A Senate resolution opposing a $1.15 billion arms transfer to Saudi Arabia garnered support from 27 senators on Wednesday, a sign of growing unease about the increasing number of civilians being killed with U.S. weapons in Yemen. A procedural vote to table the resolution passed 71-27.
The Obama administration announced the transfer last month, the same day the Saudi Arabian coalition bombed a potato chip factory in the besieged Yemeni capital. In the following week, the Saudi-led forces would go on to bomb a children’s school, the home of the school’s principal, a Doctors Without Borders hospital, and the bridge used to carry humanitarian aid into the capital.
Saudi Arabia began bombing Yemen in March 2015, four months after Houthi rebels from Northern Yemen overran the capitol, Sanaa, and deposed the Saudi-backed ruler, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
In addition to providing Saudi Arabia with intelligence and flying refueling missions for its air force, the United States has enabled the bombing campaign by supplying $20 billion in weapons over the past 18 months. In total, President Obama has sold more than $115 billion in weapons to the Saudi kingdom – more than any other president.
After the White House failed to respond to a letter from 60 members of Congress requesting that the transfer be delayed, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a resolution condemning the arms sale. Paul and Murphy said they had planned to pursue binding legislation if their resolution was successful.
“It’s time for the United States to press ‘pause’ on our arms sales to Saudi Arabia,” Murphy said. “Let’s ask ourselves whether we are comfortable with the United States getting slowly, predictably, and all too quietly dragged into yet another war in the Middle East.”
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., speaking in support of the resolution, said the “very fact that we are voting on it today sends a very important message to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that we are watching your actions closely, and that the United States is not going to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate killing of men, women, and children.”
The Republican leadership strongly opposed the bill, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Whip John Cornyn, Armed Services Chairman John McCain and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker speaking against. Republicans claimed that the Houthi insurgency is an Iranian proxy, blamed President Obama’s foreign policy for emboldening Iran, and argued that the war is justified.
“Let’s be clear about what the arms sale is all about. It’s about giving a nation that’s under attack by Iranian-sponsored militia the arms it needs to defend its people and its territory,” McCain said. “Make no mistake, this aggression is fueled by the Iranians.”
The Saudi government frequently describes the Houthis as an Iranian proxy in order to justify their bombing campaign. Numerous U.S. diplomats and experts on Yemen, however, have argued that Iranian support for the Houthis is very limited, and that the war in Yemen is a civil war, not a proxy war.
Coalition airstrikes are responsible for the majority of the 10,000 people killed in the conflict, and according to data collected by the Yemen Data Project, nearly a third of all Saudi air raids have hit civilian targets, including markets, factories, mosques, schools, or hospitals.
Ray Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, praised the vote of the dissenting senators. “Today, for the first time since the war in Yemen began, 27 senators voiced the first cries of dissent against our government’s unconditional and unlimited support for the Saudi-led coalition,” Offenheiser said in a statement. “Concern in Congress regarding the situation in Yemen and the US’s heartless and disjointed approach to it will only grow stronger.”
The measure still may have a chance in the House, where Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., has introduced a companion resolution. In June, the House almost passed a measure banning the transfer of internationally banned cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, but the amendment was defeated 204-216.
After the vote, Murphy tweeted:
Never before have so many Senators gone on record supporting a rethink of the US-Saudi relationship. Didn't win, but a strong message.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 21, 2016
Lots of Senators who voted for the sale mentioned to me how good it felt to be openly debating foreign policy in the Senate again.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 21, 2016
Top photo: A row of U.S. Army M1/A1 Abrams tanks in northern Kuwait, the same tanks the U.S. is sending to Saudi Arabia.
For Christ sake which 27 Senators!?! WHO, what, why, where, when. In that order. How could you leave out or at least not link to the most important information in your story?
When we learned that there were Saudi citizens as terrorists in September 11th, we should have severed all ties with them. Are we arming them for a war with or against them.
”How hypocritical of them. Same weapons in the hands of US army personnel killing civilians is ok ? I wonder any of them remember the 1973 oil embargo which led to people queuing up to get $2/- worth of gas ! History may repeat if US reneges on the deal.”
Ah – the game of politics mate. And we keep rooting and adding to the flames.
this again- see I am with very few senators on this! Obama isn’t high-fiving Saudis as a drive for that veto but rather thinking of us- a whole nation. One day we say let’s sue! then the other we say NO SMOKING GUN THERE- we’re playing tag when it comes to blaming Saudis…looks like a whole a distraction from what should matter- finding the real culprits.
