Wikileaks: U.S. tried to broker chicken for fighter jets deal with Thailand

[Karmadillo]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/03/04/u-s-tried-to-broker-chicken-for-fighter-jets-deal-with-thailand-wikileaks/

Selling weapons is a multi-billion dollar business, but what happens if a country can’t pay for its fancy new fighter jets?

Back in 2005, the Thai government was in the market for new fighter jets. One of the jets in the running was the American-built F-16. Unfortunately, the Thai government was unable to pay for the jets and instead offered U.S. diplomats some 80,000 tons of frozen chickens.

Lockheed Martin, the company who would sell the jets to the Thai military, played along with the deal. Sadly, this poultry for planes deal was never finished due to an untimely coup of the Takshin Shinawatra’s government.

The oddball story is part of a Reuters special report that looks at the lengths U.S. diplomats go to help sell arms. The wire service obtained secret memos from Wikileaks that also told stories of how U.S. diplomats were approached by governments to buy weapons despite knowing that they could be used to quash peaceful protests, it also mentions how many purchasers of U.S. weapons were giving access to other countries to U.S. technology.

[rucky]

1. Throw in a couple vats of peanut sauce and you got a deal!

[dipsydoodle]

2. Sounds a bit

fowl to me.

[Octafish]

6. It was a poultry sum.

More bang for the cluck.

[hobbit709]

3. I thought you were supposed to trade chickens for your health care.

[jwirr]

4. Are the Thai people so well fed they have that much chicken to trade

for a airplane? Food should not be used to buy weapons.

[dipsydoodle]

7. They eat dogs don't they ?

A puppy should be for life : not for lunch.

[EC]

5. What year was the bird flu?

This wasn't a good deal if the flu was around in 2005. Can't recall which year it was.