Dealing with the Saudis
In a landmark judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that British arms sales to Saudi Arabia were unlawful. The case had been brought by campaigners who objected to the Government allowing exports to Saudi though it is involved in the civil war in Yemen, where its forces have been blamed for thousands of civilian deaths. Judges ruled that licences should not be granted when there was a
clear risk that the weapons would be used to violate international law, and yet ministers had failed properly to assess that risk. Saudi Arabia’s international reputation was further damaged by a damning UN report into the murder of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A five-month investigation concluded that Khashoggi’s killing in Istanbul last year was a “deliberate, premeditated execution” and that there was “credible evidence” linking the operation to the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
Saudi Arabia is a “dictatorial kingdom” with a horrendous history of human rights abuses, said The Washington Post. Any country that supplies it with arms is complicit in “a criminal war in Yemen” and will be left with an “indelible stain on its moral record”. The disclosures over Khashoggi’s
killing reinforce what Saudi leaders are capable of. Turkish security forces recorded officials
linked to MbS discussing how to dismember the journalist’s body and wrap it in plastic bags. We shouldn’t cosy up to this vile regime just because it’s rich and stands up to Iran. MbS doesn’t appear “chastened”, said The Guardian. And why would he? Last week, the US Senate voted to block an $8bn arms sale in protest at Saudi’s human rights record – but President Trump, an “unabashed cheerleader” for the prince, has promised to override the measures. The UK Government, meanwhile, is appealing last week’s Court of Appeal ruling, and has lobbied Germany to resume arms sales to Riyadh, halted after Khashoggi’s death. Despite the horrors, said The Boston Globe, it’s “business as usual” with Saudi.
“The Saudi-led incursion into Yemen is arguably the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in
recent years,” said Beth Oppenheim in The Independent. Since 2015, when war broke out
between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and government forces supported by a Saudi-led
coalition, it has left more than 100,000 people dead (including 11,000 civilians), and 22 million
in need of humanitarian aid. It has also caused the worst cholera outbreak in history. “And
Britain has abetted it.” We not only supply 23% of Saudi weapons imports, including half its
military aircraft, we have also trained its cadets and provided military advisers. It was always
immoral to export arms to Saudi; but now, thank goodness, it’s illegal too. America is no less
culpable, said William Hartung in Forbes. Trump is convinced that “arms exports are good for
American jobs and American companies, and all other considerations be damned” – which is
disgusting and wrong. Banning the sale of “precision-guided munitions”, which have caused
most of the carnage inflicted by Saudi forces, would hardly make a dent in the vast US arms
industry, which spends millions every year trying to shape US policy to its own interests. But
what it would do is restore a much-needed “moral dimension” to this area of foreign policy.
No, it would just be counterproductive, said Harold Hutchison in the Washington Examiner.
The Saudis are “not angels”. But they’re crucial regional allies, have vast power over oil prices
and are far preferable to the alternative: the Houthis and their Iranian backers. Sticking with
them “is the least bad option”. How can that be said of a regime that “represses women, crushes
freedom, exports extremism and bludgeons enemies”, asked Ian Birrell in The Times. Saudi has
helped to put down a revolt in Bahrain and restore military dictatorship in Egypt. Now it’s
arming the “thugs” persecuting pro-democracy activists in Sudan. That Western democracies
should choose to support and sell lethal weapons to this “repulsive regime” is truly “baffling”.
The Government says it is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court against last week’s
judgment. In the meantime, it will grant no new export licences. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox described Saudi Arabia as an important ally in the fight against terrorism. Any permanent ban on
sales would end British hopes of a multibillionpound contract to sell the Saudis 48 Typhoon fighter
jets. The deal is already in jeopardy because of the German arms embargo on Saudi Arabia; Germany
supplies many of the aircraft’s parts.
