How Europe's call for a Saudi arms embargo exposes America’s hypocrisy

Jennifer Williams · Monday, February 29, 2016, 9:21 am

On Thursday, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution calling on the European Union to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia.

The non-binding resolution encourages EU governments to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, which is accused of targeting civilians in its military campaign in Yemen.

Whether or not European governments obey the resolution, the EU's resolution stands in stark and telling contrast to the United States, which is playing an even larger role in not just arming Saudi Arabia but directly aiding its war in Yemen. It calls attention to just how hypocritical and cynical this US policy looks to the rest of the world — which tells us something important about why the US is doing this anyway.

The European resolution came as the result of something we don't really have in the US: mass outrage over the Saudi war in Yemen.

Some 750,000 European citizens signed a petition calling for the suspension of weapon sales. Human rights groups accuse Saudi Arabia of deliberately targeting civilians, bombing hospitals and schools, and using cluster bombs in residential neighborhoods. Many Europeans, especially Brits, have become increasingly furious over Saudi Arabia's conduct in the Yemen war and are no longer comfortable with their governments selling Saudi Arabia the weapons it's using to commit these atrocities.

As reported by Reuters, the UK and France are the main European suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia. According to the EU lawmakers who called for the arms embargo, Britain has licensed more than $3 billion of arms sales to Saudi Arabia since Saudi-led forces began military operations in Yemen in March last year. Germany also licensed arms exports of almost $200 million to the Saudis in the first six months of 2015.

But none of this compares to the level of military support the US has given Saudi Arabia for its war on Yemen.

"Since March 25, [2015]," writes Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations, "the United States has been providing in-air refueling, combat-search-and-rescue support (including the rescue of two Saudi pilots whose helicopter crashed in the Gulf of Aden), detailing forty-five intelligence analysts to help advise on target selection, and redoubling weapons exports and contractor support" to the Saudis and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the Saudi-led coalition.

A Congressional Research Service report also states, "Since September 2014, the Obama Administration has notified Congress of proposed Foreign Military Sales to Saudi Arabia with a potential value of more than $21 billion."

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http://www.vox.com/2016/2/29/11123430/saudi-arms-embargo