"U.S. Clears Way for Arms Sales to Iraq"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration cleared the way Wednesday to sell arms to Iraq just as it does to other allies, reversing the ban in place for much of Saddam Hussein's regime.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040722/D83VG84G0.html

[bossfish]

1. Why do we think this is news?

Iraq is now a new "ally" of the US. Part of being an ally is to be a client of the arms builders.

Is this a surprise?

[kentuck]

2. Now what brilliant person thinks this will come back and bite us...?

on the ass? It always does. Just like when we armed Osama with Stinger missiles to defeat those dirty Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980's...

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Ayuh.

[madrchsod]

4. ???????

sales? don`t we own the country? the "sales" will be paid by the us taxpayers..gee i guess we are to stupid see that..

[bluedog]

5. Is this Right??

LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS STRAIGHT ????


These 15 Saudi Arabian guys, a Syrian guy, two
Egyptian guys and a Jordanian guy fly four of our
commercial airplanes into three buildings and a cow
pasture, killing about twenty five hundred of our guys
and about five hundred of other countries guys.

So we go after the wrong guy. We invade his country,
destroy his army, kill his two kids, his grandkid and
a security cop, and we find the wrong guy
hiding in a hole all because he has Weapons of Mass
Destruction - which we can't find.
So then we say the
wrong guy was a bad guy because he used up all the
weapons of mass destruction that we gave him back in
1983 on his own guys, and as a result we hand-pick
thirty guys that didn't like the wrong guy and declare
them "the government" so that the Iraqi People have
freedom.

The Iraqi People get pissed-a-plenty, kill fifteen of
the guys we appoint as "the government", and this
funny looking preacher in Fallujah with a funny hat
throws the 3rd Marine Division out of his town.

So we take the wrong guy's old army, give 'em all new
guns and new training, and put 'em in charge of the
town the funny looking preacher threw us out of.

In the meantime, nine hundred plus
of our guys get killed and five thousand MORE of our
guys get wounded, and the bill for all of this is so
big that Social Security is gonna get cancelled just
about the time I'm supposed to start collecting on the
thousands and thousands and thousands I've put in over
all these years.

Now, the guy who went after the wrong guy, invaded the
wrong country, pissed away peoples pensions and got
all our kids killed .....

He now wants to arm Iraq ! What for ..to invade Iran.we have to help with our soldiers.......Iraq will end up gassing or bombing in Iran......we start all over and in five years.we'll be ousting "our" leader appointed government in Iraq.........

HAVE I GOT THIS RIGHT?!?!?!?

(summerary in part from Yahoo poster)

[gWbush is Mabus]

6. I would estimate that 60% of Americans are DUMB AS FUCK

and another 10% are CAPITALIST PIGS

[Lerkfish]

7. may I quote this elsewhere?

please oh please.

[G_j]

8. "Arms Suppliers Scramble into Iraq"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/2004072...

Memorandum for the Secretary of State
Presidential Determination No. 2004-40

SUBJECT: Eligibility of Iraq to Receive Defense Articles and Services Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended, and the Arms Export Control Act, as Amended

Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 503(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and section 3(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, 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.

You are authorized and directed to report this finding to the Congress and to publish it in the Federal Register.

GEORGE W. BUSH


================
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack...

Arms Suppliers Scramble into Iraq
By Thalif Deen

Inter Press Service
July 12, 2004

When the 15-member United Nations Security Council legitimized the US-imposed interim government in Baghdad in June, the five-page unanimous resolution carried a provision little publicized in the media: the lifting of a 14-year arms embargo on Iraq. The Security Council's decision to end military sanctions on Iraq has triggered a rush by the world's weapons dealers to make a grab for a potentially multimillion-dollar new arms market in the already over-armed Middle East.

The former US-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which handed over power to the new Iraqi government on June 28, finalized plans for the purchase of six C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, 16 Iroquois helicopters and a squadron of 16 low-flying, light reconnaissance aircraft - all for delivery by next April. The proposed purchases were part of an attempt to rebuild and revitalize Iraq's sanctions-hit, weapons-starved military.

But some experts question the strategy. "The flow of weapons to Iraq will not improve the security situation in Iraq, nor will it make the country safe from outside threats or an external invasion," said Naseer H Aruri, chancellor professor (emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts. "With 140,000 US military personnel, 20,000 from the so-called coalition of the willing and another 20,000 contracted civilians, Iraq remains occupied and denied effective sovereignty," said Aruri, author of Dishonest Broker: The US Role in Israel and Palestine.

"Purchasing weapons at this time, therefore, is more relevant to the needs of the occupier relating to the suppression of armed opposition, and consolidation of US hegemony. Moreover, it is not appropriate for the interim government, a subcontracting agency for the United States, to go shopping for arms as numerous arms exporting countries compete feverishly for contracts," he told Inter Press Service (IPS).

..more..

[SoCalDem]

9. WE ARE "BUYING" OUR OWN STUFF, PEOPLE...

and adding a hefty "middleman" fee ..:grr:..

The Iraqi "government" is "buying" our stuff with "money we give them"..

What do you bet that the "procurers of such deals" have names we would all recognize...and that the "goods" are from companies that we would all recognize as well??

and whaddayahwannabet that they are ALL bigtime * contributors ???

to recap..

1 we pay taxes to the govt
2 tax money is "donated to Iraq"
3 they "use" that money to buy weapons from "Acme WMD Co"
4 Acme WMD Co makes a tidy sum
5 Acme WMD co "donates" to * re-election fund


They are laundering our tax money and putting it right back into their pockets...to use AGAINST us :grr:

[Cybergata]

10. And the insanity continues!

Sometimes I wish I could just crawl in a cave and hide from the madness! But I won't, at least not until the November elections.

:hippie:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Protecting our "Vital Interests". Capitalism in action.

Just keep telling yourselves that it's not really about money. That "our" military is really "ours" and not at the service of the money grubbers to protect their "Vital Interests".

The "patriots" at Lockheed, Boeing, Grumman, Northrop, Raytheon, JAdams, etc, are proudly flying their flags while fattening their bottom lines.

[Castro]

12. Probably not a good idea..

Saddam could still get back in power...who knows....then more mass graves will have to be dug....

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Welcome to DU. I think the issue of buying our own weapons

and then having them turned on us is more likely, as is the scenario of our tax money getting funneled into GOP coffers.

Don't you just despise this administration? They give me the same feeling inside as when I step in a pile of doggy doo....barefoot.

[kentuck]

14. You haven't heard the latest about the mass graves, have you??

Reported in the British press last week, so far "only" 5000 mass graves have been discovered - not 500,000 as reported on FOX TV and other sources....Hell we buried that many with bulldozers during Gulf War One...

[proud patriot]

15. ?????????????????#######?????????

:mad: :crazy: :mad: