Posted on 04/18/2006 7:10:51 AM PDT by white trash redneck
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-made bullets bought by the U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers told Army generals on Thursday.
Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, "by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.
The Army contracted with Israel Military Industries Ltd. in December for $70 million in small-caliber ammunition.
The Israeli firm was one of only two worldwide that could meet U.S. technical specifications and delivery needs, said Brig. Gen. Paul Izzo, the Army's program executive officer for ammunition. The other was East Alton, Illinois-based Winchester Ammunition, which also received a $70 million contract.
Although the Army should not have to worry about "political correctness," Abercrombie was making a valid point about the propaganda pitfalls of using Israeli rounds in the U.S.-declared war on terror, said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the subcommittee on tactical air and land forces.
"There's a sensitivity that I think all of us recognize," Weldon told the Army witnesses, including Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, who led the U.S. Third Infantry Division that captured Baghdad in April 2003.
Blount, now the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff, said the Army had sufficient small caliber ammunition -- 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50 caliber -- to conduct current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But taken together with training needs, the United States had strained its production facilities, he testified.
"To fight a major combat operation in another theater will require the Army to impose restrictions on training expenditures and to focus current inventory and new production on combat operations," Blount said.
As a result, he said the Army hoped to stretch U.S. supplies to supplement the capacity of the government-owned Lake City plant in Independence, Missouri, that currently makes more than 90 percent of U.S. small caliber ammunition.
The Lake City factory, operated by Alliant Techsystems Inc., has nearly quadrupled its production in the past four years. This year, it will produce more than 1.2 billion rounds, Karen Davies, president of the ATK arm that runs it, told the panel. Lake City provided more than 2 billion rounds a year during World War II and Vietnam, she said.
The Army's needs will grow to about 1.5 billion to 1.7 billion rounds a year in coming years, Blount said.
"In the near-term, balancing training requirements with current operational needs is a manageable risk-mitigation strategy," he said.
The Army does not want to repeat its history of building capacity during wartime "only to dismantle it in peacetime," Blount added.
I haven't looked at this closely, but US companies that collaborate -- even with the US military -- in a boycott of Israeli suppliers might be subject to criminal liability and penalties for violating the anti-Israel boycott legislation that Congress adopted in 1977 in response to the Arab blacklist of Israel (which to this day operates out of its Damascus headquarters).
UN-FREEKIN-BELIEVABLE!
Who is the idiot who titled this article? There is no way you could easily determine whether the bullet is IMI or Lake City. The cartridge case yes, the bullet no. Must be a product on Journalism school, give those people anything remotely technical to cover and they mess it up.
No one who has been shot properly will ever complain about the origin of the bullet, or anything else.
Another Fruitcake Ping
(If you want on/off this list, PM me and tune your tinfoil hat to setting 12 to receive horizontal beta rays)
I tried to laugh at this one, but it just made me sad.
Damn those free markets!
ping
If we use Nadler we should be able to do our artillery rounds too.
While what you say is true, I'm not sure that it applies here. The story is that the military wasn't/isn't going to use Israeli-manufactured ammo in combat operations (or even in theater), not that it wasn't going to buy it. In fact, it seemed to indicate that the military was going to use the ammo for training purposes.
I just think that this decision is uniquely cowardly and stupid, but it don't think it illegal.
yep!
steenkin' biological weaponry, LOL
I recommend "Reynold's Extra Strength".
Meanwhile, at least three ammunition plants were slated for closure under the latest BRAC, right?
You don't get it do you, its not about me, its not about you, its about the environmental factors, that govern a war such as this.
Our Mission is to stabilize Iraq and hand it over to a stable and western friendly nation, so that.
1) It will not a rogue nation.
2) Will not be a logistical or base of operations for future Middle Eastern Terrorists.
3)Hopefully be the first domino in stabilizing the whole of the Middle East, which will add and enhance to Israeli Security.
The aim of the terrorists is to stop us using every means and that includes propaganda.And as we all know Israel is a a ready source of terrorists propaganda.
We have to keep the conflict in Iraq separate from the conflict the Arabs have with Israel.
Israel knows this which is why she did not strike back at Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Now that I have simplified it for you get of this stupid ant Semitic cr*p
It was a rumor put about, by those opposed to British rule in India. And it did the trick
As much as local sensibilities might seem stupid to us, it sometimes pays to be aware of them, as many a army has found to its cost.
I feel that maybe our politicians need to emphasis more what our mission is in Iraq, because from the replies I get on subjects such as this , it seems that even those who most ardently support the war have no idea about the Mission apart from its part of the war on Terror.
If the right don't understand the left will definitely not.
The fact that there are American soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and serving in black ops in other countries has shown that America can not be intimidated. Don't think your enemies don't respect you, they know your power and ability to use it.
Wars are not just one by Guts and blood, there are other factors, as well.
I think I covered it in reply 93.
I have no doubt that those enemies who have entered into active combat against US forces have respect for what we can do. We have the best equipment and personnel on Earth, and the ability to project them pretty much anywhere. My only concern is our willingness to do so in the future - and stupid, cowardly decisions like this one give me to willies. I mean, come on, allowing our enemies' preferences as to the national origin of the ammo that we're going to shoot them with govern our choices is just plain idiotic, and it doesn't speak well at all of our resolve or toughness.
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