March 22, 2015 | Quote

Saudi, UAE Influence Grows With Purchases

“The Saudis in particular have leveraged American arms purchases to exercise domestic influence in the US for decades, though, so that's not a brand new factor,” said David Weinberg, gulf expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Even before he was the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud worked out of the embassy, mobilizing arms companies and their employees to support Riyadh's policy initiatives.

“That having been said, some of these states' commercial influence in Washington is new,” Weinberg added. “Since the Dubai Ports controversy, the level of UAE expenditures on lobbying firms has dramatically increased, along with the level of Emirati imports from the United States.”

Arms sales have been a pivotal component of US relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the past decade due to the dramatic volume of purchases being made, Weinberg said.

“A big part of this comes in the context of the shared strategic alliance versus Iran's threatening military posture and aggressive actions in the region,” he said. “The UAE's participation in the Afghan stabilization operation was also an important and appreciated part of this context here in Washington.”

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