Arms for Saudi Arabia?

Who exactly thinks that it's a good idea for the Administration to package $20 billion in arms over the next number of years for the Magic Kingdom (Saudi Arabia) especially in light of the fact that the Saudis aren't exactly cracking down on the Islamists in house unless you consider that their export of jihadis to Iraq where they're killing US soldiers or are being killed in significant numbers to be a crackdown.

The rationale being given for the arms deals? Iran:

The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.

But administration officials remained concerned that the size of the package and the advanced weaponry it contains, as well as broader concerns about Saudi Arabia’s role in Iraq, could prompt Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the package when Congress is formally notified about the deal this fall.

In talks about the package, the administration has not sought specific assurances from Saudi Arabia that it would be more supportive of the American effort in Iraq as a condition of receiving the arms package, the officials said.

The officials said the plan to bolster the militaries of Persian Gulf countries is part of an American strategy to contain the growing power of Iran in the region and to demonstrate that, no matter what happens in Iraq, Washington remains committed to its longtime Arab allies. Officials from the State Department and the Pentagon agreed to outline the terms of the deal after some details emerged from closed briefings this week on Capitol Hill.

The folks pushing this deal with Saudi Arabia are doing so by saying that they're easing concerns over in Israel by giving them even more weapons than they're giving Saudi Arabia.

I find this to be poor logic. Iran is a threat to Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East, but Saudi Arabia remains a threat to the US as well. 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis, and the ongoing flow of jihadis into Iraq contains a large percentage of Saudis. Their prime export, beyond oil, is jihadis.

That's got to stop, and providing them with state of the art weapons systems isn't exactly in the best interests of the US.

The weapons sales may happen over a period of a decade so as to provide a direct comparison with the sales to Israel, but last time I checked, Israel wasn't sending suicide bombers and jihadis to kill US forces in Iraq. Israel was dealing with suicide bombers, terrorists, and thugs firing rockets and mortars into Israel on a near daily basis.