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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (16802)	5/6/2003 11:24:06 PM
From: Edscharp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

Raymond, "AMERICA PAYS HIGH PRICE FOR ISRAEL'S FRIENDSHIP" Emile was posting this ridiculously distorted article weeks ago. My response to him back then. Message 18827048 Emile, Thank you. I appreciate the link. The article by David R. Francis in the Christian Science Monitor is based completely upon the work of a consulting economist by the name of Thomas Stauffer. Did you ever bother to read the article you cite? Stauffer used some pretty dubious methods to come up with his numbers. For instance, he includes about $60B given to Israel by Jewish charities and other organizations. These contributions don't cost the american taxpayer a penny. He includes $420B in "lost output" caused by the Arab OIl Embargo of 1973-1974 which he blames on the 1973 Arab-Israeli war when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Some of of us would blame the Arabs for that one. He includes another $134B for the cost to the United States in setting up a strategic Petroleum Reserve (which the US set up because of the Arab oil embargo) It includes another $40B for 'lost income' for the U.S. decision not to sell F-15 fighters to Saudi Arabia. He claims Israel blocked their sales, but neglects to mention that Saudi Arabia did receive 60 F-15's in 1984 and many more after the Gulf War threatened. home.att.net Stauffer included $113B and another $22B given to Egypt and Jordan claiming it was for peace treaties signed with Israel. Again, seemingly implying that money given to Arab governments is Israel's fault. If the money goes to Arab countries it's not aid to Israel. One of the items Stauffer applied to his totals is not very well explained in the article. He claims that U.S trade sanctions (to whom he doesn' t say) has reduced US. exports by about $5B a year (for how many years he doesn't say) and that this is also attributable to Israel (how he doesn't say) The article also implies that Stauffer adjusted his figures so as to put it in terms with 2001 purchasing power thus inflating his own final estimate. Based upon the above dubious items and my best guess it would appear to me that Stauffer inflated his $1.5 trillion estimate by at least $900B. Some of the items are so spurious that one must wonder what other errors Stauffer may have made as well. It's interesting to note that I could not locate any other source of information which would tend to back-up Stauffer's extreme estimates. To top it off Stauffer has done work for the Palestine Center. An aid organization sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians. I find it plausible that his views on Israel are biased. palestinecenter.org My conclusion: your claim that the USA has provided Israel with $1.5 trillion in direct aid since 1973 is at a minimum totally misleading and at a maximum patently bogus. In the future, If you're going to cite this Christian Science article , and you're genuinely interested in fairness, you are welcome to provide a link to this post.