Lawmakers try to stop Boeing sale to Saudis

President Bush meets with Saudi entrepreneurs at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia January 15, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers announced legislation on Tuesday to block a planned sale of Boeing Co bomb-guidance kits to Saudi Arabia and said they would urge the chairman of a key House panel to allow a vote.

Calling the Bush administration's plans to sell the sophisticated weaponry to Saudi Arabia "folly," Democratic Representatives Anthony Weiner and Robert Wexler said Riyadh had been more of an enemy than an ally in the war on terror. They have 51 co-sponsors in the 431-member House for their resolution to block the $123 million transaction.

But they acknowledged they faced an uphill battle, because the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Tom Lantos, has said he has no plans to schedule such a resolution for a vote, bottling it up in the committee.

Weiner and Wexler said they would write to Lantos, urging him to change his mind. Under U.S. law, Congress has 30 days to try and stop the sale, but if Lantos does not allow a vote, the blocking legislation cannot advance.

"I hope we can persuade our colleagues to give us that opportunity," Wexler, of Florida, told a news conference.

"On just about any level, arms sales to Saudi Arabians is folly and perhaps worse," said Weiner, of New York. Saudi Arabia has acted as an enemy, not a U.S. ally, he said, by arming terrorists, exporting terrorism, and showing no inclination to stand up for U.S. interests in the Middle East.

Administration officials said they believed they had sufficient congressional support for the deal to go through.

The proposed sale of the Boeing bomb-guidance kits to Saudi Arabia is part of a multi-billion-dollar package of advanced arms to Gulf Arab states that U.S. officials see as helping counter growing Iranian military clout. It was announced on Monday as President Bush visited Riyadh.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government dropped its objections to the proposed Saudi deal last summer after securing U.S. military aid grants worth $30 billion over the next decade.

But Weiner and Wexler said their opposition was not just based on concerns about Israel. They said Riyadh had been uncooperative with the United States on many fronts, including U.S. attempts to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program.

"Saudi Arabia has refused to adopt financial sanctions on Iran, banking sanctions on Iran," Wexler said. "So why is it reasonable to assume that Saudi Arabia might use military weapons in concert with American ... interests with respect to Iran?"

The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the sale of 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits would improve the accuracy of Saudi bombs and help its F-15 fighter jets better participate in coalition operations. The kits turn unguided bombs into precision munitions with built-in satellite and motion-sensing navigation systems.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Andrea Shalal-Esa; editing by John Wallace/Andre Grenon)