BOOM! Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts, From Hillary Clinton
Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts From Hillary Clinton
By Medea Benjamin and Rebecca Green * 06 March 2016 * PINKtank via TruthOut
On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over 80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by US-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was "not a bad Christmas present."
These are the very fighter jets the Saudis have been using to intervene in the internal affairs of Yemen since March 2015. A year later,
at least 2,800 Yemeni civilians have been killed, mostly by airstrikes - and there is no end in sight. The indiscriminate Saudi strikes have killed journalists and ambulance drivers. They have hit the Chamber of Commerce, facilities supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders), a wedding hall, and a center for the blind. The attacks have also targeted ancient heritage sites in Yemen. International human rights organizations are saying that the Saudi-led strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes.
During her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made weapons transfers to the Saudi government a "top priority," according to a new report published in The Intercept. While Clinton's State Department was deeply invested in getting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the weapons manufacturer Boeing. Christmas presents were being gifted all around.
Despite the brutal attacks on Yemen and egregious domestic human rights violations, Saudi Arabia remains the number one US ally in the Arab world. While the original US interest was to secure Saudi's vast oil reserves, today only 10% of oil used in the United States now comes from the Kingdom.
US dependence on Saudi oil has been superseded by US dependence on weapons sales.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35100-saudi-s-exploding-christmas-gifts-from-hillary-clinton