I am thankful for Senators like Ted Lieu,Rand Paul
and I am grateful that both of Maryland’s senators, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, also backed the Senate Resolution.
So let’s contact our Representatives to ask them to support Ca’s Rep. Ted Lieu’s companion resolution in the House of Representatives- there has not been a vote on that one yet, so there is time to garner support.
How hypocritical of them. Same weapons in the hands of US army personnel killing civilians is ok ? I wonder any of them remember the 1973 oil embargo which led to people queuing up to get $2/- worth of gas ! History may repeat if US reneges on the deal.
In my opinion, high gas prices are worth not giving arms to Saudi Arabia. But there’s also the sun, the wind, and oil & natural gas we can tap from for energy.
If both the US army and Saudi Government don’t morally deserve the weapons, then let’s get rid of them? But if not get rid of them, perhaps it’s better they’re NOT in Saudi Arabia hands.
In addition to the recent military escalation in Yemen, there have been at least 879 U.S. Drone Strike deaths in Yemen since 2011 according to our data analysis (http://www.graphcube.com/news02.cfm). It seems past time that we start to openly discuss U. S. policy regarding Yemen.
Let’s see if Congress overrides this:
https://news.vice.com/article/barack-obama-9-11-families-sue-saudi-arabia-justice-against-state-sponsors-of-terrorism-act-veto
Core US interests = more foreign weapons sales and more Yemen/Syria style disasters? What about the “humanitarian and democratic values”, then?
Iran, stop meddling in the Middle East and creating havoc wherever your Shi’te death squads go. Where is Iran now that this mess has gotten out of hand? Not there to back their Shi’te brethren, whom they put in this position in the first place.
Your blaming Iran is either a sarcastic joke or
you are remarkably (pun intended) dimwitted and ill-informed.
Whichever the case,
you are clearly part of the problem.
What does human life matter to US “Reps” or Senators? What does the destruction of one of the poorest countries in the world matter if the big US arms makers and providers of jobs for constituents and cash for campaigns benefit?
“…the United States is not going to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate killing of men, women, and children.” Really? Perhaps Sen. Franken hasn’t heard of Israel’s indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza. Or the recent $38 billion military aid package to Israel that will continue to enable this genocide….
Consider this comparison,
27% of the senate wanted to “pause” this arms sales while
60 members of “the congress” (congressional representatives)
signed a letter requesting a pause.
60 out of 435 is LESS than 14%
of the members of the (so-called) house of representatives.
If you combine the senate and the house,
there are 535 members and, of that total,
87 have expressed a desire for a pause
(Keeping in mind,
neither of these actions would completely cancel the sale)
that means there is a desire for a “pause” by
less than 17% of the whole legislative branch of the faking U$A.
That means 83% (or more) of the whole membership of the
legislative branch are likely supporters of
the slaughter of human beings in Yemen by a tyrannical regime.
The US military industrial complex (aka ‘the US government’ at this point) never saw an arms deal to a brutal asshole dictatorship that is didn’t pass up. And here you go: USA selling 1.15 billion dollars worth of tanks, cannons, F-16s, bombs, missiles, etc to arguably the world’s most backwards, head-chopping, misogynistic Wahabbist country: Saudi Arabia. At least Franken is speaking out against this latest outrageous enabling and equipping of a thoroughly anti-democratic and most repulsive dictatorship. What the fuck has gone wrong with the USA? Absolutely ZERO moral compass. Quite the opposite in fact.
they cut the tether to humanity – if they ever had it. Given the arrogance of greed and ambition since vietnam, and seeing that crazies like psycho Hellary are so self righteous, along with the need to spy on everyone, torture, rob the population, etc, these monster warpigs really do believe they can do no wrong.
Which means, insanity from the govholes is just beginning.
Franken: “…the United States is not going to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate killing of men, women, and children.” Except of course when conducted by our “good friend” Israel and operations like “Operation Protective Edge” and other horseshit operations to “mow the lawn” in Gaza, all done with US armaments. The hypocrisy is staggering. Please, someone comment on how Israel is just ‘defending itself from terrorists’. The canard is old and worn out. If I lived in the world’s largest open air prison because I was born Palestinian I too would dedicate my life to making those responsible pay.
