14 hours ago
Two F-35A Lightning IIs assigned to
the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron fly overhead before landing at Al Dhafra
Air Base, United Arab Emirates, for the first time on April 15. (SrA Mya
Crosby/Air Force)
A series of resolutions were announced after lawmakers
said they failed to get satisfactory answers from State Department officials
over plans to sell the sophisticated weapons. Lawmakers say the
administration’s rush to complete the sale is ignoring risks to sensitive
military technology posed by UAE’s ties to Russia and China ― and to Israel’s military edge in the Middle East.
Proposed by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; Rand Paul,
R-Ky., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the four joint resolutions would reject the
sale of 50 F-35s, 18 MQ–9B Reapers, as well as thousands of munitions and
hundreds of missiles. Altogether the sale, cleared by the State Department just
over a week ago, would constitute the second-largest ever sale of U.S. drones
to a single country.
“As I tried to warn the Trump administration,
circumventing deliberative processes for considering a massive infusion of weapons
to a country in a volatile region with multiple ongoing conflicts is downright
irresponsible,” Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top
Democrat, said in a statement.
“There are a number of outstanding concerns as to how
these sales would impact the national security interests of both the United
States and of Israel. As a result, Congress is once again stepping in to serve
as a check to avoid putting profit over U.S. national security and that of our
allies, and to hopefully prevent a new arms race in the Middle East.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is set to introduce three resolutions this week to
stop arms sales to the UAE, Politico reported Wednesday.
The news comes a day before representatives from the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs were scheduled hold a closed-door briefing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the package
this month following the signing of peace agreements between Israel and the UAE
and signaled the administration’s intent to complete the deal before Trump
exits office. But lawmakers of both parties have introduced legislation aimed at requiring the State Department to first
answer tough questions about the fast-moving sale and its ramifications
on national security.
Pompeo, in his announcement of the F-35 deal, said it
recognized UAE’s need to defend itself from Iran and that it was consistent
with America’s commitment to ensuring Israel’s “qualitative military edge” ― a U.S. legal standard that Israel maintain a military technological
advantage over its neighbors.
Advocates, and now lawmakers, have worried aloud that,
in spite of the Trump administration’s assertions the deal will enable the UAE
to address threats posed by Iran, the armed drones and precision-guided
munitions included, could be used in Yemen or Libya.
Murphy said the UAE has violated past arms sales
agreements, resulting in U.S. arms ending up with militia groups, and they have
failed to comply with international law in Libya and Yemen.
“I support the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), but nothing in that agreement requires us to flood the region
with more weapons and facilitate a dangerous arms race,” Murphy said in a
statement.
The 1976 Arms Export Control Act provides special
procedures through which lawmakers can introduce a joint resolution of
disapproval against a proposed arm sale. In the Senate, a resolution can be
discharged from the Committee of jurisdiction, forcing a vote on the Senate
floor.
Lawmakers introduce resolutions to block Trump’s F-35 sale to UAE
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