Nicaragua offered health aid for missile destruction (Bush offered)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

July 30, 2008
Wednesday

Nicaragua offered health aid for missile destruction

MANAGUA (AFP) - The United States has offered Nicaragua healthcare aid in exchange for the destruction of 657 Soviet-made missiles acquired to fight US-backed rebels in the 1980s, the US ambassador said here.

Washington has long pressured Nicaragua to destroy the anti-aircraft missiles as part of a global effort to remove old weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists.

The exchange deal was prepared "by a team from the (US) Department of Defense specialised in the administration of hospitals, medicines, and technical equipment", who recently visited the country, and the Nicaraguan health ministry, said US ambassador Paul Trivelli on a television news programme late Sunday.

It was now up to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who proposed the medical-missile exchange last year, to sign the deal to hand over 657 of some 1,000 missiles still held, Trivelli said, without detailing the medical aid.




Read more: http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/jul30w10.htm

[formercia]

1. SA-7s really put a kink in supply drops.

I call it cheap insurance.

[hack89]

3. Not any more

technology allows aircraft to fly well above the range of the SA-7s and still drop supplies and bombs with great precision. Notice that SA-7 and other shoulder fired missiles have had no impact in Iraq or Afghanistan.

In any case - 20 year old missiles cannot be that effective as they require routine depot level maintenance as their components age. Trading them for medical supplies is probably the the best use for them.

[bemildred]

4. I wonder why the government is so hot to get them destroyed though?

If if fact they are useless, then what is all the fuss about? The dog-and-pony show over getting these things destroyed has been going on for ages now.

[The Croquist]

5. Maybe they are not useless against a commercial airliner

If even one anti-aircraft missile was launched in the US it would shutdown every commercial flight in the country indefinitely. It wouldn't have to even hit anything. The article mentions that Nicaragua would keep 400 missiles and that it is "part of a global effort to remove old weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists"

[bemildred]

6. Well, if they need routine maintenance, would they work at all?

And are they being maintained or not? And the question as to what the fuss is about still stands. Bush doesn't usually wander the world making offers of free health care, even when apparently much more serious things are at stake.

[formercia]

7. High altitude drops are not very clandestine

Covert drops don't work well when you get spotted on radar.

It's ok if you have air superiority but the situation in Nicaragua during the 80's was a whole different ballgame.

I've seen the insides of an SA-7 and there isn't much to them. They are powered by a thermal battery which has a shelf-life of many decades and I'm sure the Nicaraguans bought depot maintenance equipment as part of the package. The Soviets made ordnance that was made to work but not cost a fortune to manufacture and maintain.

[hack89]

8. My only point is that the medical aid

would be more valuable then the marginal military protection they would offer. If you or your loved ones fly frequently then don't you think it would be a good thing to ensure that missiles like this don't fall into the hands of terrorist.

[formercia]

9. Your point is well made.

Crazies with SA-7s is not a good idea.

They would probably give us the ones that failed depot testing anyway.



This is what it might look like...

[Vinca]

2. I wonder what Americans have to do to get medical assistance. nt

[area51]

10. Q: "I wonder what Americans have to do to get medical assistance."

A: Get bombs, apparently. Evidently everyone else in the world deserves medical care, except Americans. :mad:

[David__77]

11. Ortega should decline.

This is an insult to Nicaragua's dignity and sovereignty. If the US cares so much for the health of Nicaragua, it shouldn't have unleashed its terrorists to kill thousands of women and children in the 1980's. How about some material amends for that???

[Judi Lynn]

13. Our right-wing Presidents don't want any leftists in Latin America to have self-defense capability

You may recall there was a similar situation in Bolivia, during the Presidential campaign, once it was determined Evo Morales would win decisively. _Bush's Defense Department went BEHIND THE BACK OF THE BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT to his military people, and got them to hand over the missiles, which were taken to an air force base Texas!Bolivia's Defense Chiefs Ousted in Missile Scandal
Reuters
Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Page A11


LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 18 -- A scandal in Bolivia over surface-to-air missiles prompted the defense minister's resignation and the army chief's dismissal Tuesday, plunging the military into a political crisis days before socialist president-elect Evo Morales is to be sworn into office.

The outgoing interim president, Eduardo Rodriguez, said he had accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Gonzalo Mendez, and fired Gen. Marcelo Antezana over apparent irregularities in the destruction in the United States of a batch of Chinese-made missiles in October.

"I have relieved the commander of the army of his duties and accepted the defense minister's resignation," Rodriguez told reporters after a cabinet meeting Tuesday.

At the height of campaigning for last month's presidential elections, Morales denounced the destruction of the 28 to 30 Chinese HN-5 shoulder-fired missiles, the only arms of their kind in the military's arsenal.

Antezana, the army chief, told reporters that Washington initiated the drive to destroy the missiles because it feared Morales would win the presidency of the South American country.

He later retracted his remarks.More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011800124.html

[formercia]

14. Right-wing terrorists can get all the SAMs they want.

All they have to do is ask Uncle Jorge.

[Crowman1979]

12. Guess the USA can't risk having those private jets loaded with cocaine shot down.

Sure don't wanna lose revenue for any CIA covert operations.