This is what “the west”, led by the US, England and France, accomplished in Libya…arming terrorists and enabling and participating in murder on a large scale…that is our collective governments in action, folks…now they’re “working” on bringing more death and destruction to Syria and Yemen.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-22/british-parliament-confirms-libya-war-was-based-lies-%E2%80%A6-turned-nation-%E2%80%9Cshit-show%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%A6-s
“The Daily Mail reported in 2014:
A self-selected group of former top military officers, CIA insiders and think-tankers, declared Tuesday in Washington that a seven-month review of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack has determined that it could have been prevented – if the U.S. hadn’t been helping to arm al-Qaeda militias throughout Libya a year earlier.
‘The United States switched sides in the war on terror with what we did in Libya, knowingly facilitating the provision of weapons to known al-Qaeda militias and figures,’ Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told MailOnline.
She blamed the Obama administration for failing to stop half of a $1 billion United Arab Emirates arms shipment from reaching al-Qaeda-linked militants.
‘Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,’ Lopez claimed. ‘They were permitted to come in. … [They] knew these weapons were coming in, and that was allowed..
‘The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.’ ”
wow post
First we get screwed 9 ways to sunday by the 911 republican failure
Then we get screwed 9 ways to sunday by wallstreet
Then we get screwed 9 ways to sunday by the government bailout of the same wallstreet thieves
Then we get screwed 9 ways to sunday by the hellary clinton state dept to disassemble libya
Then we get screwed 9 ways to sunday by hellary clinton to provide weapons and financing for a middle east war
Then “ditto ditto” by the cia, pentagon and hellary clinton selling weapons to anyone and everyone for a larger middle east war
Then barack obama gives $40 billion to paranoid crazed israel who wants war with everyone in the area…..
meanwhile the american economy gets flushed down the toilet and basically forgotten by the pimped out media and corporat who spit on mainstreet and now want to hand the country over to a TPP court to rape the planet.
i’m sorry, russia is the enemy?
Evidence that israel who wants war with everyone in the area…..?
“Evidence that israel who wants war with everyone in the area”
Look at the way Israel behaves.
It slaughters civilians at the rate of 250 innocents per Israeli soldier.
And then demands $38 billion from the American taxpayer. No exceptions – a meteorite could wipe out half of the country and guess who still collects?
How Jewish …
Don’t forget the Cash Ransom paid so our enemies can buy even more weapons.
Mr. Franken hit the so called nail on the head. The Saudi’s have been indiscriminately murdering innocent children, women and men for what seems like forever. They are unapologetic no matter what heinous and deplorable acts they commit against innocent people. McCain, Mr. Turtle, and all their cohorts need some professional guidence in basic morality. Just a bunch of blowhards spouting accusations without providing irrefutable evidence. Christ, what a shit hole!
When the flim flam fiat dollar gets flushed down the toilet it is in, then the Yuan/Renminbi will get the oil and then the chinese will have the problem unless wallstreet is secretly selling the US dollar for yuan – which i think they are.
This is meaningless to the region unless the 27 are also willing to send the same message to Israel. OR send nukes to SA with the proviso they can never have long range capability to use them. It would be stunning how quickly there would be a new balance in the region and more responsibility. SA is a signer of the NNPT.
the L-O-N-G term plan of the rothschild zionistas is to rule the planet. To do that, they must have the ability to threaten the world. Their nukes are in place. They have permission for genocide and land theft for expansion as directed by the YINON PLAN. They own the us dollar currency scheme. They led the US by the nose to keep bases all over the world. Next they need the TPP to guranteed allegiance to the dollar and profits which is a proxy to guaranteed against bankruptcy because they need executive whores with them. The TPP also gives them control over governments thru their own court system – they dont give a crap about other crimes, just money. This is why barack is in a fit to get it passed and why wallstreet needs hellary. This is why they need bigger wars. They figure if they can dispense with Bashar al-Assad, ISIS will rule and spark a larger war where they can then claim the rights to syria as the better occupiers. Maybe it’s a good plan but zionistas are thieves after all.
“The L-O-N-G term plan of the rothschild zionistas is to rule the planet. ”
Evidence?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815
got a whole lot more – not all from the same place.
a whole lot more.
when you can see the truth, history wont matter.
That’s the land promised to the descendants of Abraham. However, Abraham was the father of the Jews & the Arabs. The land promised just to the Jews is much smaller. See the end of Deuteronomy.
And when you’re using the most debated text in the world, one written mostly by Hebrews by the way, as your deed to the land and your right to violently remove people from the land they’ve inhabited for centuries, expect a backlash.
Go peddle your biblical fairytale crap somewhere else.
Why are we helping the nation of Saudi Arabia bomb its neighbor when that neighbor has not attacked Saudi Arabia or the Republic of the United States of America?
m.o.n.e.y.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3uipTO-4A
John McCain seems determined to prove to the world that his brain is addling even faster than Hillarys.
