Uae Arms Sales

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to echo what the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said with regard to this upcoming vote. It is, actually, a very important vote, and I think that when you look at the leadership of the UAE and what they have done, we are seeing major peace agreements between our traditional Gulf Arab allies and Israel. This is really significant. This is a whole different approach to addressing some of the long-term challenges with regard to the Middle East, and it is starting to work.

I think it is imperative that this body, particularly at this time, send a message of support to countries and leaders--the UAE, in particular, given this upcoming vote--that have taken risks. Leadership sometimes requires you to take risks, and we know that the history in the Middle East is sometimes--when you have countries and leaders who take risks with regard to peace with Israel, those leaders can actually have dire consequences. Look what happened in Egypt, after that peace agreement, with their leaders.

I think it is very important that we, as a body, in a bipartisan, strong way come down in support not just of the progress that has been made in the region but also the broader strategic realignment that is happening.

Why is that happening? Because we all recognize--the United States, Israel, our traditional Gulf Arab allies, our traditional Arab allies in the region--that the biggest challenge, the biggest threat in the region is the terrorist regime in Iran, which is the biggest challenge and biggest threat to peace and security in the region.

There has been enormous progress. The President and his team deserve a lot of the credit. Rebuilding our military deserves a lot of credit, which we have all done here. But we need to send a signal that policies that have been tried before, particularly policies that appease the largest state-sponsor of terrorism in the world, don't work. The policies of strength, the policies of standing together--Israel, United States, our traditional Arab allies--that is what is working, and that is what is bringing peace.

This vote that is going to happen soon is a lot more than just a vote on weapon sales. It is a vote on this body helping to cement the reorientation in the region toward peace and toward recognizing what the challenge is.

The challenge that we all face is the biggest terrorist regime in the world, which threatens the United States, threatens Israel, threatens the UAE, and threatens Saudi Arabia. That is why we need a strong vote in the way the chairman of the Armed Services Committee just talked about. I am fully supportive of where he is, and I am hopeful that this body will vote for continued peace and strength, particularly as it relates to the terrorist regime in Iran, and not send the wrong signal to our friends and allies, particularly when historic progress--yes, it has been historic progress--is being made in the region.

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