This latest piece of the larger arms package includes 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM's) tail kits, which will vastly improve the all weather capability of the Royal Saudi Air Force. A broad bipartisan coalition of over 100 members of Congress previously released a letter to President Bush expressing their deep opposition to the sale and their intention to vote to stop it.
Congress may reject any large arms sale according to the Arms Control Export Act of 1976, under which the President is required to officially notify Congress of an impending arms deal. Congress then has 30 days to consider the proposed deal.
The Joint Resolution of Disapproval has been used in the past by Congress to affect weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. In 1985, the Kingdom wanted to purchase F-15 fighter jets, but congressional opposition convinced the Reagan administration not to go forward with the sale. This was on the heels of a bruising battle with Congress on a 1981 sale of AWACS after Senator Bob Packwood questioned selling arms to Saudi Arabia saying "They have displayed a hostility that must be interpreted as their deliberate intentions to promote continued instability in the Middle East."
In 1990, an arms package to Saudi Arabia valued in excess of $20 billion was expected to be proposed to Congress. House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt led a letter to President George H.W. Bush advocating "a unilateral pause in arms sales to countries in the Middle East and Persian Gulf." The deal ultimately submitted to Congress was significantly smaller at $7.3 billion, and did not include controversial hardware such as AWACS and KE-3 tanker aircraft.
Saudi Arabia has not been a true ally in the war on terror or furthering the United States interests in the Middle East. In July of this year, American officials in Iraq said the majority of suicide bombers in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia and that about 45 percent of all foreign fighters are Saudi. Iraqi media reported that students at the Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, located in Riyadh and known as the "terrorist factory," had organized activist groups and sent members streaming north to join the onslaught on Iraqi Shias. Brig. General Kevin Bergner, the top American military spokesman in Iraq detailed an account of a Saudi Arabian smuggled into Iraq to be a suicide bomber. Yet Prince Saud was quoted as saying, "All that we can do in order to protect the border in Iraq we have been doing."
In February the Saudi Arabian government torpedoed U.S. plans to conduct a high-profile peace summit meeting between Israel and the Palestinian Authority by brokering their own power-sharing agreement, catching the U.S. off guard and ensuring the agreement would not require Hamas to recognize Israel or forswear violence. On March 29th, many agree Saudi Arabia King Abdullah referred to the U.S. troops in Iraq as an "illegitimate foreign occupation" at a two-day Arab summit in Riyadh.
And despite assurances to the contrary, Saudi Arabia appears to continue to bankroll terrorist organizations that have attacked both the United States and Israel. In sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in November 2005, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Daniel L. Glaser indicated that the Saudi Arabian government refuses to crack down on the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), which spreads radical Wahhabism and finances Hamas and Al Qaeda. 70% of the most-wanted international terrorists are Saudi Arabians.
"People of all political stripes have come out against this deal," said Rep. Weiner. "It's mind-bogglingly bad policy because the Saudis at every turn have been uncooperative. The idea that we are going to reward the Saudis with precision weaponry is a stunningly bad idea, and clearly deserves the full review of Congress."
"Weapons sales should only go to a dedicated ally committed to the war on terror, a stable Iraq, and security for Israel. Saudi Arabia does meet these preconditions. President Bush's plan to sell $20 billion worth of weapons is simply counterintuitive to the war on terror and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree that it must be stopped," said Rep. Wexler.
“A massive infusion of advanced weaponry into Saudi Arabia is not the answer to peace in the Middle East and, frankly, it could be dangerously counterproductive. U.S. military leadership continues to site people in Saudi Arabia for providing fighters and financial assistance to those causing death and destruction in Iraq. The Bush Administration ought to concentrate on diplomatic efforts instead of contributing to an arms buildup in the Middle East,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley.
Current Cosponsors
Weiner (D-NY), Wexler (D-FL), Altmire (D-PA), Baca (D-CA), Baldwin (D-WI), Berkley (D-NV), Blumenauer (D-OR), Boswell (D-IA), Brady (D-PA), Braley (D-IA), Castor (D-FL), Cohen (D-TN), Costello (D-IL), Crowley (D-NY), Cummings (D-MD), DeLauro (D-CT), Fattah (D-PA), Ferguson (R-NJ), Filner (D-CA), Grijalva (D-AZ), Gutierrez (D-IL), Hall (D-NY), Hare (D-IL), Hastings (D-FL), Hinchey (D-NY), Hirono (D-HI), Holt (D-NJ), Jones (R-NC), Kagen (D-WI), Kaptur (D-OH), Klein (D-FL), Kucinich (D-OH), Lee (D-CA), Lipinski (D-IL), Maloney (D-NY), Michaud (D-ME), Myrick (R-NC), Nadler (D-NY), Pascrell (D-NJ), Rangel (D-NY), Rothman (D-NJ), Sanchez (D-CA), Schakowsky (D-IL), Schwartz (D-PA), Shea-Porter (D-NH), Stark (D-CA), Tauscher (D-CA), Thompson (D-CA), Towns (D-NY), Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Waters (D-CA), Woolsey (D-CA) and Wu (D-OR).
