In May 2015, President Obama met with the Gulf Cooperation Council and promised more arms sales. Since that meeting, the United States has offered over $33 billion in weaponry to its Persian Gulf allies, with most of it going to Saudi Arabia. In the first six years of the Obama administration, the U.S. entered into agreements to transfer nearly $50 billion in weaponry to Saudi Arabia, with tens of billions of dollars in the pipeline. [1]
The Pentagon claims that these arms transfers to Saudi Arabia "improve the security of an important partner which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."
The Saudi-led war in Yemen is a prime example of what's wrong with the Pentagon's position. The United Nations has found that more than 3,200 civilians have been killed since Saudi bombing began this past March. A majority of these deaths have been a result of airstrikes, many of which have been carried out with aircraft, bombs and missiles supplied by the United States and Britain including U.S.-supplied cluster bombs. The use of cluster bombs is of particular concern, as these munitions are banned by an international treaty -- a treaty that neither the United States nor Saudi Arabia has signed.
"But American arms transfers to Saudi Arabia are questionable not only on human rights rounds. They have negative strategic consequences. The Saudi-led incursion against Houthi rebels in Yemen has opened the way for jihadist groups to gain territory and influence. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is now firmly entrenched in the Yemeni city of Mukalla and has reportedly used its position there to raise over $100 million by looting banks and charging fees for the use of the local port." [2]
President Obama seems to understand that uncritical support for the Saudis will only make the security situation in the Middle East worse. In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, the president acknowledged that competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran "has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen;" also, he said that Riyadh and Tehran should "share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace."
The deal reached over Iran's nuclear program has been cited as one justification for the shipment of arms to the Saudis, because it provides reassurance that the U.S. won't tilt toward Iran. But if demonstrating a commitment to the Saudi government means supporting reckless actions like the war on Yemen, than the policy is not worth the price.
On May 13, 2016, senators Chris Murphy (D-CT and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a joint resolution (S.J.Res.32) that aims to block transfers of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia until President Obama certifies that the Saudis aren't funding terrorism,is taking significant steps to reduce civilian casualties, is facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid, and is going after ISIS and Al Qaeda in Yemen.
ADDENDUMS:
*According to the Census Bureau, home builders began work on just 822,000 new single-family homes in February 2016. That's only a few thousand more than in the through of the housing recession way back in 1991 and roughly half of the pre-bubble levels of 2004. [3]
*No county in the United States has enough affordable rental units to meet its need. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines affordability as housing costs that consume less than a third of a family's total income. "Nationwide, only 28 affordable units are available for every 100 'extremely low-income renters', which the report identifies as households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median income, or AMI." [4] Stagnant wages add to the affordable hosing problem.
Footnotes
[1] William D. Hartung, "Obama Shouldn't Trade Cluster Bombs for Saudi Arabia's Friendship," The New York Times, April 19, 2016.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Chris Mathews, "We're Still in a Housing Crisis," Fortune, May 1, 2016.
[4] D.W. Gibson, "America the Unaffordable," The New Yorker, April 4, 2016.
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