Should an American who travels to a Muslim country with the intention of selling them deadly weapons be allowed to return?

In Riyadh on May 20, President Trump rewarded his Saudi Arabian hosts with a $110 billion arms package now, plus another $350 billion over 10 years. He called it “a tremendous day . . . hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs.” How sad that the U.S. militarized economy is so dependent on fossil-fuel funds and arms sales to provide employment! This arms deal comes as the Pentagon continues to support a Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen, where years of fighting have decimated the health, water, sewage and sanitation systems. More than 10,000 civilians have died since the Saudi invasion in 2015. The U.N. says about 19 million of Yemen’s 28 million people need some form of aid, with many at risk of famine. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, the U.S. is “approaching spiritual death” as the “greatest purveyor of violence” in the world. Urge your members of Congress to oppose the authorization of these funds and stop this warring madness.

Harold A. Penner
Akron, Pa.