It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
In February this year, as governments across the Middle East were brutally suppressing peaceful protestors, British Prime Minister David Cameron embarked on a tour of the region accompanied by several major arms dealers. Although he denied the purpose of the trip was to sell arms, Cameron was widely condemned given Britain's long record of arming Middle East dictators who oppress their own people. And now a new parliamentary report has concluded that the government, as well as its predecessor, misjudged the risk of arms exports to authoritarian countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The report, by the Committee on Arms Export Controls, welcomed the revocation of some arms sales to Libya, Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia. But it recommended a complete reconsideration of all arms export licenses to authoritarian regimes worldwide. The report found that the UK sold tear gas, crowd control armaments and sniper rifles to Libya and Bahrain in 2010. And it supplied armored carriers used against protesters in Libya in 2011.The report concluded that arms exports to Saudi Arabia should be kept under review given the possibility that British weapons were used in the devastating attack on Yemen in 2009-10, and are being used in the current Saudi-led invasion of Bahrain. And the report stated that the government should clarify its position on selling arms to Israel given the near certainty that British arms were used during operation cast lead and in suppressing Palestinians in the occupied territories.