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US’ Mike Pompeo sued for selling arms to the UAE

December 31, 2020 at 2:04 pm

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Istanbul,Turkey on November 17, 2020 [Esra Bilgin/Anadolu Agency]

The Trump administration’s “rushed” approval of $23.37 billion advanced arms sale to the UAE has triggered a lawsuit against US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The suit filed by an independent New York policy research group has warned that the weapons being sold will be used in direct contravention of world peace and US interests and has called for the deal to be rescinded.

Pompeo, who oversees the State Department’s authorisation of government-to-government arms sales, “rushed” the deal without proper oversight or justification, the New York Centre For Foreign Policy Affairs said in a complaint to a federal court in Washington, according to a report in Bloomberg.

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The non-profit is seeking a court order to force Pompeo and the State Department to rescind the transaction. It claims that the approval process was inadequate and that it had violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The 1946 Act governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

“More is required under the law,” the group said, adding that approval can only be granted if a deal “will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace,” as required by the Arms Export Control Act.

“The department failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its rushed sale of sensitive weapons systems to the UAE, nor can one infer that it has one, given the available evidence,” the complaint said. “Indeed, widespread and publicly available evidence suggests that the weapons being sold will be used in direct contravention of world peace and US security, as well as prior US policy.”

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