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The United States is planning a series of arms deals worth at least $20bn with Saudi Arabia and five other Gulf states, US newspapers are reporting.
The New York Times and The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Bush administration was preparing to ask congress to approve the arms sales over the next decade.
Five other oil-rich Gulf States - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE - are likely to receive equipment and weaponry from the arms sales.
Israel and Egypt are also to benefit from military aid, the newspapers said.
The state department and the White House made no comment.
Unnamed state department and Pentagon officials were quoted as saying the military assistance would provide $30bn in new US aid to Israel and $13bn to Egypt over 10 years. "We're paying attention to the needs of our allies and what everyone in the region believes is a flexing of muscles by a more aggressive Iran"
Senior US administration official
The arms deals, said to be the largest negotiated by this administration, would include the sale of sophisticated weaponry.
Officials said the sales to Saudi Arabia were expected to include air-to-air missiles as well as joint direct attack munitions, which turn standard bombs into "smart" precision-guided bombs, the reports said.
The deals are designed to support US allies in the Middle East as a counterweight to regional power Iran.
The reports said the common goal of the military aid packages and arms sales is to strengthen pro-Western countries at a time when Iran seeks to extend its power in the region.
One official was quoted as saying: "This is a big development, because it's part of a larger regional strategy and the maintenance of a strong US presence in the region.
"We're paying attention to the needs of our allies and what everyone in the region believes is a flexing of muscles by a more aggressive Iran. One way to deal with that is to make our allies and friends strong."
Bearing on Iraq
The New York Times also reported that the timing of the plan was creating concern within Israel. Some US officials say the Saudi government is not helping the situation in Iraq, and is supporting Sunni fighters against the Shia leadership there.
Officials said such concerns had been sidestepped as the Bush administration was also offering massive military aid to Israel.
Administration officials remain concerned, however, that the package could draw opposition from some in congress who are critical of the Saudi government.
Assurances from the Saudis about being more supportive in Iraq were not sought by the administration as part of the deal.
The administration's plans will be announced on Monday before Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and Robert Gates, the defence secretary, travel to the Middle East.
State Department and Pentagon officials had started briefing members of congress about their intentions over the past week, the newspapers also reported.
Last Edit: Jul 28, 2007 21:22:43 GMT -5 by Dude - Back to Top
i can understand why the arab people hate us. hooking up the dictatiors that starve and opress them with billons of dollars worth of high tech weapons to keep opressing them. the saudis would have overthrown the dictatorship there decades ago if it werent for us. and why the hell does israel need 30 billion worth of US military aid? they didnt seem to be hurting during that whole lebanon thing. i dont blame the arabs for trying to attack us. id try to attack them if the situation was reversed. what we have done to them for decades is way worse then the whole british taxation without representation. i guess oil is our new tea. and these weapons usually go to people we end up fighting. like iran, iraq, the taliban, and osama bin laden. so now the next time 15 saudis with possible ties to the saudi government fly planes into our buildings and our govenrment is forced to invade we can have our troops killed with our own weapons. yet again. damn i hate our government!!
and is this "aid" for egypt and israel really aid? like freebies? i mean it sounds like the middle eastern countries are buying billions with their blood money they get from starving their citizens while collecting billions in oil revenue. but israel and egypt are called aid. wtf? we could do a lot of things with 43 billion dollars. maybe secure our borders. work on the health care system. fix our education system. free ice cream for all americans. anything except for more death and destruction will work for me. seriously is it a mystery to anyone why these people hate us and want to kill us? we have opressed them for decades in the name of having our puppet dictators rule with our weapons so we can control the oil industry. and when that dictator decides were not giving him enough and goes against us we invade because thanks to us they have just enough of a military to justify our invasion but not nearly enough to even have a chnace against us. its sickening. america is full of not-sees. how can there be so many ignorant people in the richest country on the planet? i guess it goes back to that broken education system and the fact that our country is full of just as many religious extremeists as iran or saudi arabia. the christian extremists just have bigger guns to shoot at the rest of the world. and they have invincible barriers to hide behind like gay marriage and abortion. noone cares about a far off war when gays are marrying right here in the states. holy nuts thats serious stuff!!!
sorry for the rant. im bored.
Last Edit: Jul 28, 2007 21:32:52 GMT -5 by Dude - Back to Top
Business as usual. The not sees don't even know it's happening. The nazis know that like any war, there is more $ in fueling it than in ending it.
Difference between now and the old school warmongers---They could not get away with such rampant war profiteering because media was still somewhat honest, independent, and interested in INFORMING the masses rather than in SELLING them something.
People used to be motivated by the kind of world they created for their children rather than the selling out of values in order to afford THINGS for their children. Like today's children really need more THINGS.
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2007 11:21:04 GMT -5 by snoochio - Back to Top
fine, just saying, that regardless of your views on whether the U.S. should or should not give them the 30 bil, its pretty clear why they would need it. every single country surounding them, peace treaty or not, would probably attack tommorow if they even thought there was a chance they could get away with it.
