Top general says human rights shouldn’t hold up U.S. arms sales

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said foreign arms sales to allies shouldn't be burdened with preconditions tied to human rights, citing the case of Bahrain.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command, told a congressional committee Wednesday that the U.S.'s military-to-military relationship with the Gulf ally has been hurt by delays in a proposed sale of as many as 19 new F-16 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin and upgrades for older ones in a deal totaling almost $4 billion.

'While we have historically enjoyed a strong mil-to-mil relationship with our Bahraini counterparts, the slow progress on key FMS cases, specifically additional F-16 aircraft and upgrades to Bahrain's existing F-16 fleet, due to concerns of potential human rights abuses in the country, continues to strain our relationship,” Votel said in prepared testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, referring to the Pentagon's Foreign Military Sales program.

The Obama administration told Congress in September it wouldn't complete approval of the sale until Bahrain demonstrated progress on human rights issues after its Sunni-dominated government suppressed nonviolent opposition and dissolved the main opposition group of the country's Shiite majority.

The sale remains under active consideration in the Trump administration, which has emphasized 'hard power” over 'soft power” goals such as encouraging democracy abroad.

Votel didn't dismiss human rights concerns altogether. 'We continue to urge the Government of Bahrain to reverse steps it has taken over the past year to reduce the space for peaceful political expression in its Shia population and have encouraged the Bahrainis to implement needed political reforms while assuring them of our strong commitment,” he said.

Bahrain is an important U.S partner, hosting the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters and the 'Combined Maritime Forces” in Manama. Bahrain also has actively supported U.S.-led military operations against Islamic State terrorists in Syria since September 2014, primarily by allowing the U.S. continued use and access to its facilities.

Using military sales 'to achieve changes in behavior has questionable effectiveness and can have unintended consequences,” Votel said. 'We need to carefully balance these concerns against our desired outcomes for U.S. security assistance programs” and 'we should avoid using the programs as a lever of influence or denial to our own detriment.”

Bruce Tanner, Lockheed's chief financial officer, said in an interview last week that he remained 'cautiously optimistic” the potential sale would eventually be approved by the U.S.

'I know people like to overuse that term,” he said. 'If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said it's dead in the water probably. Now I think there is at least an even chance that's going to happen.”

Lockheed's backlog of orders for the F-16, which was long its best-selling fighter, had shrunk to eight jets as of February. Without additional orders, production would end in August or September, Tanner said. Landing the deal with Bahrain could keep Lockheed's assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, running for another year to 18 months.

The single-engine supersonic fighter is still attracting interest from overseas customers although the U.S. government hasn't ordered the F-16 in almost two decades. Lockheed is exploring shifting production to India in exchange for a large order.

'For every month extension we can get on the production line that helps to keep our pricing down for future customers,” Tanner said. 'There is still interest around the world.”