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Arms deal highlights resilience of US, Saudi alliance
by Amy Glass on Tuesday, 15 January 2008
The $20 billion arms deal between Saudi and the US underlines the strength of the alliance between the nations, despite predictions of its demise, a Middle Eastern political analyst said on Tuesday.
President George W. Bush's administration officially notified Congress on Monday of its intent to sell $123 million of bomb-delivery systems to the kingdom, as part of a total $20 billion Gulf arms package to bolster the defense of US allies in the region.
Jane Kinninmont, Middle Eastern economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), said the provision of arms and training to Saudi Arabia from the US was a key element of their alliance.
“Saudi defence spending is rising and the US is keen to maintain its position as a leading arms supplier to the Saudis, at a time when Russia is also trying to get in on the act," she said.
"However, the highly publicised announcement has raised concerns about why Saudi Arabia needs so much new weaponry at a time when there are fears of a conflict between the US and Iran."
Kinninmont said these concerns were especially relevant since Bush had used his trip to highlight his fears about Iran, despite a recent flurry of diplomacy between the Gulf Arab states and Iran.
“It's worth noting that Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is located, has recently bought a massive anti-missile defence system from Lockheed Martin. It's widely thought that if there was to be such a conflict, Bahrain would be at risk of retaliatory attacks by Iran.”
Additionally, although pro-Israel Congressmen are likely to raise objections to the arms deal, the Israeli prime minister has actually given his tacit support to the plan, Kinninmont said.
“This underlines one of the major changes in regional politics over the past few years. Israel now believes that it and Saudi Arabia share common interests in containing Iran," she said.
"When it was first announced that the US planned a new round of arms sales to its GCC allies, Ehud Olmert said that he understood the reasoning behind the sale, and that the US had a need to support the Arab moderate states."
Israel is also receiving a bigger arms package, estimated at $30 billion over the next ten years and Israeli officials have said that they understand that the US will sell them better quality smart bombs than the ones that Saudi Arabia will get, she added.
Kinninmont said it was worth noting that while the figure of $20 billion sounded large, the deal would be spread out over ten years.
“This means it is not actually a big increase on the current level of arms sales from the US to Saudi Arabia. It's pretty much in line with the level seen from 1991 to 2002.”
