Saudi Arms Deal Advances (WH to Notify Congress Soon of $60 Billion Package, Largest Ever for US)

[maddezmom]

Source: WSJ

The Obama administration is set to notify Congress of plans to offer advanced aircraft to Saudi Arabia worth up to $60 billion, the largest U.S. arms deal ever, and is in talks with the kingdom about potential naval and missile-defense upgrades that could be worth tens of billions of dollars more.

The administration plans to tout the $60 billion package as a major job creator—supporting at least 75,000 jobs, according to company estimates—and sees the sale of advanced fighter jets and military helicopters to key Middle Eastern ally Riyadh as part of a broader policy aimed at shoring up Arab allies against Iran.

The talks between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have been widely known for months, but many new details are only now coming into focus. These include the number and type of aircraft involved, how much the Saudis intend to spend in an initial installment, and the ongoing negotiations to also upgrade the kingdom's navy and missile defenses.

The $60 billion in fighter jets and helicopters is the top-line amount requested by the Saudis, even though the kingdom is likely to commit initially to buying only about half that amount.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704621204575488361149625050.html

[formercia]

1. I'm sure the Saudi Diplomat requesting Asylum will find no comfort in this.

Just another reason to throw him to the Wolves.

[saigon68]

28. They will be putting down the reins of their camels

And picking up the reins of a few F-22s at $339.000,000.00 million a copy

Meanwhile the Stanley Box Cutter company will be cheering.



By the time all 183 fighters have been purchased, $34 billion will have been spent on actual procurement, resulting in a total program cost of $62 billion or about $339 million per aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

One thing for sure there will be NO WOMEN flying these things for this Filthy Cess-Pool of a Theocracy

[formercia]

29. If it wasn't for the Oil

They would still be tending Goats and robbing Pilgrims.

[dkf]

2. So how is Osama Bin Ladens popularity in Saudi Arabia nowadays?

I sure hope the royal family has a sound grip on the country and this weaponry. Wouldn't it be ironic if we land up arming the guy again.

[unhappycamper]

3. We're Number One! We're Number One!

In arms sales. The rest of the United States economy sucks.

[madrchsod]

5. and that`s why the rest of the economy sucks

[madrchsod]

4. saudi arabia vs iran.......

[Stumbler]

6. Well, at least we're still exporting something from the US

I think it's just rather unfortunate that it's going to be advanced military hardware going to a religious theocratic/dictatorship whose "values" stand completely against our supposed "values."

"What's that miss? You were brutally gang-raped because you left your house unattended by a male family-member? Well, you should've known better, shouldn't you? 100 lashes!!" --Saudi Justice

[saigon68]

9. It is, --Was and ---Contiues to be a -----Cluster Fuck

[dotymed]

7. How many

of the Sept. 11th "terrorists" were from Saudi Arabia? Oh yeah, all of them.
Will this grow our economy more than creating "green" technologies and factories that pay a living wage?
It kinda seems that this more of the same old stuff. I thought it has been widely accepted that the current system of business is unsustainable.
Shit, what do I know? I voted for "change."
At least some arms manufacturers will be able to keep more obscene wealth while the majority suffer and die. That is not drama, it is verifiable, observable fact.

[ensho]

8. why are we doing business with a country that treats women as property

and less human then man? why?

cause our pentagon barons want it? cause our oil barons want it?

this military sell stinks.

[raouldukelives]

10. Gotta keep shoveling money in that death trough.

Lots of happy little piggies this morning.

[Poll_Blind]

11. U.S. to sell up to $60 billion of arms to Saudi Arabia

Source: Haaretz

The Obama administration will soon notify Congress of an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth up to $60 billion, but the kingdom is expected to initially commit to only about half that, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package would include 84 new Boeing Co F-15 fighter jets and upgrades to another 70 of them.

It would also include 72 Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The senior defense official said the U.S.-Saudi arms deal also included 70 of Boeing's Apache helicopters and 36 Little Birds.

The United States and Saudi Arabia were also discussing a package for the kingdom's navy, potentially worth $30 billion, but the timing of that deal was unclear and would not be included in the upcoming congressional notification, the official said.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-to-sell-up-to-60-billion-of-arms-to-saudi-arabia-1.313619

---

It's not a secret but I don't see it reported very much: Our Glorious Country tops the fucking list of conventional arms sales to other countries.

If your family was strafed by a helicopter while running from soldiers? Chances are it was an Apache gunship that mowed them down.

500-lb. bomb get dropped on your neighborhood and kill the whole block? Most likely it was made and shipped out from General Dynamics in Texas right to your war-torn region of the world. And probably dropped from a goddamned American-made F-15, to boot..

Jest sayin' 'Howdy', y'all! BOOM!!

In fact, the Big Five who account for over 75% of all conventional arms sold are mostly us and our buddies. (!)

In order:
#1 United States
#2 Russia
#3 Germany
#4 France
#5 United Kingdom

Every time you read about a high profile sale of U.S. weaponry to a controversial country like Israel or in this case, Saudi Arabia, just remember that's only the tippy tippy top of the iceburg and, in some arguable ways, a distraction which causes tunnel vision when the real problem is so much broader and bigger.

PB

[Ozymanithrax]

12. Jobs jobs jobs...

or that is the mantra.

