World Watch
September 13, 2010 3:09 AM

Obama to Pitch $60B Saudi Arms Deal to Congress

Topics
In The News ,
Barack Obama ,
Iran ,
World Watch ,
Obama Foreign Policy
The Wall Street Journal reports the White House will officially notify Congress in the next two weeks of a $60 billion deal to sell Saudi Arabia dozens of U.S.-made fighter jets and military helicopters.

If it goes ahead, the sale of some 84 new F-15 jets and dozens of helicopter will be the largest U.S. arms deal ever.

The Obama administration is pitching the sale as a major opportunity to create new jobs for the beleaguered American economy. Companies including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and General Electric say more than 75,000 jobs could be created to build the new aircraft.

According to The Journal's sources, who remained anonymous, negotiations are also continuing on a side-deal which could see the Saudis pay an additional $30 billion for a U.S.-made upgrade to their naval forces.

Congress is expected to okay the sale of the aircraft ---- made tough to reject in America's current economic state by the prospect of new jobs.

As much as it represents a potential boon for the U.S. economy, the deal with Saudi Arabia would also serve to shore-up the defenses of a nation at the heart of the Middle East which is often viewed as America's key partner in the effort to stem Iran's regional influence.

Iran criticized the arms deal with Saudi Arabia as potentially destabilizing almost as soon as it became public three years ago.

"What the Persian Gulf region needs is stability and security," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying on a government Web site in July of 2007. "Americans have been trying to disturb it by selling weapons to the region."

Add a Comment See all 23 Comments
by arabmuslim November 8, 2010 4:58 AM EST
There is no state called Israel.
State of thieves called Israel a
basis of the displacement
and killing of Innocent nation .
state of thieves basis
bloodshed and war
And the arrest of people
for tens of years to
prevent him from claiming
The right to life .
basis steal the land of the
Palestinian people
And then steal
the land of the Arab-Muslim
the entire .State of the
thieves do not know the law .....
Does not recognize the
law of the United Nations,
a state that considers itself above the
law . the law is the siege of Gaza
And the bloodshed and
destruction of houses and
killing innocent people
and occupying the country
This is a country named Israel thieves
Reply to this comment
by th9876 September 14, 2010 10:22 PM EDT
There is another reason for this sale - and it ain't about helping the economy.
Reply to this comment
by EstherHaman September 14, 2010 6:46 PM EDT
The only people who should be upset about this deal are the Saudis themselves. They can't use these weapons, they can't sell them and they sure can't eat them. They are just another weapon depot. How sad that we are the biggest arms dealer. We sell more weaponry than all other nations combined.

Stupid is as stupid does.
Reply to this comment
by lilbear925 September 13, 2010 9:41 PM EDT
No arms to Saudi Arabia! They supplied most of the 9/11 attackers if you remember. The last thing we should do is to supply the Taliban and al Qaeda with state of the art planes and munitions!
Reply to this comment
by sjc_1 September 14, 2010 2:48 PM EDT
These planes will not fall into Al Qaeda hands, Al Qaeda is an enemy of the Saudi state. They will not over throw the Saudi family and would not know how to fly the planes.
by fiberglass3 September 13, 2010 6:04 PM EDT
On 1/15/08 The Bush administration announced plans to sell Saudi Arabia around $120 million in sophisticated bombs. Sophisticated Joint Direct Attack Munitions or "smart bomb" technology and related equipment, The sale came as part of the White House's $20 billion military aid package to its Gulf allies.
The next day President Bush reminded the Saudi's of how high oil prices were hurting the US economy. I guess their lack of response to the situation was their way of saying thank you for us helping them with their national security.

It was only a few short monts later that the high price of oil pushed our economy over the edge.

We need to remember who our allies are.
Reply to this comment
by wyodutch September 13, 2010 4:35 PM EDT
Are we nuts?
.
$60,000,000,000 more in arms to the worlds powderkeg?
.
Anything for a buck I suppose.
Reply to this comment
by ToolMangler1 September 13, 2010 5:12 PM EDT
I'm with you on this one, You can't carry a bible or christian articles (crosses etc) in that country and you cannot openly worship any God but Allah or you will be jailed. So you know how they feel about 'US'.
by dalestar77 September 13, 2010 3:49 PM EDT
Wow, I am half way through a fiction book that seems to parallel this and other front page material. Get some jaw support ready and check out Edge of Apocalypse by Tim LaHaye & Graig Parshall. Absolutely jaw dropping.
Reply to this comment
by thebob-bob September 13, 2010 3:39 PM EDT
So when Israel attacks Iran from one side, the Saudi's will be attacking from the other?
Or when the Saudi family is overthrown by the religious fanatics in their kingdom, the nutcases will have the best weapons?
Or we're sending the latest WMDs to a country that pays for the worldwide radical Muslim education that fuels Al Q'ida?

Ow well, lets just throw fuel on the fire and see what happens?
Reply to this comment
by ToolMangler1 September 13, 2010 5:16 PM EDT
You have that backwards, When Iran attacks Israel from one side, the Saudi's will attack from the other..
(Israel will still probably win)
by fiberglass3 September 13, 2010 2:35 PM EDT
On 1/15/08 The Bush administration announced plans to sell Saudi Arabia around $120 million in sophisticated bombs. Sophisticated Joint Direct Attack Munitions ? or "smart bomb" ? technology and related equipment, The sale came as part of the White House?s $20 billion military aid package to its Gulf allies.
The next day President Bush reminded the Saudi?s of how high oil prices were hurting the US economy. I guess their lack of response to the situation was their way of saying thank you for us helping them with their national security.

We need to remember who our allies are.
Reply to this comment
by Brokennews September 13, 2010 2:33 PM EDT
I see CBS has yet to fix the sofware.
Reply to this comment
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