The $63 billion sham

[unhappycamper]

The $63 billion sham
By Derrick Jackson, Globe Columnist | August 1, 2007

SECRETARY OF STATE Condoleezza Rice said the United States wants to send $63 billion in military aid and weapons to the Middle East to "bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran."

Talk about wriggling in quicksand. Having destroyed Iraq to save us from horrors that did not exist, Rice now wants to save us from Iran's future nukes by selling American weapons of mass destruction. Over the next decade, the Bush administration wants to give Israel $30 billion in military aid, a nearly 43 percent increase over what that nation received over the last 10 years, according to The New York Times. We want to give $20 billion to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. We want to give Egypt $13 billion.

Do you feel safe?

"This is throwing bad money after worse money," said Frida Berrigan, senior program associate at the Arms and Security Project of the New America Foundation. The program was formerly known as the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. "You can see the whole arms package as a buyoff of Arab nations for what we've done in Iraq.

"Justifying the sales because these countries feel threatened by Iran doesn't hold water. Iran is five to 10 years away from a nuclear weapon. That gives the United States and its partners more than enough time to come up with diplomatic solutions," Berrigan said. "This is just going to reinforce Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon."

The United States had already set records for global arms sales. The New York Times reported in November that the Bush administration and American military contractors doubled arms sales from $10.6 billion to $21 billion from September 2005 to September 2006. Berrigan estimates that the latest proposal will increase military aid and weaponry by another 25 percent.


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[WinkyDink]

1. It's about money. Period. Rice speaks in gobbledy-gook, as usual.

[Tesla]

2. Their pipeline runs through Isreal

[Tesla]

3. "We want to give $20 billion to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar E, and the United Arab.."

Yeah like that isn't lunch money to some of those countries!

[onethatcares]

5. lunch money, don't talk about lunch money

sheesh that much dinero would buy lunches for the entire population of the United States of America along with desert. Where the hell are they going to get this 20 Billion Dollars? Parker Bros or Communist China?

[Red Zelda]

4. Defense contractors uber alles!