The Saudi Royal Family is reportedly worth more than $1.4 trillion, but for several years, the Pentagon has been chasing the kingdom for $15 million it owes for American assistance during the Saudi war in Yemen. For months, the Defense Department has ducked The Intercept’s questions about Saudi Arabia welching on its debt.
Despite the unpaid debt, the Biden administration announced last Friday that it is lifting a ban on selling offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, authorizing an initial shipment of air-to-ground munitions to the Gulf kingdom. The ban had been in place for the past three years as a response to the heavy civilian casualties of the country’s campaign in Yemen but did not apply to sales of so-called defensive arms and military services. Those sales have amounted to almost $10 billion over the past four years. ….more
