"The sale of additional F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia is incompatible with any meaningful arms control policy," the congressmen wrote. "Such an F-15 sale would represent a significant escalation of the regional arms race."
Since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990, the Bush Administration has sold $14.8 billion in sophisticated arms to Saudi Arabia, ranging from Patriot missile batteries to fighter planes and tanks.
The transfer of bombs to Iraq was disclosed in a secret State Department cable in August, 1986. The cable said Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, had explained to U.S. officials that the Saudis had provided Iraq with the one-ton, MK-84 bombs.
In addition, classified U.S. intelligence reports show that Saudi Arabia transferred American-made armored vehicles to Syria without formal American approval after the end of the Gulf War, according to two sources familiar with the reports.
Last January, U.S. officials learned that Saudi Arabia also had provided American-made armored personnel carriers to Bangladesh after the war ended, according to classified documents and interviews. The disclosure came after the Bangladesh government asked U.S. authorities to provide spare parts for the carriers, according to documents.
A senior diplomatic official said the bombs were provided to Iraq with informal approval of U.S. authorities as part of the joint U.S.-Saudi effort to keep Iraq armed and fighting during the Iran-Iraq War.
The official said troops from Syria and Bangladesh were allowed to retain American-made vehicles they had used in fighting as part of the allied coalition in the Gulf War with the approval of U.S. military authorities.
Attempts to obtain comment from the Saudi Embassy in Washington were unsuccessful. A spokesman at the State Department declined to comment.
The new disclosure of Saudi transfers to Iraq, Syria and Bangladesh follows recent reports that Israel sold American weapons to third countries without U.S. approval.
On April 1, the State Department's inspector general made public a report charging that Israel had potentially violated the Arms Export Control Act through "sales of sensitive U.S. items and technology to countries prohibited by U.S. law from receiving such items."
The report said the violations "show a systematic and growing pattern of unauthorized transfers by (Israel) dating back to about 1983." It also said the Reagan and Bush administrations did not inform Congress of the potential violations by Israel, as required by law.
