Middle East News
US lawmakers seek to block arms deal with Saudis
Jan 15, 2008, 22:53 GMT
Washington - A group of US lawmakers introduced a congressional resolution on Tuesday to block President George W Bush's proposed sale of high-tech, precision guided bombs to Saudi Arabia.
The Bush administration notified Congress of intent to sell 123 million dollars worth of the JDAM bombs to Saudi Arabia on Monday, timed to coincide with the president's visit to the close US ally in the region. Congress has 30 days to pass the resolution.
The JDAMs are part of a 20-billion-dollar arms package to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries aimed partly at countering Iran's growing strength in the Middle East and to bolster security in the Gulf.
Representatives Anthony Weiner and Robert Wexler, both Democrats, introduced the resolution with 51 co-sponsors, arguing that Saudi Arabia should not receive such sophisticated weaponry because it backs terrorism and has not played a productive role in the Middle East peace process.
'If it is somehow to create a more stable environment in the Middle East, we have seen that there could not be a more volatile time to be introducing high technology weapons into that part of the world,' Weiner said.
Wexler acknowledged their resolution faces an 'uphill battle' because it has not won the support of the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Tom Lantos.
Members of Congress have also raised concerns the deal could pose a threat to Israel, a country unrecognized by the Saudi Kingdom.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States has worked closely with the Israelis and Saudis to ensure the weapons package does not pose a threat to the Jewish state, and remains committed to Israel's defence.
'We are committed to maintaining that qualitative military edge for Israel,' McCormack said.
The United States has already agreed to sell Saudi Arabia and other Arab states early warning radar aircraft as part of the Gulf Security Dialogue arms package announced last year. The sale of the JDAMs is the latest installment of the deal.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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Bush - up to no good again. He needs to get out of office soon before his last few brain cells dry up. He better be looking at the major problems developing on his own doorstep instead of flying around the Middle East. His legacy has already been written in stone, so no matter how hard he tries, he can't improve or change it!
Frontline (PBS) has an entire hour that I'm viewing now on how Cheney has recognized no authority outside of his own, and Congress, in his view, has no authority. David Addington is another who has moved to destroy our tripartite system. Bush is arrogant and petty, and we can expect nothing else from him.
The deal will stand.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/view/
For three decades Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors campaign to give the president virtually unlimited wartime power. Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Justice Department and the White House made a number of controversial legal decisions. Orchestrated by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington, the department interpreted executive power in an expansive and extraordinary way, granting President George W. Bush the power to detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy -- without congressional approval or judicial review.
As you read the article, you'll notice that most (if not all) of the congressmen opposing the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia are Israel-first Jews. Funny how these guys never complain about the US sending our best arms to Israel, or the $4 Billion in US tax payer foreign aid that we send to Israel every year.
What is even more revolting is the way AIPAC helps the jewish colonist in their theft of palestinian land on the westabank.There is a moneyflow from the USA to Israel to finance this coloniaztion,which of course is left undisturbed by the Bush administration .There is a great deal of hipocisy in claiming to work towards a palestinian state wwhilst at the same time allowing these money streams.
It might make you bit smarter!! Don't watch it: zeitgeistmovie.com
Okay, I'm going to watch it. What I have seen so far suggests that this is another classic hit piece by FRONTLINE. This does NOT mean that it is all a lie, but the viewer can rest assured about two things. One, it will be heavily slanted and two it will have some truth to it. Unfortunately, the amount of truth involved in a FRONTLINE piece often varies markedly. Their piece on plutonium, for instance, was so wildly wrong that it was embarrassing.
I'll give it a hearing, but don't expect an unqualified endorsement from me. These guys are prone to running off the edge.
Okay, I'm halfway through the second chapter. Much of what has been asserted is plausible, but there are also a great many quotes. Frontline personnel seem to be putting words into the mouths of VP Cheyney and members of his staff. For all I know, FRONTLINE may be telling the truth or lying through their teeth. So far, they offer no proof.
'Bush is arrogant and petty, and we can expect nothing else from him.
The deal will stand.'
Right, better that they buy Russian arms...
'Okay, I'm going to watch it.'
Careful Noharness, you are letting one of the most mentally unstable, traitorous idiots who infest these boards play tivo for you. That clown has compared the head sawing terrorists in Iraq to our minute men in the revolutionary war, peddled his defeatism and made excuses for islamist terrorists for months. Watch it with a critical eye, because he has been caught lying repeatedly.
Okay, this does not really tell us anything that has not been trumpeted loud and long in the commercial news media. There is a lot of smoke here--more than there should be. What FRONTLINE has done, however, is pulled it altogether into a single documentary that is well written and so well dramatized that I was put in mind of Sin City.
Let's face it, folks. Any investigatory power that John Ashcroft refused to support had to have been excessive in the extreme. Such a refusal is positively alarming.
' however, is pulled it altogether into a single documentary that is well written and so well dramatized that I was put in mind of Sin City. '
Oh to have Jessica Alba on Frontline.
The Sauds are getting 743 million dollars in this deal. They are not getting 20 billion dollars exactly. The biggest people that stand to gain from this 20 billion dollar deal is the UAE.
-A total of $9.763 billion to the United Arab Emirates for a Patriot missile system, 'various munitions and weapon systems,' and upgrades and refurbishment of E-2C early warning aircraft.
-A total of $1.691 billion to Kuwait for precision missiles, missile upgrades and upgrades to its Patriot missile ground support system.
-A total of $743 million to Saudi Arabia for Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs, AWACS aircraft upgrades, sniper target pods and associated equipment and services.
Pretty much all the articles on this type of deal has had misleading headlines trying to suggset the Sauds are getting all of the 20 billion dollars.
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NoharnessJan 16th, 2008 - 00:48:58
Well looky here, Gerty! Intelligent Democrats! We'd better add them to the endangered species list fast.
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