President Biden Green Lights Continued Sales of Jets, Drones, Bombs, and Missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE

(April 21, 2021) — President Biden’s approval of Trump-endorsed arms deals will put MORE top-of-the-line US weapons in the hands of abusive militaries. Militaries already implicated in horrific attacks on civilians in Yemen, secret drone attacks in Libya, and documented giving US-made equipment to al Qaeda-linked fighters.

While it’s positive Biden is taking action to end the endless US war in Afghanistan, his quiet approval of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an affront to those committed to ending US complicity in mass famine and war crimes.

We didn’t think we would have to have this fight. Biden called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” on the campaign trail and promised an end to US complicity in the moral and strategic catastrophe in Yemen. But now it’s clear: The Biden team won’t hold Saudi Arabia and the UAE accountable on its own.

That’s why we need your help. Last December, nearly all Senate Democrats voted to try and block these sales. Now, Democrats are in the majority and we’re seizing this moment. We’ve got a critical window to pull out all the stops — a legislative advocacy blitz, expansive media effort, and huge grassroots push — to finally hold Saudi Arabia and the UAE accountable and block these outrageous BILLION-DOLLAR arms sales. 

Biden’s approval follows more than six years of war that has included starvation as a weapon and airstrikes — deploying US-guided and -provided weapons — that have killed thousands. It is a callous failure of leadership and a troubling yield to arms dealers that fuels a spiraling arms race likely to spur more conflict in the region.

The Biden administration broke this news via a spokesperson on the same day as he announced the Afghanistan withdrawal, possibly to try to dodge the moral reckoning that comes when you provide BILLIONS in weapons to abusive authoritarian regimes.

It’s part of an alarming trend to maintain certain hawkish Trump decisions that we’ve seen emerge in Biden’s foreign policy. We know the time for a clean break from the past is NOW.

That’s why we’re going ALL in to reverse course. But lobbyists for these brutal monarchies and weapons manufacturers are already piling on immense pressure on Congress and the administration to maintain its failed status quo.

Our team is readying every strategy at our disposal — centering Yemeni peacebuilders and activists in our attention-grabbing advocacy and media-shaming, all while releasing a flood of grassroots pressure to ensure Congress cancels this arms sale — but we need your help.

For years, we’ve worked at the center of the fights in Washington to end US military support and involvement in the disastrous conflict in Yemen. This year, we hoped a new president would stay true to his word and finally end the blank check of impunity for these countries’ actions at home, in Yemen, and around the region.

But the work continues. Together, we’ll do it again and go even further, toward finally ending US arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for GOOD.

Thank you for working for peace,

Michael, Shayna, Amisha, and the Win Without War team