A statement from New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs (NYCFPA) Principal Director Justin Thomas Russell:
“A little more than 48 hours ago, the New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs (through our legal counsel) was notified by the U.S. Department of Justice that the Biden Administration has made the determination to proceed with the arms sale to the United Arab Emirates initiated by the Trump Administration and the subject of our current lawsuit pending before the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC. This transaction includes the sale of F-35 aircraft, Unmanned Arial Vehicles, guided missiles, and other heavy ordinance such as 500-pound general purpose bombs to a known aggressor in the region.
“On many levels, this decision troubles us. We are troubled that the Biden Administration would allow this sale to proceed even after the State Department’s own Inspector General reported in 2020 that, “the Department [of State] did not fully assess risks and implement mitigation measures to reduce civilian causalities and legal concerns associated with the transfer (of these weapons)”.
We are troubled by the complete lack of transparency regarding the ‘review’ of the transaction with the UAE that President Biden himself announced back in January.
“We had hoped that the Biden team would take into account the impact that these weapons could have in the wrong hands. We had hoped that the Biden Administration would have been up front with the global community regarding their reasoning, we had hoped that the Biden Administration would have put the mitigation of the humanitarian crises in Libya and Yemen above starting what could be an arms race in this sensitive region of the world. We had hoped for better things out of the Biden Administration… and now those hopes have been dashed.
This morning, the NYCFPA amended its complaint with the Court to include several new co-plaintiffs. These fellow complainants are people who have be directly affected by UAE sponsored aggression through the use of US made arms in the Libyan humanitarian crisis. It is our intent to bring all of the facts surrounding this case to light in order for the world to see how these weapons in the hands of an aggressor nation such as the UAE only exacerbates an already tragic humanitarian situation.”
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About The New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs
The New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs (NYCFPA) is a policy, research, and educational organization headquartered in New York State with an office in Washington D.C. NYCFPA is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, institution devoted to conducting in-depth research and analysis on every aspect of American foreign policy and its impact around the world.
Media Contact:
Justin Russell – Principal Director justin.russell@nycfpa.org 202-503-4089 www.nycfpa.org
