Guns for Oil

The sheikhdom of Saudi Arabia, ruled by King Fahd bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, operates without any elected representatives or constitution and has been America's best arms customer during the 1990s.

President Clinton has approved $23.8 billion in licenses and sales to Saudi Arabia since 1993, including some of the most sophisticated weapons the U.S. produces: General Dynamics M1A2 Abrams tanks, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Strike Eagle attack aircraft, and Rockwell GBU-15 smart bombs. Saudi Arabia also buys arms directly from American corporations, bypassing Pentagon middlemen; purchases include the $300 million upgrade and support system for the Peace Shield radar system that the country bought directly from Raytheon in 1998. The kingdom may also make its next purchase of F-16 fighters directly from Lockheed Martin, much as Singapore did in 1997. All these goodies for a country that is located at the heart of an unstable region, is still technically at war with Israel, and grows increasingly resentful of Western influence.

Clinton helps seal yet another jet-fighter deal	American-made TOW missiles guard the desert

As if these factors weren't enough to warrant caution, the U.S. State Department said in January 1998 that "The [Saudi] government commits and tolerates serious human-rights abuses.... There were credible reports that the authorities continue to abuse detainees, both citizens and foreigners ... [using tactics] including beatings, sleep deprivation, and torture."

U.S. arms sales in the Clinton years Direct government sales Government-approved sales (scale in millions of dollars)

Perhaps the most serious problem stemming from arms sales to Saudi Arabia, however, is the Middle East's notorious political instability. Not content to learn from the mistake it made by arming both Iran and Iraq, the U.S. continues selling to the Saudis, who are becoming frustrated -- sometimes violently so -- with the influx of American culture, as evidenced by the 1996 bombing of the U.S. Khobar Towers complex in Dahran. Like 1970s Iran, Saudi Arabia is led by a despotic regime propped up by American money and weapons, with an opposition led by an exiled holy man -- Osama bin Laden -- who wants to return the nation to a simpler, more fundamental state. Nevertheless, U.S. weapons sales seem limited only by how much the Saudis want to buy. And thanks to their tremendous oil reserves, that's quite a lot.

--Mat Honan

Flags courtesy of World Flag Database
Photos by Diana Walker/Gamma Liaison (left), Eric Bouvet/Gamma Liaison (right)