Pentagon Aims To Allow Drone Sales To 66 Countries

[DeSwiss]

Source: Common Dreams

Common Dreams
Published on Thursday, September 6, 2012


[font color=gray]A Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
unmanned aircraft at the Farnborough
International Airshow in Hampshire,
southern England, on July 22, 2010.
(Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images, file)[/font]

Under new Defense Department guidelines, the Pentagon is currently making plans to loosen restrictions on the sale of military drone technology by US corporations to countries around the world. The new guidelines include at least at least 66 eligible countries, which have not yet been named.

Military technology corporation Northrop Grumman praised the Obama administration for the shift in policy on Wednesday, saying the move will boost arms exports.

"It's slow, it's painful, but we're doing the right things to move in that direction," Northrop Grumman Corp chief executive Wes Bush told Reuters.

Northrop Grumman has long lobbied to loosen restrictions on such exports including Grumman's "Global Hawk" surveillance planes.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/06-2

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- This is exactly how Skynet got started.......

[msongs]

1. then we will need our $$military$$ to attack those countries because....they have drones. nt

[DeSwiss]

5. There is definitely a precedent for that. :-/ n/t

[cosmicone]

2. I hope one of them is not Pakistan

Pakistan will use them for terror.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. What could possibly go wrong?

n/t

[DeSwiss]

6. Yep, now these countries can ''accidentally'' kill their own citizens.

- And we still get paid.....

[KG]

4. maybe if the US had a peace prize winning leader he would stop this. oh wait...

[DeSwiss]

8. I realized how vacuous.....

...receiving the Nobel Peace Prize could be (in some circumstances) when they gave one to Henry Kissinger.

[Kolesar]

7. It is *destabilizing* because countries are more likely to use unmanned strike aircraft

A president could use one of these and not face a political backlash at home because the pilot was killed or captured.
Drone-hellfire-fuck ya'
What are you going to do about it?

[DeSwiss]

9. But of course.....

...we'll only let the ''good countries'' have them.

- As we've always done.......

[99th_Monkey]

10. This is insanity!!!!!!!!! ~nt

[DeSwiss]

13. Insanity = NWO :-/ n/t

[Solly Mack]

11. Isn't that special!

Wonder who the lucky 66 are?

[DeSwiss]

14. Well we can be sure......

...that that bastion of freedom, liberty and democracy -- Saudia Arabia -- is on the list to get some. That sill leaves 130 countries who didn't make the cut. But we probably won't shut the door on them completely. They can reapply when and if their credit scores have improved.

- Or, they can just get a knock-off model from Iran.......

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. I think Canada and Mexico and Texas should have them.

[Fuddnik]

12. No surprise there. Our top export is....

DEATH.

[DeSwiss]

15. USA! USA! USA!

[slackmaster]

16. Is Texas on the list?

[DeSwiss]

19. In the case of Texas, we'll need a note signed by two psychiatrists.....

...attesting to the stable mental health of those with oversight responsibility.

- So in a word: No.

[CRH]

17. twenty first century crowd controll, ... n/t

[DeSwiss]

20. ''...twenty first century country control (fixed), - n/t

[secondvariety]

18. Coming soon

to a police department near you.

[DeSwiss]

21. They're afraid of us.....

...and I'm afraid you're right.

[davidthegnome]

22. Seems damnably stupid to me

The move may boost arms exports... but we're not selling toys here. I can't think of 66, or 6, or even 1 Country want I really want to have military drones.

There are so many other things we could be making and exporting - without risking the likelihood that in the future they'll be used to kill us.