U.S. gives details of Saudi arms deal – latimes.com
The Obama administration formally notified Congress on Wednesday of plans to sell Saudi Arabia as much as $60 billion worth of arms in a deal aimed at bolstering regional defenses against an ascendant Iran.
The agreement, which will stretch out as long as 20 years, would be the largest U.S. arms sale ever, if Saudi Arabia buys all that has been authorized.[…]
The deal will allow the Saudis to buy 84 new F-15 aircraft and to upgrade 70 more. It offers them 70 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, 72 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, 36 AH-61 light attack helicopters, as well as 12 MD-530F light training helicopters.
They also can buy a variety of missiles, bombs and other equipment, including night-vision goggles.
60 bn dollars. Wrap your mind around that figure. Also, wrap your mind around Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights records, systematic oppression of women, LGBTQ folks, political dissidents, etc. I genuinely do not understand the logic of arming Saudi because Iran are “the bad people”. I guess this is a new, untested tactic to “spread democracy”?
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