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Arming Saudi Arabia part of US foreign policy objective: Analyst

Myles Hoenig

Arming Saudi Arabia to counter Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East is a foreign policy objective of the United States, an American political activist in Maryland says.

“Very few countries in this world have as horrid a human rights record as Saudi Arabia, but that has not stopped the US from arming it to carry out its foreign policy objectives, regardless of which president sits in the White House or what latest atrocities the Saud family commits.,” said Myles Hoenig, who ran for the US Congress in 2016 as a Green Party candidate.

“And with some exceptions in the past, the US administrations have welcomed the opportunities to extend its imperial reach through proxies like Saudi Arabia,” Hoenig told Press TV on Thursday.

“Both wings of the imperial US Congress see Iran as a de-stabilizing factor in the Middle East, and its growing strength and prestige need to be checked. Backing Saudi Arabia militarily is their cheap answer, short of sending in its own military more than it is already there,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has struck a $7 billion deal with American arms manufactures for precision-guided munitions, sources say, a sign that the kingdom and its allies are adamant in pushing ahead with a years-long war on Yemen despite international pressure.

The weapons deal with Raytheon and Boeing is part of a $110 billion agreement between Washington and Riyadh that coincided with US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The US State Department has yet to formally notify the US Congress of the contract, which is expected to draw fire from a growing number of lawmakers who think such deals make the US an accomplice in Saudi Arabia’s war against its impoverished southern neighbor.

The unprovoked war, which began in March 2015, has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis while destroying the country’s infrastructure, according to the United Nations.

“Arming Saudi Arabia is bi-partisan. There are very few members of Congress who oppose it. Even Senator Bernie Sanders during the presidential campaign was a strong advocate for it being the replacement of our ‘boots on the ground’ in Yemen and elsewhere,” Hoenig said.


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