IPFS
Bush Arms Dictators Around The World<br>by Sherwood Ross
Written by Powell Gammill Subject: Foreign Policy
“In
the last six years, Washington has stepped up its sales and transfers
of high-technology weapons, military training, and other military
assistance to governments regardless of their respect for human rights,
democratic principles, or nonproliferation,” according to a report by
“Arms Control Today,” published online by the Arms Control
Association(ACA). “All that matters is that they have pledged their
assistance in the global war on terrorism.”
You
read it right. The Bush regime has used 9/11 as an excuse for the
reckless global sale of weapons, working $16.9 billion in new arms
deals in 2006, 42 percent of the world’s total arms sales.
This
compares to runners-up Russia, $8.7 billion, and Great Britain, $3.1
billion, writes Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Center for
Defense Information(CDI), which tracks such data.
Despots
once banned from getting U.S. weapons and training are being showered
with both by Bush-Cheney. And, of course, you haven’t heard a word of
protest about this from Senator John McCain, the Republican
standard-bearer tied as closely to the Pentagon as any person can be.
“By
providing military assistance with a disregard for human rights(HR)
conditions, the U.S. is not only giving up the opportunity to use
military assistance as leverage to improve (HR conditions), but is also
rewarding abusive governments for their unconscionable actions,” Stohl
contends.
Noting
that U.S. aid is growing “at the same time as human rights conditions
are worsening,” Stohl cites the example of Ethiopia, “which is carrying
out a brutal counterinsurgency campaign within its own borders” and
Nepal, whose security forces “opened fire on peaceful strikers and
anti-government demonstrations.”
Bush
is also funneling millions into Uzbekistan, where thousands of Muslims
have been imprisoned without due process and many have been tortured to
death.
One
headline-making scandal, of course, is the $10 billion in taxpayer’s
money Bush has funneled to the Pakistan military since 9/11, where
dictator Pervez Musharref habitually “disappeared” his political foes,
invoked emergency rule, suspended the constitution and jailed thousands
before being driven from office last month.
Bush
okayed the multi-billion dollar sale to Pakistan of F-16 jet fighters
that can pack nuclear warheads, just as he okayed their sale earlier to
India, escalating the capability of these long-time antagonists to
inflict dreadful atrocities if they go to war.
Since
2001, CDI has tracked skyrocketing U.S. military aid to the following
25 countries that “have a unique role in the ‘war on terror’ through
the strategic services they provide the U.S.”: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand,
Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Djibouti, Ethiopia
and Kenya.CDI documented U.S. aid in foreign military, and direct
commercial, sales to the 25 soared 400%...”
This
despite a 2006 U.S. State Department finding of “serious,” “grave,” or
“significant” abuses committed by these countries against their own
citizens.
CDI
summarizes, “the U.S. is sending unprecedented levels of military
assistance to countries that it simultaneously criticizes for lack of
respect for human rights and, in some cases, for questionable
democratic processes.”According to reporter Stohl, what the U.S. is
billing as “counterterrorism training” often is nothing more than
“counterinsurgency training” (and the U.S. is training the militaries
of about 100 countries.)
This
results, Stohl says, in the U.S. “involving itself in internal
conflicts around the world and is in practice encouraging countries to
continue their internal struggles that predate September 11, 2001."
President Bush likes to talk about how he has brought “democracy” to the Middle East. His arms sales to despots, though, betray his forked tongue.
Let's hope Senator Obama means what he says when he talks about returning the United States to a policy of diplomacy first. Somebody along the campaign trail needs to ask him if this pacific vision includes putting an end to the arms sales that help dictators oppress their citizens and threaten their neighbors.
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(Sherwood
Ross is an American Miami-based writer who covers military and
political topics. He formerly reported for the Chicago Daily News and
wire services. Reach him at sherwoodr1@yahoo.com)