U.S. expected to announce planned Saudi arms sale
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration expects to announce on Monday that it has notified U.S. lawmakers of its intention to go ahead with a controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia, State Department and White House officials said.
State Department Sean McCormack told reporters he expected the notification to take place on Monday morning, but gave no further details.
The announcement was expected to be timed with President George W. Bush's trip to Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East tour.
The administration last year proposed supplying Gulf Arab states with some $20 billion in new weapons, including Boeing Co bomb guidance kits, in what officials have described as an effort to counter growing Iranian military clout. The bomb-guidance kits turn unguided bombs into precision munitions with built-in satellite and motion-sensor navigation systems.
The plan angered Israel's backers in Washington but Israeli security sources said on Sunday the United States would provide the Jewish state better "smart bombs" than those it plans to sell Saudi Arabia under the regional defense plan.
Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, told reporters enroute to Riyadh that the State Department was expected to announce the planned sale later on Monday.
The official announcement kicks off a 30-day review period during which U.S. lawmakers could move to block the sale. A number of lawmakers have vowed to try and stop it.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
