As Hillary Clinton emerges as the front-runner for the Democratic
Party’s presidential candidate, she is receiving increased scrutiny for her
years as Secretary of State. Many are criticizing her hawkish foreign policy,
which is the best indication of what President Hillary’s foreign policy would
be, with many focusing on her long relationship with Saudi Arabia.
On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary
Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over
80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by US-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi
Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was “not
a bad Christmas present.”
These are the very fighter jets the Saudis have been using to intervene in
the internal affairs of Yemen since March 2015. A year later, at least 2,800
Yemeni civilians have been killed, mostly by airstrikes – and there is no end
in sight. The indiscriminate Saudi strikes have killed journalists and ambulance
drivers. They have hit the Chamber of Commerce, facilities supported by Médecins
Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders), a wedding hall, and
a center for the blind. The attacks have also targeted ancient heritage sites
in Yemen. International human rights organizations are saying that the Saudi-led
strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes.
During her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made weapons transfers
to the Saudi government a “top priority,” according to a new
report published in The Intercept. While Clinton’s State Department was
deeply invested in getting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Clinton Foundation accepted
millions of dollars in donations from both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the
weapons manufacturer Boeing. Christmas presents were being gifted all around.