Tuesday, May 30, 2017

#Resistance

Top Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for the $110-billion arms deal Donald Trump signed with Saudi Arabia last week to be reversed. Their primary concern is that the kingdom may use the newest weapons in the Yemen war, they say.

  Rt
They wouldn't!
They argued that it was crucial to understand if the Saudi Air Force, which spearheads the kingdom’s invasion of neighboring Yemen, would be able to use the cutting-edge armaments in their strikes against Shia Houthi militias.
"Be able to"?
The lawmakers said that in December, the Obama administration suspended “a planned sale of PGMs due to concerns over widespread civilian casualties in Yemen and significant deficiencies in RSAF’s [Saudi Air Force] targeting capabilities.”

“This decision was the result of an internal review launched after the United Nations and a number of human rights organizations documented a series of RSAF airstrikes on civilian targets including hospitals, markets, schools and a large funeral,” the letter stated.

[...]

“We therefore urge the Committee to call a hearing with the Administration, in a closed session if necessary, to obtain critical information pertinent to this PGM sale prior to the 30-day statutory window closing on June 20,” the letter read.

[...]

US Senators Chris Murphy, Al Franken, and Rand Paul introduced a joint resolution of disapproval for the deal. Employing a provision of the Arms Export Control Act, they hope to block the arms sale to the Saudi Air Force, though it represents only one part of the multi-billion dollar deal.

On Saturday, Congressman Lieu also introduced a joint resolution to place conditions on all air-to-ground munitions sales to Saudi Arabia. The conditions regard avoiding civilian casualties, facilitating humanitarian aid, and targeting US-designated terrorist organizations such as AQAP and ISIS.
Pretend that would work.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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