These claims are demonstrably false, correct?
• Presumably SA falls to Iran; but so what? Iraq has fallen to Iran thanks to the U.S.
• It does precisely that. War is arguably about only one thing: attrition. Take a larger force against a smaller one to win. To do that you need balance?
Grouped by Home State
Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Yea Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Sullivan (R-AK), Yea
Arizona: Flake (R-AZ), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas: Boozman (R-AR), Yea Cotton (R-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Nay Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea Gardner (R-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay Murphy (D-CT), Nay
Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea Coons (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Nelson (D-FL), Yea Rubio (R-FL), Yea
Georgia: Isakson (R-GA), Yea Perdue (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii: Hirono (D-HI), Nay Schatz (D-HI), Nay
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Yea Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Nay Kirk (R-IL), Nay
Indiana: Coats (R-IN), Yea Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Iowa: Ernst (R-IA), Yea Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Kansas: Moran (R-KS), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky: McConnell (R-KY), Yea Paul (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Cassidy (R-LA), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea King (I-ME), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Markey (D-MA), Nay Warren (D-MA), Nay
Michigan: Peters (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota: Franken (D-MN), Nay Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri: Blunt (R-MO), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana: Daines (R-MT), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Fischer (R-NE), Yea Sasse (R-NE), Yea
Nevada: Heller (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire: Ayotte (R-NH), Yea Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
New Jersey: Booker (D-NJ), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Heinrich (D-NM), Nay Udall (D-NM), Nay
New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Yea Tillis (R-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Portman (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Inhofe (R-OK), Yea Lankford (R-OK), Yea
Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Yea Scott (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota: Rounds (R-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Not Voting
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Cruz (R-TX), Yea
Utah: Hatch (R-UT), Yea Lee (R-UT), Nay
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Nay Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia: Kaine (D-VA), Not Voting Warner (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia: Capito (R-WV), Yea Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Baldwin (D-WI), Nay Johnson (R-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Thanyouverymuch!
50 listed
wazzup?
Thanks- I was wondering why the names of the 27 weren’t included in the article.
Way, way too many yea’s..
Thanks for the nice list..
Thank you also – it baffles me that the author wrote a story about the 27, but gave no list or even a link to a list of who they are (I checked any likely link; nada).
Couldn’t find this list anywhere. Thanks!!!
Sunni Muslim leaders condemn Saudi Arabia:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/saudi-arabia-attacked-sunni-shia-leaders-wahhabism-chechenya-robert-fisk-a7322716.html
People are taught to believe by the warpigs that Iran is an enemy. I understand that the Wahhabi Arabs attacked the Persians – who were zorastians a couple thousand years back – and turned the Euphrates into a river of blood with their headchopping ways. Thusly in a most corrupt and twisted fashion the US and Israel support ISIS.
Isn’t bombing ISIS a strange way of showing support?
What is REALLY notable is that 71% of the US Senate supports arming a terrorist state, as a Nobel Peace Prize winner cheers them on.
Exactly why us millennials et al need to clean house and senate and vote for Jill Stein just for starters….
The millennials are this planet’s only hope…
Yes, Sen. McCain, by all means, let’s be clear what the arms sales are all about: Namely, arms sales. These are just more weapons of slaughter to be sold for massive profit by America’s pampered and protected commercial war industry.
This is the same mentality that produced Vietnam, Iran-Contra and a host of other wars and scandals rooted far more in paranoia and profit than in a desire to spread personal liberty around the globe.
Finally, there is some resistance to the insanity, and the 27 senators need to be commended for putting a foot down. Just offhand, I can’t think of any war or arms funding that’s recieved more than a handful of dissents from congress. Yet, the burning question remains: What took so long?
Maybe there is hope, after all, but I’m not holding my breath.
You should run for office RJ; I’d vote for you for sure!
Thanks, jay, but it’s much more fun being a critic!
Nobody will admit it but Trump has been saying this since the beginning of his candidacy. What took so long? 27 senators heard Trump and now want to take credit for “rethinking” arms sales to the Saudi’s. Al Frankin deserves credit for nothing. The U.S. needs to stop propping up other countries and concentrate on their own.
Goes to US and Saudi to soften up Yemen and the US can come in with aid, rebuildINSTALL A FEW BASES– where do youall live YEMEN IS SO STRATEGIC IT STEPS OFF THE GLOBES SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
Senator McCain sends the world a “clear” message. Saudi Arabia is under attack by the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The good Senator seems to have no compunction about bald-faced lying to enable arms sales that are being used to kill civilians. And that is being done by the Saudi nation that has taken it upon itself to attack Yemen without provocation. That is what is “clear”.
