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

[Joyce McLean]

I was told that Israel itself has new cluster bombs which self destroy after a few days...but bought up old nonself destructing cluster bombs from US storage to drop in Lebanon...all of us working to change US policy should be asking local Rep and Senators if this is indeed the case............
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: KATHARLOW at aol.com 
  To: wcusp at wilpf.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 6:22 AM
  Subject: [WCUSP] Israel to buy US bomb kits for $100M (Business Week)


  "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.
  =============================================================

  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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