History repeats: Bush approves arms sales to Iraq. Remember Stingers?

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United States President George W Bush has given the green light to US arms sales to Iraq's interim government, which faces deadly insurgent violence nearly one month after assuming power.

"I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and services to Iraq will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace," Mr Bush said in a memorandum for US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Amid escalating violence just three weeks after the US-led occupation ended, Iraq called on neighboring countries for help, saying it wanted joint security cooperation to protect their common borders.

US officials blame the attacks on insurgents seeking to discredit Iraq's interim Government as it struggles to prepare for general elections by January 2005.

--AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1159184.htm

Reminds of Reagan's sale of Stinger Missiles to the Afghan Resistance (which included bin Laden as a young lieutenant; the same missile launchers that ornament almost every posing terrorist's shoulder)

[Disturbed]

1. The Twilight Zone-Blood and Oil

A US Govt. allows weapons dealers to sell their goods to the US appointed Iraqi Puppet Govt. Can BushCo get more insane? Yeah, stay tuned!

[Deja Q]

2. I've a big problem with this...

He is insane. Selling weapons to a country which might use them against us given the right catalyst(s) is pretty dumb.

It also adds weight to the idea that Iraq HAD NO WMDs.

[Q]

3. Shouldn't the US (Bush*) wait until US soldiers are out of Iraq...

...before they start selling weapons? I guess George* has to appease his defense contractor campaign donors...grease the wheel...so the bucks keep pouring in.

- The US continues to be the biggest exporter of weapons in the world.

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6. Since 1992, the United States has exported more than $142 billion

worth of weaponry around the world. North America accounts for more than 65% of the world's arms exports. Of the 43 countries with over $500 million in arms imports, 23 obtained 2/3 or more from the U.S. http://www.cdi.org/document/search/displaydoc.cfm?DocumentID=216&StartRow=1&ListRows=10

http://www.cdi.org/issues/wme/spendersFY03.html

With the new money appropriated for homeland defense ($38 billion for FY 2003), virtually all of the big defense contractors — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon have started hawking their products for use in domestic security.

In order to replace weapons used in Afghanistan, and in concert with the military conflict in Iraq, most U.S. weapons makers have increased production. Bombs are big business again and the Bush administration has opened the candy store, exporting death, conquest, and perpetual war.

With a share of 24% of U.S. arms exports, Lockheed-Martin is the world's largest arms exporting company. Lockheed leads the pack of defense contractors who do business with the U.S. with valuable Pentagon contracts worth a total of nearly $30 billion and an advertised $70 billion backlog.

[gratuitous]

4. So what's the problem?

I mean, don't the weapons manufacturers deserve a little taste, too? Where's the love, y'all? And we know that none of these arms will be stolen, or sold on the black market, or otherwise fall into the wrong hands, so quitcher hand-wringing, you bunch of nervous nellies! Our great war (whoops!) PEACE president knows what he's doing.

[Bandit]

5. Iraq also said it would go after countries where insurgents come from.

Could this be a way of beefing up the Iraqi Army so they feel emboldened to attack then the US will have to come to their assistance without being the initiators.