Blood Money: The Pentagon’s Deadly $2.25 Billion Arms Deal with Arab Dictator Regimes
By: M.S. Qorbani
The Pentagon’s recent approval of a $2.25 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is an egregious example of America’s relentless militarism disguised under the pretense of bolstering regional security. This enormous sale with $1.2 billion going to the UAE and over $1 billion to Saudi Arabia is not merely a transactional exchange of high-tech weaponry but a calculated perpetuation of endless warfare driven by profit and geopolitical control. The timing is as telling as the content why amid escalating regional tensions and global scrutiny has the Biden administration chosen to arm two of the most notorious violators of human rights?
Saudi Arabia and the UAE both deeply embroiled in the catastrophic war in Yemen have used American-made weapons to inflict unspeakable suffering on civilians. It was only in 2021 that President Biden in a rare nod to human rights imposed limits on arms sales to these nations due to their role in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Yet two years later we see those very restrictions obliterated as the U.S. resumes its role as the chief arms supplier to these regimes. Washington has essentially made a full 180-degree turn with Congress now expected to rubber-stamp a deal for 220 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles 10000 M456 anti-tank rounds and 2503 Hellfire missiles for Saudi Arabia alongside 259 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and 1554 M31A1 missiles for the UAE.
What’s most appalling is the blatant hypocrisy. The Biden administration which initially condemned Saudi and Emirati actions has now abandoned its moral posturing in favor of securing political and economic interests. The Pentagon’s justification that these deals will improve the ability of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to address current and future threats is nothing but a thin veneer for what is truly a desperate bid to reclaim influence over two countries that have begun drifting towards other global powers particularly China. In seeking to reverse this trend Washington is effectively underwriting more violence in the region all the while pretending to champion peace and stability.
The pretext of countering Iranian influence has become America’s all-too-convenient excuse for further militarizing the Persian Gulf despite clear evidence that these arms deals only serve to deepen tensions and exacerbate instability. The $252 million deal with Saudi Arabia for Sidewinders and anti-tank rounds and the $655 million contract for Hellfire missiles are less about protecting national security and more about ensuring that U.S. defense contractors continue to rake in billions in profits. These sales are yet another chapter in the sordid tale of the military-industrial complex—one that has long thrived on the suffering of innocent people.
But perhaps the most cynical aspect of this arms bonanza is its connection to the looming U.S. elections. As the race heats up the Biden administration is shamelessly currying favor with defense lobbies and the influential Arab lobby hoping to secure support for the Democrats and shore up votes for Vice President Harris. In this context the morality of arming authoritarian regimes has been cast aside in favor of political expediency.
At the heart of this arms deal lies a grim truth about American priorities profit over peace weapons over diplomacy and power over people. It is an indictment of a foreign policy that pretends to champion human rights while in reality perpetuating the very conflicts it claims to abhor.
