I don't think he's referring to military aid. He's referring to U.S. assistance for infrastructure projects in Jordan. That's probably why the King of Jordan was visiting the U.S. in the first place.
When you beg for foreign aid, you have no business complaining about "red tape" in the process.
I don’t think he’s referring to military aid. He’s referring to U.S. assistance for infrastructure projects in Jordan. That’s probably why the King of Jordan was visiting the U.S. in the first place.
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Duncan Hunter was in the meeting with King Abdullah when he met with the House Armed Services Committee .... it was my impression the ‘red tape’ comments referenced by Hunter that Abdullah made referred to what was discussed in that meeting and military matters.
This was an unannounced visit by Abdullah, purportedly to:
- discuss the “latest regional and international developments as well as means of boosting bilateral ties” with officials and a number of chairmen and members of committees in both houses of Congress, a royal statement said on Monday.
- meet with prominent leaders of the Arab and Islamic communities in the United States, it added.
The statement did not give further details, but diplomatic sources told EFE that developments in the war against the Islamic State, IS, militia and other terrorist groups were expected to top King Abdullah’s talks, as Jordan is a member of the U.S.-led military coalition against the IS.
There is a lot of regulation of Foreign Military Sales, and a variety of restrictions that come with it - whether you are paying cash, or the American Government is paying for you.
The Jordanian military is equipped with American gear - M16 type rifles, F-16 fighter jets and so forth. A lot of the parts and ammo can only be procured from American defense contractors, who are governed by our export control laws, and DoD review procedures.
So on one hand, there is a long lead time for orders to be processed, and on the other hand, you must commit to a variety of restrictions on the use of those weapons (e.g. no resale to third parties, not to be used against US allies, no war crimes under the Geneva and Hague Conventions, etc.).
When things hit the fan, as in Jordan right now, the King just wants to see a flurry of activity, with folks hustling to load planes and build an iron mountain of ordnance for him to lay waste to his enemies. But that depends on the American President.
It is possible to circumvent all those delays and restrictions in an emergency, if the President authorizes it. Reagan did this during the Falklands war - he blanket authorized whatever the Brits requested, and directed the US military to anticipate what they might need and get that moving. As a result, the UK fleet, which was rapidly deployed, was able to make a pit stop in Diego Garcia enroute, and load up with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles which were important to the outcome, and saved British lives.
Obama did the opposite when Israel last went into Gaza - he used his discretion to delay (effectively halt) processing of resupply orders to Israel of critical munitions, so that they would be unable to continue operations, without depleting their reserves, making them vulnerable to a secondary attack. I’m sure that they had to consider the possibility that a “mole” within the Obama administration would inform Isreal’s enemies of any vulnerability.
So King Abdullah needs to have Obama on board if he wants to engage in a sustained campaign, and not be hung out to dry to a counter-attack, like Obama’s former allies in the Syrian resistance, who were cut off from resupply, after they engaged in combat.