The situation in Yemen is getting complicated unfortunately as Iran supports Houthis. Therefore, if the US stops selling weapons to Saudis, the situation will get even worse and more citizens will die. Saudi-led coalition killed more than 800 AlQaeda elements and it helped liberate territories from Houthis. Until now, the Yemeni legitimated government hasn’t fall because of the efforts made by Saudi-led coalition. We can’t just ignore the Saudi led- coalition’s achievements based on some inaccurate and biased reports.
People live in denial of facts that don’t fit their preconcenptions. Both the Saudis and Iranians are brutal to their own people and death and destruction to civilians in their neighboring states. In the last five years, before the Saudi air force bombed a single neighbor, they have seen a destabilizing rebellion in their neighbor Egypt, and takeover by force by an Iranian proxy in Yemen in their South, a popular uprising in the east in Bahrain by Shiites not to mention the control of Iraq by leaders, most of whom are shiites that spent decades in exile in Iran being hunted by Saddam’s henchmen. Saudi, for all it’s barbarity and stupidity, is still a state actor that will naturally seek to preserve its own interests, however warped, in the anarchy that is international politics. They quite literally feel surrounded by hostile forces in every direction, and they’ve got the trillions to pilfer away on American arms.
The US is part of Saudi-led coalition. It provides logistic coordination to the military operations. Therefore, it is obliged to support Saudi Arabia with arms. What’s been said about Saudi Arabia’s violations to the UN is untrue, they say Saudi Arabia targets schools while in fact those schools were taken by Houthis, so they are considered military bases. In some cases, unintentional hits might happen, but the world should know for sure that Saudi Arabia has no intention or interest in Yemen. It is only trying to stabilize the region as it’s a threat to have a neighboring country at war.
Are you paid by the Saudi dictatorship to shill for them? You should go to work for Assad (I bet he would pay you well) and explain to everyone how his bombing of schools is justified because it is all the fault of the rebels, and he is just trying to “stabalize” the region.
Why not list the 27 senators? I contacted mine on this subject and now I have to look up the vote!
It’s the way the progressive media practices journalism these days.
Charlie, the 27 are listed. It’s in the 5th paragraph down, in the first sentence. Click on the highlighted word “letter”. You can download it in pdf viewer.
A PDF of a letter signed some time ago by both senators and congressmen is not the same as a tally of an actual senate vote record.
Mark, thank you for the correction.
The U.S. can’t bring itself to spend a billion dollars to keep a virus from turning its next generation into pinheads, but it can manage to ship out aid and arms so that one group of Muslims can kill another in order to keep Yemen safe for Al Qaida.
1) Are these 27 senators, who opposed bomb sales to the Saudis, called ‘bad apples’ by other senators?
2) Does that mean 27 senators are not investing in manufacturing tools of death?
3) Saudi is the new attack dog, besides UK, NATO, Israel. But Israel gets lots of weapons for free. Saudi should pretend they face existential threat, from Iran of course, and then perhaps they will qualify for free arms to attack their neighbors.
So the U.S. has sold $20B in arms to the Saudis over the last 18 months to bomb one of the poorest, most powerless countries in the world further back to the stone age?
Plus whatever other weaponry the Saudis already had on hand. Why are these sick warmongers our allies? Oh, right.
And McCain blames Iran as the “agressors”??
Truly Orwellian.
Any reason you only mention Sen. Rand Paul once and never quote him at all, despite the fact HE wrote the resolution?
Is it because concerns to ” innocent civilian lives” killed or is it because Saudi is an Islamic country? If US is so concern about innocent lives killed then it should vigorously debate the killing of children and woman by Israelis on a daily basis. Pure hogwash, BS on this issue at Capitol Hill.
” the killing of children and woman by Israelis on a daily basis”
Evidence?
https://garryleech.com/2014/08/08/israel-palestine-by-the-numbers/
Please provide the quote.
Tim Kaine, Hillary’s would-be replacement did not vote on this
matter because he was in the San Francisco area collecting money
from republicans who support Hillary.
Selling weapons to sadistic predators isn’t a significant enough issue
to Kaine. Apparently, schmoozing for money with republicans
is more important.
he has the expression on his face, the tenor in his voice, of a person who has been selling his talents for a long time.
It seems like every article never links to the actual vote tally. I would like to call my Senator and shame them if they voted for the resolution.
