Posted on 08/08/2007 4:37:14 PM PDT by blam
Overstretched US cuts aid to Israel
By Damien McElroy and Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 11:04pm BST 08/08/2007
America has been forced to withhold funding from its key ally in the Middle East amid the strain of paying for its expensive military campaign in Iraq.
Insurgents fire off a battery of 49 rockets aimed at an American military base in Baghdad
Washington had promised Israel a substantial increase in its financial support to bolster it against Iran.
But US officials decided to amend their pledge because of escalating costs, including the need to spend $750 million (£375 million) to fly thousands of armoured troop carriers to Iraq to protect troops against Iranian-made roadside bombs.
The Pentagon has come under intense pressure to speed up deployment of the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP), which boasts a V-shaped hull and a raised chassis and is proven to withstand a range of explosive projectiles common in Iraq.
The army has ordered 8,000 MRAP vehicles at a cost of $12 billion. But a request by the Pentagon for an emergency transport budget illustrates the increasing danger faced by troops on the ground.
Officials said extra funds would be used to get 3,400 MRAPs to Iraq by the end of the year.
The diversion of funds has caused a budget shortfall in Israel that forced Ehud -Olmert, the prime minister, to convene an emergency cabinet meeting yesterday.
Officials discussed ways of dealing with the £250 million deficit in next year's budget, which Israeli commentators said would result in austerity measures.
More worryingly for Israel, there are fears the shortfall will have a significant impact on the ability of the country to defend itself as military training and procurement are cut back.
The tension over the delayed American money has tarnished relations between the two countries, which were boosted only last week when Israel confirmed it would enjoy a surge in American defence aid of 25 per cent over the next 10 years.
US forces claimed yesterday to have killed 32 suspected Shia terrorists and taken 12 prisoner in an operation involving air strikes on Baghdad's Sadr City district.
They said the militia members killed belonged to a group accused of smuggling weapons and facilitating attacks on Americans. However, regional satellite television channels claimed that women and children, not fighters, were killed in the raid.
America is under tremendous pressure to clamp down on Iran's allies in Iraq. -Lt General Raymond -Odierno, the US operations commander in Iraq, said Iran-backed attacks rose to 99 last month in response to American efforts to clamp down on Shia militias.
The pressure American forces are under in Iraq was further illustrated when they released photographs of insurgents setting up a battery of 49 rockets aimed at a US base outside Baghdad. One serviceman was killed and 15 others injured in the attack that followed.
United Nations staff yesterday unanimously voted against an expanded UN presence in Iraq. Their protest came a day before the Security Council is due to agree a resolution broadening UN involvement in the country.
The UN scaled back its operations after the bombing of its Baghdad headquarters in 2003 killed its envoy and 21 other staff. The organisation's staff association said it could not put up with "the unacceptably high level of risk to the safety and security of UN personnel".
Are these guys making this up as they go?
Just asking.
Isn’t the aide to Israel in the form of loan guarantees? Israel hasn’t defaulted on those loans so I’m somewhat mystified by this move. Further confusion arrises from the fact that as I understand it a certain amount of purchases must be made from US concerns for these loans to be guaranteed. Thus we cut our own economy to refuse to help our ally. Just wierd...
Could be America was forced to withhold aid to Israel because a) we are paying to imprison criminal illegal aliens b) we pay farmers not to grow crops c) we fund NPR or d) all of the above and more.
I think it was a slow news day. The article is devoid of specific information concerning US funding to Israel. It reads like they just made it up to complain about Iraq.
Something is missing here, the US Democrat controlled House of Representatives is the body that initiates alllll spending measures. Now if there is this supposed shortfall or lack of 25% increase then they have failed to do their job. Or maybe the article is just more of the type of reporting we here get told of when there is an increase but the increase is not what the requesters requested and therefore it becomes a cut.
If only we could withhold aid, I mean dues, to the UN instead.
Maybe the aid was kept at 2006 levels, and thus, interpreted as a cut.
Since the House of Saud are Sunnis and Sunnis have pulled out of the Iraq govt, is the pressure on the US coming from that direction?
LLS
How is that not direct aid to Israel?
No, virtually all current aid to Israel is military. Military aid is structured as a "loan", which is forgiven. This is done to avoid Congressional oversight of individual purchases as opposed to the entire aid package. But essentially it's direct aid, as opposed to loan guarantees like those of the late 1980s, which were true guarantees which would cost the US only in the event of a default.
This really isn't a big deal, but administration puts the right spin on this too. Sounds much better to attribute the delay to military purchases than the imperative of getting aid to the palestinians so they can rearm.
Sounds much better to attribute the delay to military purchases than the imperative of getting aid to the palestinians so they can rearm.
Are we cutting aid to Israel so we can direct funding to the Palisites?
This pertains to the proposed aid package, which included a $6 or $7 billion increase to Israel over the next ten years as an offset to the $20 sale to Saudi Arabia and $13 billion increase in military aid to Egypt. The initial understanding was that the increase would be frontloaded or spread out equally over ten years. Apparently now the administration proposes backloading it. Congress will accept or reject the entire ten year packages, but appropriations are annual so an “increase” payable 5-10 years down the road may not be there. And militarily, orders placed 5-10 years from now doesn’t offset Saudi purchases today.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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I as a taxpayer am getting a bit tired of getting mocked around this globe, paying off this one and that one so they will be kept in the supposed friends column.
I noticed that there was nothing about it on the current Jerusalem Post web site. Is this indicative of your take on this story? Was there an earlier story from an Israeli source about this? Is the Daily Telegraph attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill on this to promote its own anti-US, anti-Israel agenda?
I looked for other stories before pinging it. There were a number, though they all characterized the issue as a disagreement on the timing. The post has one now which seems to say the same thing. I didn’t see it at Ynet, but they don’t put everything in the English web edition.
Meridor denies report of US cutting aid to Israel
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186555721634&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel’s Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor on Wednesday denied a report that the US would cut assistance to Israel and emphasized that Washington was sticking to its stated plan to increase the aid.
Meridor said that the report that appeared in Yediot Aharonot was “unfounded.”
The ambassador told Israel Radio that there were ongoing discussions about the aid which is set to rise to 30 billion dollars over the next decade, an increase of $6 million.
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