. July 4, 2007 SouthAmerica: This should be the only kind of involvement for Brazil in the chaos and meltdown that has occurred in Iraq since the US invasion and occupation of that country. Brazil should help rescue at least the seriously ill kids of Iraqis and Palestinians. After the Iraqi civil war ends then Brazil can help the rest of the Iraqi people. But in the meantime the massive mess and chaos in Iraq it is the responsibility of the United States. You broke it â then you fix it. ********** âPalestinian refugees stranded in deadly Iraq; Brazil comes to the rescueâ by Vasilena Todorova IMEMC News - Wednesday July 04, 2007 After the UN refugee agency called for the immediate evacuation of at least a dozen seriously ill Palestinians -- mostly young children â who live in refugee makeshift camps in Baghdad and on the Iraqi side of the deserted border with Syria, Brazil offered to take them in, UN officials said yesterday. "Without evacuation and life-saving medical help, they could die or suffer lifelong complications," said Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about the Palestinian refugees stranded in war-ridden Iraq. "We currently have 12 cases in urgent need of medical evacuation, the youngest just 15 months old," he added. Recently, a UNHCR team visited the isolated Al Waleed camp near the border with Syria and found that several young people among the 1,071 displaced Palestinians there were in serious need of specialized medical treatment. Among the ailing were a youth with a hole in his heart, two children with Hodgkin's disease, one youth about to lose his leg because of a vascular disease and a young man with severe diabetes who is losing his sight. But Redmond said there were more cases in need of urgent attention. "We have also identified a two-year-old with cerebral palsy who has very low immunity, is in urgent need of physical therapy and has stopped eating. Another child, a 13-year-old girl suffering from a spinal injury, will be permanently paralyzed from the neck down unless she gets treatment soon," he said, adding that the girl's mother died a few years ago, her father was murdered in January and her home was burned by militia. Other urgent cases were discovered in Baghdad -- a 15-month-old boy in danger of paralysis from the waist down, and a 14-year-old boy who has had 13 operations but suffers from severe urinary and bladder problems. Despite efforts of UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide proper medical care, unsanitary conditions in the compounds, shortages of medical staff and mounting fears of attacks have led to the acutely deteriorating health of Palestinian refugees in camps inside and outside Baghdad. The UN refugee agency said that Palestinians in Baghdad refuse to seek medical care because they are afraid for their safety. UNHCR also reported that in extreme cases some people, who refused to visit medical facilities because they feared attacks, died in their homes as a consequence. ⦠Earlier this year, UNHCR and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) set up five tented classrooms for the 122 children living in the camp and this has helped raise their morale. "The school was a great initiative but still our children have no future in this desert. They have no touch with the outside developed world," said one mother. Yesterday the government of Brazil offered to resettle about 100 Palestinians living in Iraq starting in mid-September. About 22 Palestinian families are excepted to settle in Sao Paulo state and 18 families in Rio Grande do Sul, said UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis. As part of the resettlement, Brazil plans to integrate the Palestinians into Brazilian society. Prior to departing, each group of roughly 30 people will be extensively briefed, culturally sensitized and offered Portuguese languages lessons by Brazilian UNCHR staff. All of the refugees will receive accommodations, furniture and material assistance for up to 24 months, with unaccompanied elderly refugees being settled in homes where medical treatment will be provided, according to UNHCR. In recent years Brazil, Canada and New Zealand have been the only countries to offer resettlement to Palestinian refugees from Iraq, according to UNHCR. Source: http://www.imemc.org/article/49314 .
