U.S. to sell Saudis ‘smart bombs’ — report

The United States reportedly will sell “smart bombs” to Saudi Arabia, despite Israeli objections. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Israeli officials of the decision to sell the Saudis the Joint Direct Attack Munitions during his visit to Israel this week, Ha’aretz reported. Israel, which used such weapons against Hezbollah during last summer’s Lebanon war, is concerned that they could end up in terrorist hands. Gates has said that moderate Arab states need the weapons as a deterrent to Iranian ambitions, and that if they did not get them from the United States they would get them from Russia or elsewhere.