Pompeo failed to 'fully assess' civilian cost of Saudi arms sales, watchdog finds

State department’s inspector general office finds Pompeo acted within the law, but did not ‘fully assess’ risk of deaths in Yemen

Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 11 Aug 2020 18.11 EDT

A US government watchdog investigation into the “emergency” sale of more than $8bn in weapons to Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies has found the state department failed to “fully assess” or mitigate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen.

The report by the state department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that Mike Pompeo had acted within the law in May 2019 by authorizing the sales of bombs and other arms through an emergency declaration, bypassing congressional opposition.

But the report noted that the relevant law, the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), gives the executive the right to define what constitutes an “emergency”, so the investigators did not look into whether the declaration was justified, “nor did OIG make any assessment of the policy decisions underlying the arms transfers and the associated emergency”.

State department officials took the unusual step of briefing the press the day before the report was issued, portraying it as a vindication of Pompeo and the arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They also claimed the overall conclusion was not affected by Donald Trump’s dismissal, at Pompeo’s urging, of the inspector general who launched the inquiry, Stephen Linick.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/11/mike-pompeo-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-watchdog-report