[NYTr] More Guns for Oil: Bush Plans Billions in Arms Sales

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Dave Muller (southnews)

The Washington Post - Jul 28, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072702454.html

U.S. Plans New Arms Sales to Gulf Allies

$20 Billion Deal Includes Weapons for Saudi Arabia

By Robin Wright

The Bush administration will announce next week a series of arms deals 
worth at least $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and five other oil-rich 
Persian Gulf states as well as new 10-year military aid packages to 
Israel and Egypt, a move to shore up allies in the Middle East and 
counter Iran's rising influence, U.S. officials said yesterday.

The arms deals, which include the sales of a variety of sophisticated 
weaponry, would be the largest negotiated by this administration. The 
military assistance agreements would provide $30 billion in new U.S. aid 
to Israel and $13 billion to Egypt over 10 years, the officials said. 
Both figures represent significant increases in military support.

U.S. officials said the arms sales to Saudi Arabia are expected to 
include air-to-air missiles as well as Joint Direct Attack Munitions, 
which turn standard bombs into "smart" precision-guided bombs. Most, but 
not all, of the arms sales to the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries 
-- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and 
Oman -- will be defensive, the officials said.

U.S. officials said the common goal of the military aid packages and 
arms sales is to strengthen pro-Western countries against Iran at a time 
when the hard-line regime seeks to extend its power in the region.

"This is a big development, because it's part of a larger regional 
strategy and the maintenance of a strong U.S. presence in the region. 
We're paying attention to the needs of our allies and what everyone in 
the region believes is a flexing of muscles by a more aggressive Iran. 
One way to deal with that is to make our allies and friends strong," 
said a senior administration official involved in the negotiations.

The arms deals have quietly been under discussion for months despite 
U.S. disappointment over Saudi Arabia's failure to support the Iraqi 
government and to bring that country's Sunni Muslims into the 
reconciliation process.

The administration's plans will be announced Monday in advance of trips 
next week to the Middle East by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and 
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, and are expected to be on their 
agenda in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The administration has a notional list 
of arms to sell to the Gulf states, but there are no final agreements on 
quantities and specific models, U.S. officials said.

State Department and Pentagon officials started briefing key members of 
Congress about their intentions over the past week, U.S. officials said. 
The initial reception has been positive, said officials involved in 
those briefings. They acknowledged, however, that some parts of the deal 
are supported more than others. Arms sales to Gulf countries have often 
been controversial.

The administration hopes to provide a full rundown this fall for 
congressional approval.

"We want to convince Congress to continue our tradition of military 
sales to all six" states, the senior administration official said. 
"We've been helping Gulf Arabs for years, and that needs to continue."

Sunni regimes in the Gulf region have felt particularly vulnerable since 
the election of a pro-Iranian Shiite government in neighboring Iraq last 
year. "There's a sense here and in the region of the need to build up 
defenses against Iranian encroachment," said a U.S. official familiar 
with the deals.

The aid packages to Israel and Egypt are further along. A U.S.-Israel 
agreement, to replace a 10-year arrangement that expires this year, has 
been under discussion since February, U.S. officials said. The new U.S. 
package will include strictly military aid and would expand the U.S. 
contribution 25 percent over the current $2.4 billion per year; economic 
assistance has been discontinued now that Israel is considered a 
developed economy, U.S. officials said.

President Bush said last month, after meeting with Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert, that he was strongly committed to a new 10-year 
agreement that would increase U.S. assistance "to meet the new threats 
and challenges [Israel] faces." Washington has long promised to help 
Israel sustain a so-called "qualitative military edge" over other major 
powers in the region.

Rice is expected to announce Monday that, after her Middle East trip, 
Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns will finalize the agreements 
with Israel and Egypt.

[Research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.]


                                 ***

AP - Jul 27, 2007

U.S. to Expand Aid in Mideast

By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration will ask Congress to expand 
multibillion-dollar aid and weapons sales packages to friendly nations 
in the Middle East, partly to counteract Iran, senior administration 
officials said Friday.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will announce proposed extensions 
and enlargements of foreign aid to Israel and Egypt and a proposed arms 
sales package to Persian Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia before she 
leaves on a trip to the region on Monday, the officials said

The Israeli and Egyptian proposals would lock in U.S. commitments for 
the next 10 years. The total for Israel would rise from $2.4 billion to 
about $3 billion a year, and Egypt would continue to receive $1.3 
billion a year.

Those packages, like existing 10-year packages that expire next year, 
represent long-standing U.S. commitments to Israel, its principal ally 
in the region, and Egypt as the first Arab nation to make peace with 
Israel and a moderate, secular ally.

The money and the proposed weapons sales is intended to strengthen U.S. 
allies at a time of uncertainty in the Middle East, officials said. The 
United States accuses Iran of developing a nuclear weapon, a charge 
Tehran denies, but that development could set off nuclear arms race in 
the world's most volatile region. At the same time, sectarian violence 
and wholesale murder in Iraq threaten to spill outside Iraqi borders and 
inflame a confrontation between Shiite and Sunni Muslims elsewhere in 
the Mideast.

Iran, whose leader has repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the map, 
is viewed by Israel as its main enemy. Shiite Iran also unnerves the 
closest U.S. allies in the region, all of them except for Iraq led by 
Sunnis.

Rice plans to announce Monday the proposed sale of $5 billion or more in 
sophisticated weaponry for Saudi Arabia and other rich Gulf states. The 
sales have been expected, and some details leaked out this year.

The sale _ estimated to be at least $5 billion _ would include advanced 
weaponry and air systems that would greatly enhance the striking ability 
of Saudi warplanes.

Israeli leaders have worked to block the deal, which requires 
congressional approval. Gates recently told the Israelis that moderate 
Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia would be able to get the weapons 
elsewhere, including from Russia.

The comprehensive regional aid-and-weapons package is meant to 
compensate Israel for the sale of U.S. weapons to countries Israel 
considers potential enemies. But those sales are nonetheless certain to 
draw opposition from pro-Israeli organizations and human rights 
organizations.

A senior defense official said Friday the sale to Saudi Arabia and other 
moderate Gulf states will be on the table when Rice and Defense 
Secretary Robert Gates visit Egypt and Saudi Arabia next week.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details have 
not been made public, said there are a number of pending arms sales to 
countries in the region leaders hope to finalize in the coming months.

The official said the weapons sale is critical for the Gulf region "to 
deal with what has been a changing strategic threat from Iran and other 
forces."