You can find the votes here:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_114_2.htm
Thanks for the link.
I happen to live in the state of Washington, and although I don’t agree with everything that my two senators sponsor or vote for/against, I am happy that, at least on this vote, they both voted the right way. Especially on the so-called International Day of Peace.
71% of senators in the faking U$A want to encourage the slaughter
of people by the Saudi sadists,
just like their warmongering president.
This may have been a symbolic vote by the 27 Senators but it was no revolt, it was a safe vote. If any of these senators had the deciding vote on this sale the calculus would have been different with the possibility of them voting for job layoffs in their districts which would surely test their resolve on this issue.
The Saudis seem to be following the Russian model of intervention on behalf of the recognized government involved and they are treating the opposition, military and civilian, as terrorists just as Russia is doing in Syria with the same results.
I don’t think anyone should expect the Saudis to allow a Shia Islamist, Hezbollah inspired minority to rule on their frontier in Yemen no matter what we may think about the Saudis. The US will sell all the arms the Saudis require because they are taking over the intervention portfolio from the US in this part of the ME conflict along with their own defense of their regional interests.
“This may have been a symbolic vote by the 27 Senators but it was no revolt, it was a safe vote.”
At least one of those 27, Barbara Boxer of California, is retiring after this term. Her fellow Senator, DiFi, is all for arming the planet (with the exception of assault weapons for American school children) and has no plans to go anywhere.
It’s possible in a Clinton government one might be considered subversive for suggesting OUR country should be friends with Iran instead of Saudi Arabia.
I’m no fan of Iran, but I certainly prefer the more liberal Iranian regime to the Saudi monarchy. In Iran, Christians can worship in some places. In Saudi Arabia, Christians can’t publicly worship. In Iran, gays are forced into sex-changes. In Saudi Arabia, gays are killed. Iran has renounced nuclear arms, and the US found that Iran was NOT seeking nukes in the NIE. The Saudis have a “cash and carry” policy regarding Pakistani nukes, per the BBC. Iran opposed the Taliban. The Saudis welcomed them.
BTW, do you ever wonder why the US states that Iran is responsible for Khobar Towers, despite Bin Laden being congratulated over it?
Iran even has a thriving Jewish community.
But we will NEVER hear any member of Congress talking about his/her trip to Iran (as opposed to their obligatory pilgramages to Israel financed by AIPAC), to visit with many Jews who call Iran “home”.
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/02/19/387265766/irans-jews-its-our-home-and-we-plan-to-stay
1979 Jewish population of Iran 100,000
2012 Jewish polulation of Iran 10,000.
Thriving? Wow talk about Orwell speak.
Iran’s Jews on life inside Israel’s ‘enemy state': ‘We feel secure and happy’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/irans-jews-on-life-inside-israels-enemy-state-we-feel-secure-and-happy-a6934931.html
Yeah just cause the former President of Iran sponsored Holocaust denial conferences and the holocaust cartoon contests are still run every year is no reason for Jews in Iran not to feel secure and happy.
I did a spit take when I read your description of Iran as ‘more liberal’ than the KSA. Iran is a theocracy led by a Supreme Leader and they execute about twice as many people as the KSA often using the liberal method of strangulation at the end of a crane cable. The KSA is a good old fashioned royal dictatorship something frowned on by most Sunni Islamists.
The KSA is pursuing their own Nuke program with limits dictated by the Iran deal and the BS about their access to Pakistani Nukes would depend on the Pakistanis being insane.
“US Senate greenlights $1.15 bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia”
https://www.rt.com/usa/360187-senate-saudi-arms-sales/
That’s how the rest of the world looks at it; the fact that 27 Senators voted against it doesn’t really mean much. The message is still the same: the U.S. will back Saudi Arabia no matter how many war crimes it commits, no matter how many human rights it tramples all over, because oil and money are what U.S. foreign policy is really all about, and all the BS spewed by Barak Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Ashton Carter about “America’s democratic and humanitarian values” is just the worst sort of rank hypocrisy.
You want a fair assessment of U.S. foreign policy, you really have to look outside the United States; the Intercept has gone whole-hog for the standard distorted domestic PR vision of what U.S. foreign policy is really all about. I’m guessing this is because the Intercept is backing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, and negative reporting on U.S. foreign policy results under the Obama Administration era will be bad for Clinton’s election chances?
Sad, for an outlet that trumpeted itself as “independent non-partisan journalism.” Why not just stop reporting on anything related to U.S. foreign policy, and instead stick to domestic social issues?