. July 17, 2007 SouthAmerica: When almost 2/3 of the American population is getting completely against the war in Iraq, and think it is time for the US Forces to pack in and go home. When the US president runs out of BS to keep his delusion going in Iraq â and he puts his last hopes in resolving the political problems in Iraq on the line â and in response to his efforts the Iraqi government decide to go home for a month long vacationâ¦. There is only one strategy left for the current US government to play once more: the âcry wolfâ strategy and the âBoogiemanâ is coming to get you. Today, the Bush administration with no credibility left regarding anything that they say - I wonder if there is a single gullible American out there who still believe and would be scared by their constant scare tactics and use of the âcry wolfâ strategy for political reasons. I also noticed that many people have tuned completely off the Iraq war â just like the war is not even happening. The situation in Iraq is so âPatheticâ that only a "Moron" such as President George W. Bush still thinks that things are getting better in Iraq and the US is doing the right thing. ********** U.S. intelligence: "heightened threat" environment Reuters - Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:27PM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies on Tuesday warned that al Qaeda would intensify efforts to put operatives inside the United States and said there was a heightened threat of attack. The assessment came in unclassified judgments from a "National Intelligence Estimate on the Terrorist Threat to the U.S. Homeland," which is a compilation of views from the various spy agencies. Al Qaeda, responsible for the September 11 attacks in 2001, remained the "the most serious terrorist threat" to the U.S. homeland and its leadership continued to plan "high-impact plots," the report said. "Although we have discovered only a handful of individuals in the United States with ties to al Qaeda senior leadership since 9/11, we judge that al Qaeda will intensify its efforts to put operatives here," the report said. "As a result, we judge that the United States currently is in a heightened threat environment," it said. Frances Townsend, homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, told reporters there was no specific or credible threat but the administration was taking the warning seriously. Authorities have not raised threat-alert levels. White House spokesman Tony Snow, asked to respond to critics, said the administration was not using the threat from terrorism as a distraction from Iraq. "What we're trying to remind people of is this is a real threat," he told reporters before the report was released. "This is not an attempt to divert." The report, put together over three years, warned of a persistent threat from terrorism to the United States over the next three years. But it said the threat from Muslim extremists inside the United States was "not likely to be as severe as it is in Europe." The assessment said increased global counterterrorism efforts over the past five years have "constrained" al Qaeda's ability to attack within the United States again and led militant groups to perceive it as "a harder target to strike" than on September 11. .
. July 18,2007 SouthAmerica: UAU What an achievement â what a breakthrough!!!!!!!!!! The United States government and the American mainstream media have started figuring out that Osama Bin Ladden and his Al Qaeda group are in Pakistan and they are doing very well. And they even have the chance to hold power and become the new leaders of that country â a country armed with nuclear weapons. O my God what a surprise â I must be âBrain Deadâ to have missed that one for so long. It has been so obvious all along that the entire world knew about it and I was the only âPatsyâ that couldnât figure that one out. I donât know how today the other governments from around the world can take the Bush administration seriously about anything. It took 5 years for the US government and the American mainstream media to figure out in which country Osama Bin Ladden was hiding â hiding is the wrong word here, because the entire world knew where he is staying â he has been staying all long with his Al Qaeda group - surprise, surprise - in Pakistan. We have been tired of discussing that subject on this forum for the longest time. We are even bored by that subject by now. Today I was watching the Charlie Rose Show and the major subject of the show was the US government report about Osama Bin Ladden, Al Qaeda and Pakistan â as if that subject matter was news for anyone who has at least a minimum amount of brains and common sense. And all those guys from the mainstream media actually play along with all the latest BS â UAU â what a finding â this news caught all of us by surprise. When I watch all these talking heads on television â I wonder if all these people have become part of the government propaganda machine or if all these people are really as incompetent as the people running the US government today. Maybe their collective intellect is better suited to cover breaking news such as the important stories about Paris Hilton, and Nicole Smith. If you have been reading the threads on this forum about Pakistan, nuclear weapons, Osama Bin Ladden and so onâ¦..You must be bored to death with the coverage of the American mainstream media since they finally were able to connected the dots on that subject. ******* Since we are so ahead of them in connecting the dots â letâs go further and letâs give them some more information that eventually even them will be able catch up with what has been going on⦠Here we go, and wait until the members of the Bush administration finds out about these advances in science and knowledge. 1) The earth is not the center of the universe. 2) The earth is not flat. We have enough information for one day, because I donât want to overload these peopleâs intellects with new information. .
