[WCUSP] Israel to buy US bomb kits for $100M (Business Week)

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

"Cluster bombs are typically used against tanks and explode upon  impact with 
steel. In the conflict in Lebanon, the shells were fired into urban  and 
rural areas where Israel thought Hezbollah guerrillas might be hiding. Many  hit 
the ground or pavement and did not explode. Since the war ended, several  
people have been killed by exploding bomblets."

comment: This is  not true. Cluster bombs are really anti-personnel weapons, 
designed to  provide massive damage to troops spread across the battlefield 
and would cause  next to no damage to tanks, but Weizman is just another 
pro-Israeli  propagandist, so he provides Israel's rationalization for their use and  
doesn't mention that the majority of the bombs, twice as much as the US used 
in  Iraq, were dropped in the final three days of the war after a truce had 
been  arranged to cause the maximum casualties among Lebanese civilians.  There  
is also no mention that international condemnation of Israel's use of cluster 
 bombs in the 1982 Lebanon invasion forced Pres. Reagan to suspend shipments 
of  the weapons. Of course, that was the exception as every other conventional 
(and  apparently some non-conventional) killing machine that the US builds 
has been  available to Israel to be paid for by  the US tax-payers. That's why 
the  word "buy" needs to be put in quotes.
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_http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MV20IO0.htm_ 
(http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8MV20IO0.htm)  
Israel to buy US bomb kits for $100M  
By STEVE WEIZMAN  


JERUSALEM  
The Israeli air force has decided to buy smart munitions kits from the  
Chicago-based Boeing aerospace company for an estimated $100 million, Israeli  
defense officials said Monday. 
The Jerusalem Post daily said the planned purchase was for the Joint Direct  
Attack Munition, or JDAM, which converts conventional 2,000 pound bombs into  
satellite-guided, precision weapons. 
Defense officials said the acquisition was meant to replenish stores used up  
in last summer's monthlong war against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and  
increase future stock levels. 
The Jerusalem Post said the purchase would not require Congressional  
approval, as it was the exercise of a previously approved purchase option. 
Congress is expected on Monday to receive a preliminary State Department  
report on whether Israel misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas  
of Lebanon. 
The New York Times reported over the weekend that the report would say Israel 
 may have violated agreements with the United States by its use of  
American-supplied cluster munitions during last year's war. 
The paper described disagreement among midlevel officials at the Defense  
Department and the State Department, with some in both departments arguing that  
Israel violated U.S. prohibitions on using cluster munitions in populated 
areas.  Others in both departments argued that the weapons were used in 
self-defense to  stop Hezbollah rocket attacks and that, at worst, only a technical 
violation may  have occurred. 
The Israeli army has said all weapons it uses "are legal under international  
law and their use conforms with international standards." 
Cluster bombs are typically used against tanks and explode upon impact with  
steel. In the conflict in Lebanon, the shells were fired into urban and rural  
areas where Israel thought Hezbollah guerrillas might be hiding. Many hit the 
 ground or pavement and did not explode. Since the war ended, several people 
have  been killed by exploding bomblets. 
Israel said it was forced to hit civilian targets in Lebanon because  
Hezbollah fighters were using villages as bases for rocket launchers aimed at  
Israel. More than 1,000 Lebanese, including at least 250 Hezbollah guerrillas,  were 
killed in the war, while 120 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians were  killed. 



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