What the government outlet Russia Today (excuse me, RT!) fails to mention is that Russia would love to get in on the arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and has repeatedly tried to do so:
https://www.stratfor.com/situation-report/saudi-arabia-riyadh-will-not-purchase-russian-military-hardware
As for your accusations of bias against TI, it’s pretty clear from this vote (and his own statements) that Mr. Trump’s party is strongly supporting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, so it’s not clear how this is a Democrat vs. Republican issue. One might even think that you’re trying to push an agenda yourself! Wow, crazy thought.
Yes, I am trying to push an agenda, let me explain it:
Rather than picking allies and enemies in the Middle East based on their willingness to deposit their oil money in U.S. banks and purchase U.S.-made weapons systems with said oil money, we should treat all entities there equally. Saudi Arabia is possibly the worst of the lot, Iran fairly similar, Israel is an apartheid state – all with serious humanitarian issues. So, let’s take a diplomatic balancing approach – force Iran and Saudi Arabia to the bargaining table; Russia could even be a partner in this – and cut off military aid to Israel until they agree to IAEA inspections of their nuclear weapons arsenal.
Partnership with Russia? Howls from the Clinton camp, who claim this is like getting in bed with “Hitler” – riiiight. Ending aid to Israel, Trump’s not for that either.
As one example of what this strategy would look like, consider the trans-Syria pipeline issue – who gets to run a gas pipeline across Syria? Qatar or Iran? Well, why not propose that both Iran and Qatar get equal access to that pipeline – only half the profits for each. No, Iran would not pay off the Clinton Foundation for this privilege, like the Qatari, Saudi, and Bahraini Royal Families have, but so what? I could care less about the Clinton Foundation finances, and so could the vast majority of American citizens.
Russia would probably be happy with this outcome; most American citizens would be happy to get the hell out of the Middle East and let the locals solve their own problems; we could take the hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on military adventures in the Middle East and rebuild crumbling domestic infrastructure; sounds like a good idea to me. Here is where Trump disagrees, with his ludicrous notions of “taking Iraqi oil” and backing out of the Iranian nuclear deal. But I’m not backing either of those two clowns, Trump or Clinton.
P.S. RT may support the Russian government position, but the rule of thumb is, if you want accurate reporting about U.S. foreign policy agendas, don’t look to the U.S. media, look abroad. If you don’t like RT (which of course reliably defends Putin’s foreign policy, just as TI tends to defend Obama’s foreign policy) try DW:
http://www.dw.com/en/us-state-department-oks-saudi-arms-deal/a-19462816
And your quoting of stratfor as an independent source on anything, that’s hilarious.
I am mainly challenging your claim that TI is somehow in the bag for Clinton or Obama. They’ve published the Drone papers, and have run plenty of stories critical of either one’s foreign policy. TI is funded by Omidyar, and Glenn Greenwald seems like a pretty credible person to call foul if there’s an attempt to push an agenda from above. As a source, I trust it more — on any subject, including US foreign policy — than I do Russia’s government-controlled media.
As for your proposal, well, we can spitball here until the cows come home about what a good policy could look like accomplishing probably very little. I personally _do_ want to see human rights taken into account in America’s choice of allies, and I consider the Saudi relationship especially disgraceful in that regard. Hence I’m glad TI is giving visibility to what little resistance there has been to this deal, in hopes that it’ll be a bit larger the next time, and the time after that.
“we should treat all entities there equally”
You sound like mona. Most of us here agree that the USA should be equal to all, that racism should go away, that everything be rainbows and unicorns.
Feel free to join us in reality when you are ready. There are not enough of us pressuring our government to do better.
In other words your agenda of lecturing people here on how life should work is an utter waste of time and energy on your part. It’s almost like you are attempting to educate us.
Last, dude you cited RT! If you have a problem with stratfor as an independent source, look in the mirror brother! RT is not exactly without bias!
Apartheid? Where are the separate water fountains & bathrooms?
Why are there Arabs in the Israeli parliament & on the Israeli Supreme Court?
Actually pretty f-ing incredible when one considers Saudi financing of the 9/11 hijackers, and the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers had Saudi passports….
The worst attack in the history of our country and we are doing some of the most filthy weapons deals with this country, especially the fact that their human rights record is one of the most deplorable in world history. And now the United States is committing war crimes in Yemen with its “Saudi partners”???!!!
Am I missing something here (other than oil)?
Israel.
Yes, I believe it’s not about oil but Israel.
The Saudis are not actively fucking with Israel like Iran via proxy ergo that is why we side with the Saudis over Iran.
