According to
officials familiar with the process, President Trump is expected to
quickly approve massive weapons sales to both Saudi Arabia and
Bahrain, deals which had been on hold over growing concerns about
human rights abuses by both nations.
The White
House did not discuss the matter directly, saying the final
announcement isn’t made yet, but the reports say that a $300
million Saudi missile technology sale and a multi-billion dollar
warplane deal for Bahrain are both expected to get imminent clearance
from the administration.
Human rights
groups had been attacking the Obama Administration for years over
such sales, calls which grew with the Saudi war in Yemen and the huge
civilian death toll that followed. In the final few months of his
administration, Obama was slowing some of the sales.
The
expectation now, however, is that the Trump Administration is
interested in getting the large sales on the books quickly to talk up
their ability to keep getting large weapons contracts for key US arms
makers. This could force human rights groups trying to limit the use
of US weapons in committing war crimes to start from square one with
the new administraiton.
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