for years, has to "improve their human rights". No set goal, no details beyond an incredibly vague, open ended statement.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:58 PM
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originally posted by: Zaphod58
The block on the F-16 sale to Bahrain was one of the things that made me scratch my head. They gave weapons to so called moderate rebels in Syria, and sold weapons to pretty much anyone that had enough money, but Bahrain, who has been a strong ally, and has given us basing rights for years, has to "improve their human rights". No set goal, no details beyond an incredibly vague, open ended statement.


Bahrain expelled a US diplomat in, I think 2014 or thereabouts, a smack in the face maybe (he later went back). That might have some weight.

Bahrain is also heavily involved with Iran, and vice versa (historically speaking).

Who knows where interests lie.




posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 01:58 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Not that big of a head scratcher if you simply connect the dots. Obama supported the shiite uprisings seen during the Arab Spring. The kingdom of Bahrain is Sunni and their nation experienced an attempted coup same as the other Sunni-led countries in the Gulf did. Personally I believe most of those uprisings were encouraged and funded by Washington, so it would be against his personal interests for Obama to have approved any military equipment sales to a Bahrainian monarchy that he was cheering the overthrow of.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:02 PM
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originally posted by: Jonjonj
Bahrain is also heavily involved with Iran, and vice versa (historically speaking).


Another Shiite vs Sunni conflict...



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:04 PM
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Saudi is one of the worst regime, by association US becomes the worst offender as well, so they will be considered a 'good' terrorist nation, so that we look 'good' as well.

It shows that Trump is just a bully who can only pick on small countries, but he is a coward against Saudi etc, and will bend over backwards to the Saudi King.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:14 PM
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a reply to: crazyewok


originally posted by: crazyewok
If you looked at the King of Saudi arabia arse you would likly find oranage fake tan there...


Nicely put.


So more U.S. support for the Wahabi radical islamists... big surprise.

Told you so.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:16 PM
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It could potentially be 8 years until the dupejuice wears off and the cult of Drumpf realises that behind all the catchy drain the swamp slogans it was business as usual.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:27 PM
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originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: Jonjonj
Bahrain is also heavily involved with Iran, and vice versa (historically speaking).


Another Shiite vs Sunni conflict...


Well if there is one thing that we need more of, internecine religious conflict would fit that bill.

*I personally am just waiting for the aliens now; we have had the cold war, we are living with the terrorists, more and more videos on YouTube about meteors and meteorites, asteroid is on the horizon for sure lol.




posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:35 PM
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A package of precision-guided missile technology for Saudi Arabia, valued around $300 million, and a $4 billion deal to provide F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain are now ready for clearance from the White House, a US official involved in the transfers told The Washington Times.


ISIS and other terrorists don't use high tech weaponry.

Obama did not block it out of the goodness of his heart. Something else was going on.

But yeah people.

The deal should have stayed blocked.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:40 PM
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The only US weapons delivery to Saudi Arabia should be a MOAB dropped directly on King Salman's palace...

What a sick joke. These people don't deserve American Weapons no matter how much they're willing to pay.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:53 PM
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originally posted by: crazyewok
If you looked at the King of Saudi arabia arse you would likly find oranage fake tan there............


Instead of new weapons they should be added to the travel ban list!



Trump and Bannon logic, sell more weapons to Muslims, so they can kill more Muslims, and there will be less Muslims in the world to worry about.

Makes sense.



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 02:54 PM
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I was pondering what motives President Trump may have personally on this, if any. I suspect he may have investments in oil and arms but upon googling I found this.



The Post reported that by the time of Trump's May financial filing, four of those companies in which Trump was the president or director were still active. Trump has in the past said he wants to protect the oil-rich Arab kingdom.

During a rally on August 21, the day Trump created four of those companies, he said he gets along well with Saudi Arabia.

"They buy apartments from me," Trump said during the Alabama rally. "They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”

In January of this year, Trump said on Fox News he "would want to protect Saudi Arabia.

"I would want to protect Saudi Arabia," he said during the interview. "But Saudi Arabia is going to have to help us economically. They were making, before the oil went down ... they were making $1 billion a day.”

During his presidential campaign, the president-elect often called out his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for accepting money from Saudi Arabia for the Clinton Foundation.

Source

Surely real estate profits for our President are not playing in any part in this. Isn't that a huge conflict of interest? Or, is he acting upon advice from military circle? I guess he is no different than other Pres in maintaining coziness with SA, too much to lose financially. I'd love to see a pres say no to Saudi and I think the US people would applaud such stance. I kind of thought Pres Trump would be that renegade, but money ties things together inevitably, for better and/or worse.
edit on 8-2-2017 by waftist because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 03:10 PM
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a reply to: AMPTAH

Actually there is a idea.....

The USA should give Iran and Saudi arabia a few hundred nukes......the catch being there targeting computers can only target each other......then let the games begin



posted on Feb, 8 2017 @ 03:15 PM
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originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: AMPTAH

Actually there is a idea.....

The USA should give Iran and Saudi arabia a few hundred nukes......the catch being there targeting computers can only target each other......then let the games begin


Sometimes you worry me, then I remember to look at your avatar, realise who you are in here and skip off, into the sunset, with nairy a worry.
edit on 8-2-2017 by Jonjonj because: clarificarity



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