Thanks, Alex. Now do you happen to have a list of the ” 27 U.S. Senators”?
That would be helpful.
Click on Letter, fifth paragraph. Signatures at the end.
My bad. The letter was pre-resolution.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=2&vote=00145
Thanks, Scaleman. Am happy to see that both my NM senators voted Nay.
SA doesn’t seem to give a damn about Western sensibilities. They may smile now while the US arms them, but if push comes to shove I don’t think they’ll show any loyalty. They’ll just be another brutal dictatorship slipped from the US grip, like Saddam Hussein or Assad or Gaddafi.
I am here in Los Angeles and it caused more than derisive snickers when one of the male “Saudi Royalty” was busted at a mansion in Beverly Hills “doing cocaine and cavorting with a male escort”:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3281354/I-prince-want-Saudi-royal-Prince-Majed-bin-Abdullah-bin-Abdulaziz-Al-Saud-accused-cocaine-fueled-rage-threatened-kill-Los-Angeles-mansion-staff-watched-pleasured-male-aide.html
Somebody in Hollywood should start a reality TV show called, “Let’s Get Real”.
The first show could be about this FLAMING gay Saudi doing massive amounts of cocaine while “playing” with his gay male escort!!!
OMG!!!!
The UN seems to be collapsing. This happened before with the League of Nations.
. . .
The Great Wheel of History rolls on . . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
Now when is the US going to open its borders to Yemeni refugees?
“the United States is not going to turn a blind eye to the indiscriminate killing of men, women, and children”
Except in Palestine, Al, you lying liar.
It’s good such things are said, even if they’re only partly true. It helps establish a principle that we can then point to, saying “now do the same in Palestine”, or Honduras, or wherever. Perhaps Al Franken would love to stop funding the deaths of Palestinians but has judged how much his colleagues will accept before their small minds shut down. Remember, this is a hard-won minor victory; if Francken had tried to roll in every other US-funded atrocity few would have been able to swallow it.
Al enthusiastically shilled for neocon Hillary at the DNC. Not holding my breath.
If you don’t want Palestinians to die,
tell them to stop murdering Israelis.
Shooting a Palestinian who is stabbing an Israeli is not indiscriminate.
“Shooting a Palestinian who is stabbing an Israeli is not indiscriminate.”
The trouble is IDF shoots 3 or 4 innocents for every attacker. You know the old reprisal killing concept; the Romans and Nazis used it often.
Israel still leads in reprisal killings though with~250 innocents for every IDF soldier killed in Gaza 2014. Somebody give them a prize.
What? Congress already did that? $38 billion to Israeli murderers.
Reprisal killings?
I guess you didn’t know that Palestinians were firing thousands of rockets & mortars at Israelis & the Israelis were trying to defend themselves.
Didn’t win, but a strong message.
BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
nothing but typical political go nowhere do nothing Hellaryous lip services like the israeli palestine peace talks. The do nothing USG by default, prefers weapons wars death and destruction for the wallstreet thieves needing to get NEWLY PRINTED PAPER *LOANED OUT* to relube the american economy for the next royal effing after they done robbed Americans of cash with their profiteering thieving ways for the corporat bankster FARGO FOKKERS who stash the cash offshore.
You appear to think you are smarter than the senator but are you? How many FBI freaks read what you wrote? Of those, how many are debating whether to put you on a watch list?
Please tell me you don’t own a gun or a pressure cooker.
I think the opposition to selling arms to SA is less about the “increasing number of civilians being killed with U.S. weapons in Yemen” and more about the israeli terrorist & apartheid regime wanting to keep as much military might from the US for themselves as possible….
De Klerk [Former South African president who ended apartheid]: ‘Odious’ to compare Israel to apartheid South Africa
http://www.timesofisrael.com/de-klerk-odious-to-compare-israel-to-apartheid-south-africa/
Impressive and pathetic at the same time. As if American bombing and burning children alive is of less importance. The war machine must be starved to death in all its guises.
John McCain is a sleazy war pig who took $1 million from the Saudis for his private foundation in Arizona – just like Hillary Clinton, another sleazy war pig who took over ten times as much from Saudis, an equivalent amount from Boeing, and in return helped push through fighter plane sales to Saudi Arabia.
yeah, that’s all well and good, but make no mistake, the Iranians are behind this …
so says the mother of all baby killers.
20 billion stars to you and photo!
i have been reading all these comments and this is just like our election whereas you vote for the lesser of two evils but war is evil and those who wage war are evil so can’t we vote none of the above in the mideast can of worms.