Anti-War Activists Slam US Senate Support for Saudi Arms Deal

According to Tasnim dispatches, more than four hundred anti-war activists are attending a three-day workshop in Washington organized by World Beyond War global movement.

World Beyond War is a nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace.

The event, which kicked off on Friday, strives to replace a culture of war with one of peace in which nonviolent means of conflict resolution take the place of bloodshed.

It also aims to create awareness of popular support for ending war and to further develop that support.

Former members of the US National Security Association (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Pentagon and the State Department are participating in the workshop, which will come to an end on Sunday.

On Friday, the attendees condemned the administration of US President Barack Obama for offering Saudi Arabia $1.15 billion in arms sales, stressing that the regime is using US weapons to kill innocent people in Yemen.

On Wednesday, the US Senate voted 71 to 27 to kill legislation that would have stopped the sale.

The overwhelming vote stopped an effort led by Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy to block the deal over concerns including Saudi Arabia's 18-month-long aggression against Yemen and worries that it might fuel an ongoing regional arms race.

Paul Murphy and other opponents of the arms deal were sharply critical of the Riyadh government during debate before the vote, citing Yemen, the kingdom's human rights record and its international support for Wahhabism.

"If you're serious about stopping the flow of extremist recruiting across this globe, then you have to be serious that the ... brand of Islam that is spread by Saudi Arabia all over the world, is part of the problem," Murphy said.

Saudi Arabia has been pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000.