McClatchy: U.S. to sell advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and others

[babylonsister]

U.S. to sell advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and others
By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has decided to supply billions of dollars in advanced new weapons to Saudi Arabia, other Arab allies of the United States and to Israel, senior State Department officials and congressional aides said Friday.

The arms and aid package, which the officials said is to be announced on Monday, is part of a U.S. initiative to reassure worried allies in the Middle East that despite its troubles in Iraq, the United States remains committed to the region. It also is meant to send a signal of resolve to Iran's increasingly confident leaders.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates leave for the Middle East on Monday on a rare joint mission to deliver those messages in person to the region's leaders.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the package has not yet been announced, said it would include selling Saudi Arabia advanced weapons known as Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs. JDAMs convert simple gravity bombs into accurate "smart" weapons.

Israel protested the proposed sale when word of it first leaked in April.

The package also will include new weapons for the United Arab Emirates, another U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, and both military and economic support to Egypt. Other details of the proposed arms sales weren't immediately available Friday.

Although it's likely to be controversial, the administration has decided to proceed with the sale and will compensate Israel — which seeks to maintain a "qualitative military edge" over its Arab neighbors — with military upgrades of its own, the officials said.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18457.html

[AntiFascist]

1. Note to AIPAC...

maybe you should consider joining the impeachment effort before it is too late.

[Help me help Earth]

2. This is nothing new, the Saudi's have most of our military equipment.

It's happened long before Bush and will continue long after he's gone. Their military is still considered sub par and we still remain their primary defense in return for their trying to stabilize oil prices. Not much of a consolation, but there seldom is in petropolitics

[babylonsister]

3. Did you ever consider SA, and by virtue the US, is aiding terrorists, and

how these weapons might affect that? I wish the connection between SA, US, and terrorist networks would be fleshed out before we sell any more arms to them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1455161

[Help me help Earth]

6. I'm not saying I agree with this,

I'm just saying that with the current way the global system is arranged, the US provides arms and military support to the Saudis in return for their keeping oil markets relatively stable. Unless we stop using oil this is not going to change in the foreseeable future.

[John Q. Citizen]

7. Yes, all the oil companies pour weapons into the middle East, when they aren't running heroin....

It's our official energy policy. As long as we use oil, we just have to accept child sexual slavery. Unfortunatly, there's just no other way..

[AntiFascist]

9. And when they are running heroin...

it enriches the coffers of certain Congresspeople and allows the proliferation of nuclear weapons development amongst certain militant groups.

[Swamp Rat]

4. Bin Laden thanks Bushler.

Eventually we'll be at war with a unified Middle East, thanks to the Bushler and his refucklicans, and they'll effectively use our own technology against us.

[rodeodance]

5. is the US still the biggest arms seller in the world?

[rucky]

8. At least we're not selling them to fundamentalist monarchies.

oh.


nevermind.