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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: aladin who wrote (54488)	10/24/2002 4:51:14 PM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi John Cavanaugh; Re: "Thats a stretch, the Israeli's also use French weaponry while the Egyptian, Saudi and Gulf State forces use American weapons." (1) The Israelis pay for their French weapons. The US, by contrast, subsidizes Israel in the purchase of its US weapons. (2) The Egyptian, Saudi, and Gulf states are not (as much) a problem for the locals as Israel is (rightly or wrongly). This is probably due to the undeniable fact that the locals have more in common with the Egyptian, Saudi and Gulf governments than they have in common with the Israeli government. So what the Egyptian, Saudi and Gulf states are armed with is not so much a big deal to them. Weapons manufacture is a good business. The US has been a world leader in this business for 200 years. (Our prominence in weapons technology dates back to the Revolution, but we only later emerged as a significant volume producer.) I'm not advocating that we refuse to supply weapons to any of the parties, only that we require that they pay for what they get from us, fairly and squarely. Right now we've cut the Israelis a deal that is unfair to our own tax payers as well as the Palestinians who are under their boots. -- Carl