[Poll_Blind]

13. Yeah, I was thinking of that "Guns or Butter" line and in this case, making guns IS our butter.

PB

[Ozymanithrax]

23. Yes, it does employ a lot of Americans...

and many of them have relatively decent wages.

Used to work for a Defense industry, myself. I still have a lot of friends that do.

[avaistheone1]

32. How horrific that Americans have to sell weapons to the country

that planned and supported the 9/11 attacks on America.

One hell of a way for the US to make a living. Sad to see this country lose its moral compass for a buck.

[Cal Carpenter]

33. Rest assured

this ain't the deal that made us 'lose (our) moral compass' - that compass has been loooong gone.

[Hulk]

14. Sorry folks..but it's ALL we make anymore.

Products of death.

[Pavulon]

25. Bullshit.(nt)

[Vehl]

15. These sales might be "kickbacks" to the US from the Saudis, in return for US propping them up

One of the least democratic nations on that region....an absolute monarchy propped up by open US support.
A monarchy where calls for democratic government are crushed brutally.

Why else would any nation spend so many Billions buying OBSOLETE aircraft like the F15???

It's Saudi's way of saying "you prop us up, we buy stuff from you as well as let u have bases on our soil"

so much for "spreading freedom and democracy"

[DoctorK]

24. obsolete?

compared to what in the region?
This sale is about keeping them ahead of the 40 year old gear the Iranians use (F-4s we sold them under their dictatorship that we fostered).

It's sad how much blood and treasure we've spent trying to keep middle eastern kings on their thrones, and now creating 'Islamic Republics'.

Since 1943, when we added the Saudis to Lend Lease, we've kept them under our umbrella.
OBL cited the billions of Saudi debt, and billions spent on US military hardware, in his declaration of war against America.

Americans need to (re-)acquaint themselves with Washington's Farewell Address. Had we heeded some of those key lessons (learned by a man who spent a lifetime in war and politics), we wouldn't be in half the mess we are now.

[newspeak]

34. Well, one thing about Iran

at least they have elections, women can vote, women can drive and work outside the home. I think our government loves zealots, loves a strict "control the people with an iron fist" type government and support it, just like the monster Pinochet. That's why when we go to war and some government jackass tells us we're going to liberate a country, blah, blah, blah----they really mean, we don't like their leader, their not doing business with the global corporations, they listen to their people too much or we used them and now it's time to take them out--Saddam, Noriega.

I had to laugh when Little Boots was declaring our allies against that ruthless Saddam--one country whose leader brutally boiled his political opponent. Then, how bad Saddam was--I mean look at Abu Ghraib--and then look what we did at Abu Graib. What irony!!!!!

That's why I have told my family that the only time to go into the military is a time when we are solely defending our homeland. Because since WWII, most of these "undeclared wars" have been about business interests and dethroning those who actually care about their people or not approved by the corporate globalists.

[Nihil]

39. Said the same to my children ...

> That's why I have told my family that the only time to go into the military
> is a time when we are solely defending our homeland. Because since WWII,
> most of these "undeclared wars" have been about business interests and
> dethroning those who actually care about their people or not approved by
> the corporate globalists.

:shrug:

[old mark]

16. I wonder where the Saudis buy the whips they use on their women "adulterers"...

made in USA?


mark

[burnsei sensei]

17. An interesting question.

I think Muslims are forbidden to work in skinning, tanning and leatherwork.
In other words, every whip they use is made by a Kaffir.
Talk about hegemony!

[felix_numinous]

18. Innocent blood for oil and $$$$

Life is not worth crap anymore.

[avaistheone1]

37. My boyfriend and I were saying the same thing last night.

We have come to that same conclusion.

[gratuitous]

19. Wasn't it mostly Saudis involved in the 9/11 hijackings?

How curious then, that our good friends on the Republican side of the aisle are absolutely silent on this. They're very good at whipping themselves into frothing hysteria over anything even tangentially related to September 11, including Muslim community centers and newspaper reports on the end of Ramadan, and yet not a peep about this. Curious, I say.

[flyarm]

20. Hmmm and we are at war with AFGHAN and Iraq..but 15 hijackers on 9/11 came from ...drum beat..

SAUDI ARABIA!!!!!!!!!!

YES THE MURDERERS OF MY CO-WORKERS CAME FROM SAUDI ARABIA!! ..so lets sell them all kinds of murdering machines!

someone pinch me..I feel like when my mom made me drink mustard and water to puke up something that was bad for me, that I had eaten as a child..the bile is at the top of my throat.

That is what you get when a pres has big ties with Kissinger..who is a whore for Saudi Arabia..

[ezmerelda39]

21. So the Saudis

can fight whom????

[bushmeister0]

22. Excellent point.

Whenever it comes down to actually fighting, it's always us over there doing the heavy lifting. They even blew their little adventure in Yemen. They were getting their asses kicked by some tribesmen until the Predators and the CIA showed up.

[Alamuti Lotus]

27. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon

perhaps a few citizens of Saudi-occupied Arabia and al-Yeman as well.

[hack89]

36. Iran - they are mortal enemies. nt

[JonLP24]

38. I imagine

some of the weapons will find their way to the civil war in Yemen.

[classysassy]

26. Weapons to prevent the Surfs

from storming the walls of the castle.

[JCMach1]

30. ? How much did we have to give in kickbacks?

[avaistheone1]

31. And this deal went down on whose watch?

[Cal Carpenter]

35. Kick n/t