Why is our president groveling and offering Saudi Arabia weapons in hopes of gaining their favor?

Question

Back in January of this year Bush flew to Saudi Arabia and offered them a 20 billion dollar arms agreement. The story is here. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18076351 Since 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. How do we know that these arms won’t fall into the hands of our extremist enemies?

In the end they said "no" on production increase.

Answer 1

Your President is not groveling to the Saudi's, he is trying to get YOU oil at a cheaper price so YOU can drive to work and play each day!   The Saudi's did in fact increase production without any arms sales. so the point is, they do what they want when they want or they can do nothing at all. no one is going to push them to do anything.  We have more oil in USA than the Saudi's. The truth is, they will run outmuch sooner than we will,  then who will be groveling??

Answer 2

well, there are many reason for that:

1. Saudia Arabia have the money, and they can buy the weapons from China, Russia, or France. So why not buy them from the U.S.

2. The Royal Saudi Family is in total control of the country, and the hijackers although were saudis, they were kicked out of Saudi Arabia well before the Sep 11th attack

3. Iran which have an extreme Islamic government  is a threat to Saudia Arabia which is secular governemnt in reality, so the U.S. is sending a message to Iran that it will protect its allies in the region

4. you cant say "No" to a country that is providing 25% of the total oil production in the world.

5. As to the question of weapons falling in the hands of terrorists, the Saudi King family has been in charge of the country for almost a century, and in that span, it befriended Israel and the west while kicking out of the country any extremists such as Bin Laden.

6. the weapons that the U.S. sold were about to be retired by the U.S. military such as F14 & F15 fighters. So, why not take the money & improve our arsenal in the process.

I hope that answer your question, and remember, the U.S. is not the only country that manufacture weapons, and its policy is to be the biggest supplier, even if there is some risk involved.

Answer 3

The president is offering this package and groveling because of one simple thing: oil. The Saudis are sitting on the world's largest reserves of this supreme resource. SA has been our strongest and longest ally for this same reason.

I think this issue you raise is tolerated by Americans for two reasons: 1. A lot of people are ignorant of US-Saudi relations. Or perhaps they don't want to look into it because they're Republican like Bush is, supposedly. 2. The media doesn't provide critical coverage of the government and is not free by choice.

Answer 4

Clinton is the one that first started selling Tanks and Bradley's to Saudi, bush isn't the only one.

Answer 5

OIL

Answer 6

We need the Saudis to win war. This conflict has just begun and we are gonna need money and allies to sleep safe at night here at home. Deal with the Saudis Way to go.

Answer 7

That's a good question. It's because he wants their oil. He is in the pockets of the oil business. For the same reason why they're over in Iraq. They want the oil. The same reason why he's in bed with Vladimir Putin, the former head of the KGB. Because Russia has a lot of oil. And for the same reason why we might end up going to war with Iran if we keep at it the way we do. Because it's all about oil and big business. It's all so he and a few of his greedy friends can make some more money that I call "blood money" because that's basically what it is.

Answer 8

OIL.

But, as tight as the Saudis are with the Bush's, they are ticked at the way our involvement in the middle east has gone.

Answer 9

They have to buy something with all of their petrodollars. I would rather they buy arms than buy our ports, infrastructure and business. Both are bad choices though.