U.S. Arming of Israel: How U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Profit From Middle E

[Postman]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/21/1432202

Much has been made of the Syrian and Iranian origin of weaponry used by Hezbollah but there has been little discussion of where Israel's weapons come from. A new report by the World Policy Institute examines how the United States provides billions of dollars of military aid to Israel each year and how their current arsenal is composed of U.S made equipment

[whistle]

1. Their profits are based on about a 40% margin over total costs

[AlamoDemoc]

2. Thanks posting this....I think Democracy NOW news program should

replace CNN, MSMBC, and all the media whores people pay for their news cable.

[jonnyblitz]

8. so do I. nt

[brmdp3123]

3. Good. That means they have good stuff.

[still_one]

5. and why not

the Chinese are supplying Iran, the Russians are supplying Syria

It would have been nice if a dialog would have been established, and the world could unite to do constructive things to benefit people, but will not happen for the time being

It would also be nice if people would accept that Israel is not going to go away, and until they do this conflict will continue

[AlamoDemoc]

15. Israel is the 5th largest military power in the world....

do you think they are threatened with Palestinian youth throwing a rock?

[leftchick]

4. The Lebanese know exactly where the bombs come from

:grr:

[chookie]

6. Misstatement

>>but there has been little discussion of where Israel's weapons come from.<<

Only if "in the US" is meant.

There is a LOT of discussion about where Israel's weapons come from throughout the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world -- everyone knows they are made and provided by the US. This is a matter that fuels intense anger against the US. Even when America was playing "the honest broker" we were still providing the weapons to Israel, and thus always lacked credibility.

Things have really changed in the reign of His Chimperial Highness. Not only do we no longer use diplomacy to end the loss of innocent life in ME conflicts, but all pretence of caring about any interest in the region other than promoting Israel has been thrown away. Internationally no one made a firm decision whether the American *people* backed Bush's policies because of the contested 2000 election, but any ambiguity left after Americans voted monkey boy back in 2004 certainly has vanished now that our Congressional representatives have unanimously declared total, and perhaps unconditional, support for Israel, in spite of the Rape of Lebanon.

The US and Israel are working from the same play book now.

"Targeting Hezbollah terrorists" is a small part of this operation -- mostly the Lebanese people are being punished for the political support they gave to Hezbollah in their "democratic" election. The message is "Accept US puppets or die."

The idea is that ruthless and unrelenting force will eventually cause Muslims to cry uncle, and allow Israel and the US to dictate all the terms to end their suffering. IMHO, it's going to be a lot harder and dirtier, and take a lot longer, than they imagine. Most decent people are going to bail out of this one, even faster than they did regarding Iraq. The price that is going to be exacted of blood, treasure, and decency will greatly exceed the benefit of the goal of eradicating Israel's enemies permanently.

[DELUSIONAL]

16. Both the US and Israel are working from the NECON play book

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG21Ak01.html

http://www.iasps.org/pub.htm

If you can't believe the Neocon's own website -- who can you believe

http://www.iasps.org/pub.htm

[chookie]

20. My dear, you're on to something big

Thanks for the links.

[hughee99]

7. Is there a difference between weapons sales

to a government vs. weapons sales to a terrorist organization?

[Spazito]

9. Hmmm, I wonder if that question ever occured to the US administration

when they were supplying bin Laden/al Qaida with money and weapons in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation. What do you think?

[Postman]

12. And helped Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War...

remember the USS Stark?

[hughee99]

13. Actually, that's along the lines of what I was thinking

(though I was thinking Contras). I see a good bit of discussion about here about the terrorists that the US government funds and supplies, but very little about the countries who supply the government those people are fighting against. Are all arms suppliers the same, does it depending on the type of organization they supply to, or does it just depend on the ideology of the person asking the question?

[Spazito]

14. Actually it depends on "who's ox is being gored" at the time

One time "terrorists" become patriotic heroes and vice versa, depending on how it serves the US's and others interests at the time.

Haganah and Irgun would have been classified as "terrorists" by the British under what seems to be some people's definition as would Americans that fought in the US Revolution and France would be seen in the same current light as suppliers of terrorists not unlike Syria and Iran are being labeled right now.

The description "terrorist" is being thrown around with such laxity that it has become almost meaningless, imo.

[Postman]

11. I think the issue is where the weapons come from, not "sales"

Its implied by Bush that Iran should stop arming Hezbollah while everyone is supposed to ignore who it is that arms Israel.

The US and Israel are going to have to come to the realization that they are going to have to negotiate with Hezbollah and labeling them "terrorists" only makes it more difficult, politically.

[shance]

10. Here's what your taxpayer money pays for in weaponry to Israel

Free Weapons to Israel

The U.S. also gives Israel weapons and ammunition as part of the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program, providing these articles completely free of charge. Between 1994-2001 the U.S. provided many weapons through this program, including:

64,744 M-16A1 rifles
2,469 M-204 grenade launchers
1,500 M-2 .50 caliber machine guns
.30 caliber, .50 caliber, and 20mm ammunition

U.S. Weapons in the Israeli Arsenal(Selected list):

(Weapon,
Quantity
Manufacturer,
Cost Per Unit)

Fighter Planes
F-4E Phantom
50
Boeing
$18.4 million

F-15 Eagle
98
Boeing (originally McDonnell Douglas)
$38 million

F-16 Fighting Falcon
237
Lockheed Martin
$34.3 million

Helicopters

AH-64 Apache Attack
42
Boeing
$14.5 million

Cobra Attack
57
Bell Textron
$10.7 million

CH-53D Sea Stallion
38
Sikorsky

Blackhawk
25
Sikorsky
$11 million

Missiles

AGM 65 Maverick
Raytheon
$17,000-$110,000

AGM 114 Hellfire
Boeing
$40,000

TOW
Hughes
$180,000

AIM 7 Sparrow
Raytheon
$125,000

AIM 9 Sidewinder
Raytheon
$84,000

AIM 120 B AMRAAM
Raytheon
$386,000

Patriot
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin

Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile
Boeing
$720,000


(snip)


Military and Economic Aid

Since 1976, Israel had been the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. According to a November 2001 Congressional Research Service report, Israel: U.S. Foreign Assistance, U.S. aid to Israel in the last half century has totaled a whopping $81.3 billion.

In recent years, Israel remains the top recipient of U.S. military and economic assistance. The most commonly cited figure is $3 billion a year, with about $1.8 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants from the Department of Defense and an additional $1.2 billion a year in Economic Support Funds (ESF) from the Department of State. In the last decade FMF grants to Israel have totaled $18.2 billion. In fact, 17% of all U.S. foreign aid is earmarked for Israel.

(snip)


http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/i...

[chill_wind]

18. But we can't just keep all this among friends.

"Israel reportedly is China’s second major arms supplier, after Russia.

(...)

(Israel is ranked fourth among the world’s arms suppliers.)"

CRS Report march 2006.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/IB82008.pdf

[AlamoDemoc]

17. KICK......

:kick:

[leesa]

19. Well, duh. Can we discuss how they never pay us for their toys either?