Congress Should Push Back Against the New US- Saudi Arms Agreement

The “strategic defense agreement” with Saudi Arabia announced yesterday by President Trump during de facto Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington is both dangerous and misguided.

Full details of the defense deal, which comes with a commitment to sell F-35s and other advanced technology, were not disclosed. But the tone of the document and associated agreements make clear that the Trump administration has taken a giant step toward a formal commitment to defend the Saudi regime in a crisis, militarily if necessary.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, immediately raised concerns about the strategic deal: “President Trump’s reported offer of a United States security commitment to Saudi Arabia without the advice and consent of the Senate is deeply troubling. Committing American troops to defend another country is one of the most important decisions we can make as a nation…. Bypassing Congress on commitments of this magnitude sets a dangerous precedent.

It is particularly unwise for the United States to make the type of commitment described by Senator Shaheen to a government led by Mohammed bin Salman.

From his role in the assassination of US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to his brutal war in Yemen, which left nearly 400,000 people dead, he has proven himself to be a repressive and erratic leader who cannot and should not be relied upon as a security partner.

The strategic risks of strengthening military ties and strategic engagements with Saudi Arabia are exacerbated by the symbolism of embracing a rogue leader who has never been held accountable for his long history of human rights abuses and violations of international law, from his role in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi to his indiscriminate bombings and blockade of humanitarian supplies in Yemen to his current surge in executions of Saudi citizens. As a coalition of human rights groups led by Human Rights Watch noted: “Since Bin Salman’s last visit to the United States in March 2018, Saudi authorities have presided over one of the worst periods for human rights and freedom of expression in the country’s modern history. » The regime has executed at least 300 people so far this year and, as the human rights groups cited above have pointed out, “widespread violations of due process and systemic abuses against defendants in the Saudi courts and criminal justice system make it highly unlikely that those executed in recent years will receive a fair trial.”

As usual, President Trump’s main objective in promoting the new agreement with Saudi Arabia is financial. Sales of aircraft and advanced technology to Saudi Arabia will be coupled with Saudi investments in U.S. infrastructure. Given the regime’s close economic ties to the Trump family, illustrated most clearly by its $2 billion commitment to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s investment fund, don’t be surprised if some of these Saudi investments benefit the president’s inner circle.

But the president has already promised economic miracles linked to Saudi trade deals, but these fall far short of what was announced. During his first term, Trump touted a series of wildly exaggerated arms deals with Riyadh, claiming at one point that they supported 500,000 U.S. jobs. Further analysis estimates this figure to be less than a tenth of that total. And not all the money from new arms sales will be spent in the United States. Part of the proposed U.S.-Saudi strategic deal will make it easier for U.S. arms companies to establish facilities in Saudi Arabia, diluting the impact that deals such as the F-35 tender could have on U.S. employment.

Last but not least, words and images matter. When President Trump attempted to shield Mohammed bin Salman from responsibility for his role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi (“stuff happens”) and berated a journalist for having the courage to speak out, he further tarnished America’s reputation, pushing it further away from the ideal of a promoter of democracy and human rights toward an image of a shameless facilitator of repression and dictatorship. This is not where our nation should be at this point in history, when autocracy is on the march and it is more important than ever to defend basic principles.

Congress should do everything in its power to slow the administration’s embrace of the Saudi regime, from seeking to block sales of weapons and advanced technology to demanding a full explanation of the commitments that have been made under the new strategic agreement with Riyadh. We should not let a few trade deals, no matter how lucrative, tie America to a dangerous and reckless regime that is more likely to drag America into new conflict in the Middle East than promote peace or stability in the region.