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Last Updated on June 13, 2017.

 

Win Without War Director Stephen Miles issued the following statement regarding today’s Senate vote on whether to block precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia:

 Today’s unprecedented opposition to yet another arms sale to Saudi Arabia is a welcome step towards restoring sanity and common sense to America’s foreign policy. In the coming weeks, Congress should turn its attention towards charting a bold new path towards a foreign policy rooted in our values, rejecting the President’s abandonment of America’s historic commitment to human rights.  

The 47 members of the United States Senate who voted to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia sent a clear signal that the Saudi-led coalition’s deadly war in Yemen must end. Today’s vote is likewise a strong rejection of Donald Trump’s plans to flood the Middle East with hundreds of billions in American weapons, devoid of any semblance of the human rights restrictions that have long accompanied such sales.

 The message from Congress is clear, something has to change.

Selling more than $100 billion worth of arms — including $500 million in precision-guided munitions — to Saudi Arabia while they continue to commit alleged war crimes is a disgusting and dangerous plan. The Saudi-led war in Yemen has already killed thousands of civilians, helped fuel a rapidly growing cholera epidemic, and plunged millions to the brink of famine. American support for the Saudi-led coalition has similarly fueled extremism in Yemen, threatening America’s national security.

There is no universe in which the solution to this crisis is more American bombs.

We applaud the unprecedented opposition to this arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the bipartisan leadership of Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Al Franken (D-MN). We’ll continue to oppose any arms deal that harms U.S. security or contributes to insecurity or human rights abuses of innocents abroad, and we’ll work to make Congress, the executive branch, and the American people aware of some of the dangers that these U.S. arms sales pose.

June 13, 2017