Posted on 02/12/2008 3:25:54 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Last month, the president announced his intention to sell Saudi Arabia some of our most sophisticated weapons. This is a bad idea, and you should let your representative know it right away.
The proposed $20 billion deal includes “satellite-guided weaponry” and “high-tech munitions,” including 900 JDAM bombs. The JDAM is arguably the smartest “smart bomb” in our arsenal. Its electronics can “guide the bomb to its target regardless of weather.” And, it is also resistant to the jamming of its GPS system.
According to Reuters, the deal appears to be part of an “effort to persuade Saudi Arabia . . . to help contain Iran.” I am concerned about Iran, of course, but the Saudis do not need this kind of “persuasion.” They already have a good reason: Their oil is controlled by a Shiite minority that Iran, also Shiite, could exploit.
Then there is the nature and actions of the Saudi regime. Defense expert Frank Gaffney, Jr. reminded Washington Times readers this week of what the deal’s proponents hope they will forget: The Saudis are not a “reliable ally” of the United States.
The Saudi government funds and operates “mosques, madrassas, and Islamic centers” in the United States and elsewhere. These institutions spread the Salafist, or Wahabi, version of Islam practiced in the kingdom—the same kind that prohibits the practice of Christianity, that lets girls burn to death rather than letting them exit a burning building in their pajamas.
What’s more, it is the version of Islam that inspires bin Laden and other extremists and seeks to dominate other, more moderate, versions of Islam and destroy non-Muslim nations like ours. Without Saudi petro-dollars, Salafism would be confined to the Arabian peninsula.
We ought to recall also that Saudi Arabia has never recognized Israel’s right to exist. While it is difficult to imagine what good JDAMs would do against al Qaeda or the kingdom’s restive Shiites, it is easy to imagine how they could be used against Israel.
Or us, for that matter. It is common knowledge that Saudi security and intelligence forces contain al Qaeda sympathizers. Saudi intelligence files were found on al Qaeda computers in Afghanistan. It is not a stretch to imagine some of these weapons finding their way into terrorists’ hands and not unreasonable to fear that these weapons might one day be used against us.
It is a tribute to “the Saudis’ considerable influence in U.S. corridors of power” that such a ridiculous deal would ever be proposed. It is also, as Gaffney and others have pointed out, a consequence of our dependence on Saudi oil. That is why Gaffney and others advocate a mixture of conservation and smarter development of domestic energy sources as an indispensable part of our security policy.
That is the medium- to long-term answer. The immediate response is to call your representatives in Congress today and tell them to oppose the sale. Congress has until this Thursday, February 14, to disapprove the sale.
The only thing that stands between the Saudis and those bombs are people like you. If Congress does not hear from you, the sale will go through, and the next time you read about these bombs, the news might be very grim.
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
They can’t use the JDAM’s without our permission. What is the problem?
In the end, we’ll probably agree to sell them the a-bomb as a counter to Iran. Better to have them using our a-bombs, so that they won’t have to build their own nuclear infrastructure.
Elaborate, please.
They can’t use the JDAM’s without our permission.
Elaborate, please.
I would like an explanation as well.
I wonder what this means. They are not our friend. I still don’t know why the hell we don’t tell environmental groups to stuff it and use the oil in the US and in the gulf. This is nuts !!
Elaborate, please.
The Military controls the satellites. They can selectively control the JDAMs :) They can wildly skew the coordinates or simply degrade the system enough to make it unusable.
There is more to controlling the JDAM's than I should say, but unless they are as smart as the Israeli's, which they aren't, they really can't use most of the sophisticated US hardware without our cooperation. You don't see Israel complaining do you?
Yes, they have. But you're right, it's not at the top of the threat list for the reasons you've stated.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
This is both stupid and smart. It’s stupid because you’re arming Saudis, but it’s smart because of this country across the Gulf called Iran. We need the Sunni Arab states as a Mideast counterweight to Iran’s nuclear program.
I wish that could work, BUT --- it would only be a few shades more doable, than Hitler hoping that he could recruit Soviet dominated populations, to fight against Stalin, while his troops were running roughshod over these same peoples...
Now I realize that we in the West do not equate, in the eyes of Middle Easterners, to the view which those conquered in the Ukraine, had of Hitler and the Nazi's.
But they do see us as "the other", and have had generations of propagandists, such as Arafat, that have built up large reservoirs of hostility towards the U.S., and of course, even more against Israel.
In the end too, sad to say, I can't see the Saudi's as being much more than, less than fully motivated candy-asses. I doubt a Saudi army could even defend it's own country, on it's own, against a committed foe, of equal or larger strength.
The counterweight wished for, would still be featherweight, even with an inventory of JDAM's.
Ok, I guess you are correct. It is both stupid, and smart. Let's just not get our hopes up, too far though, eh?
Without screwing up other GPS functions?
It depends on what they want to do. Did you know that over New York City and "Other" areas GPS was totally inoperative for a while after 9/11? Or at least severely degraded.
If the US goes to war with someone, they lose the services of our GPS while our Military has no problem :)
I see too, on many other threads, you are usually a voice for sanity. For that I thank you now, since I couldn't quite figure how to do so, previously.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.