US Ramps Up Arms Sale to World's Most Repressive Regimes

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0525-04.htm

Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2005 by OneWorld.net

US Selling More Weapons to Undemocratic Regimes That Support 'War on Terror'

by Abid Aslam

The United States has ramped up arms sales to some of the world's most repressive and undemocratic regimes in a misguided attempt to bolster counter-terrorism efforts since the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil, says a new report from leading arms trade researchers.

The report, from the Arms Trade Resource Center at New York-based New School University's World Policy Institute, says increased weapons sales and grants have been used to reward countries that have either joined what the White House calls its ''war on terror'' or have backed the U.S. administration's military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States ranks top among the world's arms exporters and in developing countries, a majority of its arms are sold to regimes ''defined as undemocratic by our own State Department,'' says the study released Wednesday.

<snip>

Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President (George W.) Bush's pledge to 'end tyranny in our world' than the United States' role as the world's leading arms exporting nation. All too often, U.S. arms transfers end up fueling conflict, arming human rights abusers, or falling into the hands of U.S. adversaries.


..more..

[libhill]

1. What else is new

Got to keep that ol' perpetual war machine greased up. Sell arms to tyrants, get all palsey walsey with them, then a few years up the road, when there's no one on the horizon to fuck with, we can manufacture a war with the clowns. Lest we forget, Saddam and Osama were also our pals at one time. And we sold arms to them, too. In ancient times, it was said that the only thing worse than being Romes enemy, was being its friend. The same could be applied to America today.

[tk2kewl]

2. so sad. so true.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Where's the march on freedom?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Those arms makers are sooooo patriotic. Of course they make no profit.

General Dynamics, Lockheed, Boeing, etc, are just enabling the spread of democracy. Much like Thiessan, Krupp, and Siemans did for Germany.

"..and I'll stand over your grave to make sure that you're dead." Bob Dylan "Masters of War"

[James T. Kirk]

5. This has been going on for decades.

We did it back in the 1940's when we gave weapons to the USSR.

[libhill]

6. And don't forget that

The Axis Powers were no sooner defeated, than our former Soviet allies became our enemies. There is nothing more futile than war. It solves nothing, friends become enemies, enemies become friends. And then, it's back to square one.

[James T. Kirk]

8. Yeah, Truman screwed that up big time.

Less than six years after the war in which we supplied weapons to an oppressive regime, that same regime was supplying weapons to their proxies shooting our troops in Korea.

[sweetheart]

7. and slowly the evidence mounts up...

showing what we've known all along... that there was never ever
a serious belief in democracy or freedom from the bush camp... its
all just rhetorical claptrap. The USA IS the worlds most dangerous
nation, exporting terrorism the world over and there is little evidence
of anything contrary.

To hear that bush-fuck talk about democracy is orwellian to the extreme.

[G_j]

10. repression, violence and chaos

peace? not on the table :cry:

[mopinko]

9. surprise, surprise

surprise