To the editor:

In late December, the Obama administration announced a $30 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. This is part of a $60 billion ten-year deal to arm Saudi Arabia with some to the top fighter jets available to regenerate the U.S. war machine after the occupation in Iraq which just concluded. This deal will exacerbate our growing tension with Iran and could cause a backlash from Israel, further upsetting the climate in the Middle East.

Our alliance with Saudi Arabia also links the United States with supporting a regime with some of the worst human rights practices in the world. While vociferously supporting the uprising that have led to regime change in Libya and Egypt, the current administration has been mute regarding Saudi Arabia. Free speech is muffled, demonstrations are banned and the treatment of women is as abominable as anywhere in the world. Women are not allowed to drive, travel, work, study abroad, marry, divorce or gain admittance to a public hospital without the consent of a male guardian.

The U.S. is also entering into a new arms deal with Iraq worth $11 billion for our arms manufacturers. Iraq is an unstable government drifting into the sphere of Iranian influence. China recently loaded 650,000 barrels of oil from Iraq from their new deal at the expense of private oil companies, as well as importing electricity from Iran. Does any of this make sense or is it just billions of dollars and cents for the profiteers from war?