Bush OKs Arms Sales to Iraq

[CatWoman]

Mods -- this is an official White House document, not a news link.

Please move if you deem appropriate.

July 21, 2004
Presidential Determination
No. 2004-40



MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Eligibility of Iraq to Receive Defense Articles

and Services Under the Foreign Assistance Act of

1961, as Amended, and the Arms Export Control Act,

as Amended

Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 503(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and section 3(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and services to Iraq will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace.

You are authorized and directed to report this finding to the Congress and to publish it in the Federal Register.

GEORGE W. BUSH

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040721-7.html

[dave29]

1. For the Love of God

Make it stop

[mo5quito]

2. Honestly...

does he not get it? We've sold arms to Iraq before... how has that been good in the past?

[Wednesdays]

3. So, we've come full circle now...

And beginning a whole new circle.

[bahrbearian]

10. Is Bush going to install a new Shah to Iran?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. I wonder if anyone thought of this scenario

1). Provide military training

2). Provide easy access to arms

3). Sit back, wait, react in disbelief when they use our training and / or our arms to attack us

4). Say that we had no reason to believe this would happen, no advance warning, we had "faulty intelligence"

OH...WAIT a minute...we've already been through that once

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Will we sell them WMD's?

Then we can "find" them there!

[AlCzervik]

6. So how many years until

we re-liberate Iraq? this is really just more than i think i can take. Why not just put Hussain back in charge and call it a draw?

[qanda]

7. Well, he does want to be the peace president

I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and services to Iraq will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace.

[kysrsoze]

8. This should be a huge help to Carlyle Group's bottom line

Nice job, George. Right on schedule.

[G_j]

9. Arms Suppliers Scramble into Iraq

here we go again... :scared:



http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2004/0712armstrade.htm

Arms Suppliers Scramble into Iraq

By Thalif Deen
Inter Press Service
July 12, 2004

When the 15-member United Nations Security Council legitimized the US-imposed interim government in Baghdad in June, the five-page unanimous resolution carried a provision little publicized in the media: the lifting of a 14-year arms embargo on Iraq. The Security Council's decision to end military sanctions on Iraq has triggered a rush by the world's weapons dealers to make a grab for a potentially multimillion-dollar new arms market in the already over-armed Middle East.

The former US-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which handed over power to the new Iraqi government on June 28, finalized plans for the purchase of six C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, 16 Iroquois helicopters and a squadron of 16 low-flying, light reconnaissance aircraft - all for delivery by next April. The proposed purchases were part of an attempt to rebuild and revitalize Iraq's sanctions-hit, weapons-starved military.

But some experts question the strategy. "The flow of weapons to Iraq will not improve the security situation in Iraq, nor will it make the country safe from outside threats or an external invasion," said Naseer H Aruri, chancellor professor (emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts. "With 140,000 US military personnel, 20,000 from the so-called coalition of the willing and another 20,000 contracted civilians, Iraq remains occupied and denied effective sovereignty," said Aruri, author of Dishonest Broker: The US Role in Israel and Palestine.

"Purchasing weapons at this time, therefore, is more relevant to the needs of the occupier relating to the suppression of armed opposition, and consolidation of US hegemony. Moreover, it is not appropriate for the interim government, a subcontracting agency for the United States, to go shopping for arms as numerous arms exporting countries compete feverishly for contracts," he told Inter Press Service (IPS).

..more..

[CatWoman]

11. kick

:kick:

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. Please, wake me up

and tell me it's just a nightmare! :wtf: You have got to be kidding me. <sigh> Will we ever learn?

IRAN. Remember the last time we did this? We were helping Saddam attack IRAN. Deja Vu? Anyone? Are we now going to encourage the Iraqi's to try out their new weapons in Iran before they use them on us?! Geezus friggin' krist. I don't suppose ANY of these new weapons will end up in the hands of Al Qaeda. :eyes:

I give up. There's no hope for this country.

[spanone]

13. My head is EXPLODING!!!!!!

[drdigi420]

14. This fits right in with the burn down the forests

to save the trees theme.

[Deja Q]

15. Well, now Iraq has WMDs. Can we find them now?

:eyes:

You're insane, Shrub*...