Saudi/Iran situation

[Obushma]

Saudi Arms Deal is About Iran
by Ron Paul

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul701.html

This month the US Administration notified Congress that it intends to complete one of the largest arms sales in US history to one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Saudi Arabia has been given the green light by the administration to spend $60 billion on some 84 new F-15 aircraft, dozens of the latest helicopters, and other missiles, bombs, and high-tech military products from the US weapons industry.

Saudi Arabia, from where 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers came, is a family-run dictatorship, where there are no political parties, no independent press, and where any form of political dissent is met with the most severe punishment. We are told that we must occupy Afghanistan to encourage more rights for women, an issue on which the Saudi regime makes the Taliban look rather liberal by comparison. We are told that our increasingly aggressive policies toward Iran are justified by that country’s rigid Islamic laws and human-rights violations, while the even more repressive Islamic rule in Saudi Arabia is never mentioned.

So why would the US government, which spends hundreds of billions of dollars yearly and maintains hundreds of bases overseas to push global democracy, approve a deal like this with such a regime? As Stockholm Institute scholar Pieter Wezeman told the Washington Post, "Of course it's against Iran. Of course it's against Yemen. You can read between the lines ... but there are not any official statements about it." Although the deal must be approved by Congress, there is little chance of any significant Congressional opposition for the above reason.

Imagine if China had armed an aggressive, anti-American Mexico to the teeth. How would we feel? Threatened? That is likely how Iran feels with this massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia. To underscore this message, the US quietly announced early this month that it was selling 20 F-35 Stealth fighters to Israel. As Israeli military purchases are paid for with US foreign aid, we must realize that the weapons pointed at Iran in the Middle East are American made and largely paid for with American tax dollars. Certainly Iran understands this. Will such a provocative move, arming two anti-Iranian powers in the region to the teeth, lead to a trigger event to bring about a full invasion of Iran? The economic tsunami that would result from such a horrific turn of events would only be eclipsed by the death and destruction in the region – and likely beyond.

Some will argue that these arms deals are international trade which we should encourage and applaud. Sadly, the United States does not build much that we can export these days. But the fact is that the US weapons industry is underwritten by the American taxpayer. From research and development to acquisition by the US military, the costs of the US arms industry are borne by American citizens. But, as so-called “private” companies, the enormous profits they make selling weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia are of course privatized. So the costs are socialized and the profits are privatized. There is a word for this arrangement and it is not “capitalism.”

[epicSocialism4tw]

Saudi Arabia is as big an ally to the US as Israel, if not more so. The Saudi's wont shout it from the rooftops because it makes the radicals nuts over there.

They love American money, and we love Saudi oil and intelligence. We didnt go into Kuwait and then unseat Hussein for nothing.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by McSkillet

They love American money, and we love Saudi oil and intelligence.

You have it bass-ackwards: The neocons you support have made us dependent on Saudi money.

[mhgaffney]

Look at it this way: Saudi oil has greased the wheels inside Washington since the 1950s.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by mhgaffney

Look at it this way: Saudi oil has greased the wheels inside Washington since the 1950s.

And one family has been at the center of it all from the outset....

[mhgaffney]

Yes, the Bush crime family. GW's granddad Prescott Bush was an official with a bank that was shut down during WW II for loaning money to Adolf Hitler which violated US law.

Giving Isarel the stealth planes -- and selling arms to Saudi Arabia -- is the equivalent of throwing gas on a fire. The Zionists no doubt pulled strings for this.

As for Saudi Arabia, it is the most heavily armed nation per capita -- on the planet.

The US is the world's biggest arms dealer. The US also spends as much on weaponry as the rest of the world combined.

This is to our shame. As Ike said many years ago -- we are stealing from the mouths of unborn children.

MHG

[cutthemdown]

What countries would Paul suggest we ally with if not Israel and the Saudis?

[barryr]

But instead of drilling for our own oil and not being dependent on foreign oil as much, namely Saudi Arabia, the lefty nuts have ensured our dependence on it. Meanwhile China is going around and drilling wherever they feel like it seems, while we are worried what a few deer might do so better not do anything and play it safe. Or go green so Gore can make his billions.

[Rohirrim]

Originally Posted by barryr

But instead of drilling for our own oil and not being dependent on foreign oil as much, namely Saudi Arabia, the lefty nuts have ensured our dependence on it. Meanwhile China is going around and drilling wherever they feel like it seems, while we are worried what a few deer might do so better not do anything and play it safe. Or go green so Gore can make his billions.

You're an idiot. The oil fields were opened up all over the country, both onshore and offshore, during the Bush regime. You know what happened? Nothing. Why? Because the oil companies realized that there wasn't enough oil in our remaining fields to even make it profitable to drill. Better to hold onto the drilling contracts and be able to write them off their taxes.

The military/industrial complex keeps America welded to the ME oil teat. It's a dance of death. Ron Paul has voted "NO" on every single initiative designed to get us off the oil teat. http://www.ontheissues.org/ron_paul.htm#Energy_+_Oil

Hey! We should go to war with Iran and then use the oil revenue to pay for it!

[Obushma]

Originally Posted by cutthemdown

What countries would Paul suggest we ally with if not Israel and the Saudis?

The way I understand it, Ron Paul calls for trade with all nations, and entangling alliances with none.

[bronclvr]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

The oil fields were opened up all over the country, both onshore and offshore, during the Bush regime. You know what happened? Nothing. Why? Because the oil companies realized that there wasn't enough oil in our remaining fields to even make it profitable to drill. Better to hold onto the drilling contracts and be able to write them off their taxes.

You might want to explain that to the people in PA and ND-

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

You're an idiot. The oil fields were opened up all over the country, both onshore and offshore, during the Bush regime. You know what happened? Nothing. Why? Because the oil companies realized that there wasn't enough oil in our remaining fields to even make it profitable to drill. Better to hold onto the drilling contracts and be able to write them off their taxes.

But if you ask ditto monkeys like DingleBarry why nothing happened, they'll tell you it was because those pesky tree hugging lefties thwarted the will of the GOP-controlled WH and Congress.

[mhgaffney]

Originally Posted by barryr

But instead of drilling for our own oil and not being dependent on foreign oil as much, namely Saudi Arabia, the lefty nuts have ensured our dependence on it. Meanwhile China is going around and drilling wherever they feel like it seems, while we are worried what a few deer might do so better not do anything and play it safe. Or go green so Gore can make his billions.

I agree with Ro -- you are an idiot.

The North slope fields in Alaska cannot fill the gap -- even if developed.

And earlier this year -- we saw the result of unregulated off shore drilling.

The answer is to take conservation to the next level - and to get serious about energy alternatives.

We live in a world where the big oil companies swallow up (buy up) the solutions and put them on a shelf.

This needs to change. It needed to change yesterday.

You dig?

MHG