[WCUSP] US funding gives Israel fighting edge

[Tura Campanella Cook]

>> U.S. funding war in Lebanon
>>
>> Updated Wed. Aug. 2 2006 8:50 AM ET
>>
>> Sarah Challands, CTV.ca News [Canadian television's online news]
>>
>> Much has been made of the Syrian and Iranian origin of Hezbollah's 
>> arsenal, but there has been little discussion in recent weeks about 
>> the origin of Israel's weapons.
>>
>> The United States provides billions of dollars of military aid to 
>> Israel each year and the latest military operations in Lebanon and 
>> Gaza reflect a fighting machine bolstered by U.S. weapons, jet fuel 
>> and technology.
>>
>> According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, American aid to 
>> Israel has averaged at least $2 billion a year (two-thirds of which 
>> has been military assistance) since 1971.
>>
>> However, U.S. think tank Foreign Policy in Focus says that figure has 
>> risen significantly since George W. Bush became president in 2001.
>>
>> "During the Bush administration from 2001-2005, Israel received $10.5 
>> billion in Foreign Military Financing -- the Pentagon's biggest 
>> military aid program -- and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries," 
>> FPIF says, quoting figures from a facts book published by the U.S. 
>> Department of Defense.
>>
>> "The most prominent of these is a $4.5 billion sale of 102 Lockheed 
>> Martin F-16s to Israel."
>>
>> As well as the F-16 Falcon fighter jets made by Texas-based Lockheed 
>> Martin, the U.S.-supplied arsenal includes Boeing-built F-15 Eagle 
>> fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and the Sparrow and 
>> Sidewinder missiles, made by Massachusetts-based Raytheon.
>>
>> On July 21, the New York Times reported that the U.S. was "rushing a 
>> delivery of precision-guided bombs" to Israel, which requested the 
>> shipment as it began air strikes against Lebanon on July 12.
>>
>> The  Times said some military officials had described the rush 
>> delivery as "unusual" and an indication that Israel still had a long 
>> list of targets to strike.
>>
>> The U.S. Department of Defense says its military aid to Israel is 
>> going to "help foster stability in a historically volatile region."
>>
>> U.S. Arms Act violation
>>
>> It is a violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act to provide 
>> weapons to foreign countries that are not used for defence or to 
>> maintain internal security and back in 1981, the Reagan 
>> administration cut off U.S. military aid and weapons for 10 weeks 
>> while it investigated whether Israel was using arms for "defensive 
>> purposes" during its previous major incursion into Lebanon.
>>
>> Yet, U.S.-supplied Israeli bombs have now killed at least 600 
>> Lebanese in these latest attacks --the overwhelming majority of 
>> them civilians. 
>>
>> The bombing, which began on July 12 after Hezbollah guerrillas 
>> captured two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid, has also 
>> displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused an estimated $2 
>> billion in damage to Lebanon's infrastructure.
>>
>> As he toured ruins in Beirut last week, UN emergency relief 
>> coordinator Jan Egeland accused Israel of breaking humanitarian law.
>>
>> "It is horrific. I did not know it was block after block of 
>> houses...It makes it a violation of humanitarian law," Egeland said, 
>> just hours after an Israeli strike had devastated a suburb of Beirut.
>>
>> However, both U.S. houses of Congress passed resolutions stating that 
>> Israel was acting in "self-defence." The vote in the Senate was 
>> unanimous, while the House vote was 410 to 8.
>>
>> In step with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 
>> neither resolution called for a ceasefire.
>>
>> The Senate resolution instead praised Israel for its "restraint," 
>> while the House resolution welcomed "Israel's continued efforts to 
>> prevent civilian casualties."
>>
>> U.S.-supplied arsenal
>>
>> According to a report by the World Policy Institute in New York, 
>> Israel's current arsenal is composed of equipment supplied under U.S. 
>> military aid programs.
>>
>> That U.S.-supplied arsenal includes 226 F-16 fighter jets, 89 F-15 
>> combat aircraft, over 700 M-60 tanks, more than 6,000 armoured 
>> personel carriers and scores of transport planes, apache attack 
>> helicopters, utility and training aircraft plus bombs and missiles 
>> "of all kinds."
>>
>> Israel also may be in the market for a batch of 25 F-15I Ra'am 
>> fighters to add to a first squadron delivered in 1998, Tom 
>> Baranauskas of Forecast International, a U.S. aerospace consultancy, 
>> told Reuters.
>>
>> The F-15Is would likely be Israel's choice for any future strikes it 
>> might carry out on Iranian facilities suspected of harbouring nuclear 
>> capabilities, Baranauskas said.
>>
>> A 2005 arms-sale deal also allows Israel to purchase the GBU-28 
>> "bunker buster" weapons, described as "a special weapon developed for 
>> penetrating hardened command centres located deep underground."
>>
>> The New York Times quoted a U.S. military document as saying that 
>> "the Israeli Air Force will use these GBU-28's on their F-15 
>> aircraft."
>>
>> Israel is also testing Stryker eight-wheeled combat vehicles built by 
>> U.S. General Dynamics Corp. and considering the Littoral Combat Ship, 
>> an industry source told Reuters.
>>
>> The ship is designed to meet such threats as speedboats that could be 
>> turned into suicide weapons.
>>
>> Israel's Defense Forces website also boasts of Israeli-made 
>> pilot-less planes, used for either gathering intelligence or issuing 
>> "immediate efficient weapons." 
>>
>> "Over the past decade, the United States has transferred more than 
>> $17 billion in military aid to this country (Israel) of just over six 
>> million people," the World Policy Institute says.
>>
>> Hezbollah, meanwhile, has "at least a few hundred Fajr missiles," the 
>> New York Times reported. The Fajr missiles are believed to be Iranian 
>> in origin and have a range of 30 to 45 kilometres.
>>
>> 'Unique' relationship
>>
>> "The billions of U.S. arms and aid it provides every year gives the 
>> Bush administration substantial leverage in pressing Israel for a 
>> cease fire in its attacks on Lebanon," notes William D. Hartung, a 
>> Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute.
>>
>> "Other countries don't have that sort of cash relationship, where 
>> they go straight to U.S. corporations with U.S. money to buy weapons 
>> that are then used in the Occupied Territories and against Lebanon," 
>> adds Senior Research Associate Frida Berrigan, also of the World 
>> Policy Institute.
>>
>> "And the great thing about this relationship with Israel is, Israel 
>> doesn't have to pay for itself. It comes directly from U.S. taxpayers 
>> in the form of foreign military financing." 
>>
>> The tight relationship between Israel and the U.S., the economic boon 
>> to Texas-based Lockheed and other U.S. weapons manufacturers, the 
>> silence from Congress and Bush's refusal to call for a cease-fire 
>> show the lack of opposition to the continued arms support from the 
>> U.S. to Israel is likely to continue.
>>
>> "Bush could stop Israel in its tracks with a snap of his fingers," 
>> said Marjorie Cohn, president-elect of the U.S. National Lawyers 
>> Guild.
>>
>> "But why would he? Israel is doing Bush's bidding and redrawing the 
>> map of the Middle East to facilitate U.S. domination. Bush began that 
>> task with Iraq. Israel is following suit with Palestine and Lebanon."
>>
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