Even though they don't help their own case at all by using the money to bulldoze the Palestinians off the map. Yeah, poor Israel needs the money cuz it Stops fueling the fire and uses the $ to defend itself---yeah right.
I'll always be for the rock thrower over the tank driver.
Last Edit: Aug 5, 2007 6:23:49 GMT -5 by snoochio - Back to Top
I'll always be for the rock thrower over the tank driver.
If they were just throwing rocks then you may have a point, but I'll take a tank driver over a suicide bomber targeting a bus full of civilians any day of the week.
I hate getting into this argument because it involves such strong feelings but I just have to say both sides (Israelis and Palestinians) are wrong. It's wrong to target civilians whether it's Palestinians blowing up school busses or Israelis shooting rock throwing protesters. Palestinians kill in loud, scary ways and Israelis kill by the hundreds in retaliation. Both sides are more intent on being "right" instead of solving the problem. As long as this is their attitude, things will never change.
My complaint is that, since Reagan, we have sided unquestionably and unconditionally with the Israelis. We have to hold both our enemies and friends to account for their actions. But the Christian right wants to support Israel, establish the "new Israel" and bring about the Apocalypse (which they believe, ironically, will send all Jews to Hell.)
I'll always be for the rock thrower over the tank driver.
If they were just throwing rocks then you may have a point, but I'll take a tank driver over a suicide bomber targeting a bus full of civilians any day of the week.
I think the rock throwing/suicide bombing is in response to not having the US aid to buy tanks.
Thus, I am in agreement with the both of you also. I was just pointing out where the US dollar goes, what it buys, and who it inspires. Not really taking a pro Palestinian stand, just identifying with why they might be inclined to use any tactic available to fight off the US fortified Israelis.
"...and the Germans kill the Jews and the Jews kill the Arabs and the Arabs kill the hostages, and that is the news...Is it any wonder that the monkey's confused ?"
Even though they don't help their own case at all by using the money to bulldoze the Palestinians off the map. Yeah, poor Israel needs the money cuz it Stops fueling the fire and uses the $ to defend itself---yeah right.
I'll always be for the rock thrower over the tank driver.
yes, im sure israelis wake up every day and are like "gee im bored, lets go buldoze some palistinian houses today, that would be some jolly good fun"
i assume youve come up with a better way to deal with homes being used as bomb shops/ launch sites/ etc.? now obviously its not the best strategy, as nuts is still going on, but what do you suggest?
But the Christian right wants to support Israel, establish the "new Israel" and bring about the Apocalypse (which they believe, ironically, will send all Jews to Hell.)
Yeah...let's not even get into the Palestine-Israel debate. The fact is both sides are wrong, but if you think Israel started it or that the Arabs are totally victims who did nothing wrong initially, your grasp of history probably doesn't reach past the 1970s.
As for this Saudi deal, what else is new? It's not like the West hasn't been playing the Arabs off the Persians for centuries already anyway. And it's pretty clearly established that proxy war is the only war that industrialized countries are willing to participate in because it's only undeveloped countries that suffer.
I mean, yeah, it pisses me off that my country's involved in all this, but it's kind of pathetic to see the same one sided America and Israel are evil drum beat anytime a news story like this comes around...
It's apparent that the US's overall strategy(for this term) is to build a base, both figuratively and literally to counter Iran.
My only point in the Palestinian-Israeli issue is to follow the money. When we blatantly choose sides by funding Israel, we embolden would be "terrorists", be they rock thrower(age 11) or suicide bomber(age 22), or funder of suicide bomber(age-over thirty-five). We play right into the role of the "imperialist" which impassions any of the aforementioned to do what they do.
And the cycle rolls on, thereby furthering the ones who benefit from such atrocity-the defense industry. Just like the drug war, more $ in pretending to stop it all. Add the likes of record war profiteering from Cheney's former company et al, to George W Bush's first ever presidential mandate(removing competitive bidding from federaral contracts), and I believe you have the world's biggest RICO case against these raqueteers. Private security forces(Blackwater et al) outnumber current active duty forces deployed in Iraq. At huge cost to our grandchildren(thanks deficit spending and "small" government), these interests only benefit from the toil of our soldiers and the poorest of "terrorist's" whose only hope of anything but war ravaged suffering is the notion of blowing themselves up in hopes of helping their families.
Some say give these folks the aid and you'll have more of the same.
I say we have given Israel the $, just so we get more of the same. And now Saudi Arabia, Quatar, UAE, or whomever else we think that can help us rattle the saber at Iran.
It all makes perfect cents.
Last Edit: Aug 5, 2007 21:34:25 GMT -5 by snoochio - Back to Top
According to a recent report on NPR, " Haliburton employees told congressional reporters about the joys of a cost-plus contract: being paid high salaries to walk around aimlessly, drive empty trucks back and forth...and if one of those trucks gets a flat, the company would abandon it and buy another truck for $85,000 ".
Even conservatives would have considered this treasonous forty years ago.
"Beware the powers of the military-industrial complex"
But I'd bet somebody would say that makes me a conspiratorialist or paranoid....