Bin Ladden has been in the cross hairs quite a few times over the years. Maybe they don't want him dead Just a thought
. Plater: Bin Ladden has been in the cross hairs quite a few times over the years. Maybe they don't want him dead Just a thought *********** July 21, 2007 SouthAmerica: For all practical purposes it does not matter if he is dead or alive. Osama Bin Ladden has become a âRevolutionary Legendâ around the world in the same way as Che Guevara achieved that status in the 1950âs and 1960âs. Today when we think about revolutionary icons in recent world history the two names that comes to mind are âChe Guevara and Osama Bin Ladden.â Osama Bin Ladden already has achieved the status of a âLegendâ around the world â As the destroyer of superpowers. .
. July 24, 2007 SouthAmerica: There is a new job opening in Afghanistan. I wonder if King George would be interested in assuming the duties of this new job â as King George W. Bush (The Decider). He might qualify for the job even though King George does not have a âPashtun ethnic groupâ background; he has instead a âPatsyâ background. ************ âMohammed Zaher Shah, 92; Afghanistan's last kingâ By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King, Special to The Times Los Angeles Times - July 24, 2007 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN â Afghanistan's last king, Mohammed Zaher Shah, died Monday, plunging his battered country into mourning and inspiring a wave of wistful nostalgia for better days. He was 92. Zaher Shah, an ineffectual yet beloved monarch, spent nearly three decades in genteel exile after being ousted in a palace coup in 1973. He returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban, and although he played no significant political role, he served for many as an emblem of the country's yet-unrealized hopes for rebuilding. The former king's death was announced by Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, a distant relative. He called the ex-monarch "the servant of his people, the friend of his people." Both Zaher Shah and Karzai hailed from the Pashtun ethnic group, which also gave rise to the Taliban. After the fundamentalist militia was driven from power by U.S.-led forces following the Sept. 11 attacks, many Afghans hoped that Zaher Shah â Shah means "king" â would once again lead the country, as monarch or president. But Zaher Shah, by then already frail and in his 80s, declined. Nonetheless, he gave his blessing to Afghanistan's new constitution in 2004, which gave him the ceremonial title of "Father of the Nation." Karzai declared three days of mourning for the former king, whose body was to lie in state at a Kabul mosque. Television and radio stations in Afghanistan played somber music and Koranic verses after the death was announced, devoting nearly all their airtime to retrospectives of the king's life. Zaher Shah's reign, the last in a 300-year dynasty, began with a wrenching drama. In 1933, at age 19, he witnessed the assassination of his father, Muhammed Nadir Shah. Hours later, Zaher Shah ascended the throne. Even while king, Zaher Shah was largely under the thumb of relatives who held the real power. But during the years of his reign, Afghanistan, though still considered a backwater, enjoyed a brief window of peace, tranquillity and an acquaintance with what until then had been a distant outside world. The king made fitful efforts at modernization, and, by the 1960s, the capital, Kabul, had achieved some of the trappings of a world city, with eclectic arts festivals, a growing middle class, miniskirted women and international-class hotels. In 1964, Zaher Shah declared Afghanistan a constitutional monarchy. That included still-cherished reforms, including universal education and women's rights. A cousin, Mohammed Daoud Khan, overthrew him in 1973 â when Zaher Shah, characteristically, was on a leisurely visit to Europe, taking the waters in southern Italy. But in the last quarter of the 20th century, Afghanistan's strategic location became its undoing. Zaher Shah was absent during the traumas that racked his country from the mid-1970s onward: the Soviet invasion, the brutal civil war fought by Afghan warlords in the 1980s, and the rise of the austere, pious Taliban movement. In Kabul, Abdul Qadir, 73, a retired civil servant, remembered Zaher Shah's reign as a golden era. "The people were happy, and we had a good life â we can't compare this with the hardships we're experiencing now," he said. Zaher Shah's years in exile were largely quiet ones, save for a 1991 assassination attempt by a zealous Angolan-born convert to Islam. The exiled king suffered stab wounds but recovered. Despite ongoing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, condolences arrived from Pakistan's military leader, President Pervez Musharraf. The United Nations special representative in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, hailed Zaher Shah's "unifying influence." Ahmed Rashid, a prominent Pakistani journalist who knew the former monarch well, described him as a figure both stymied and bemused by the historical changes that swept his homeland. "He was a wonderful old man, never very ambitious, though he cared deeply about his country," Rashid said. "He missed several opportunities to change the course of eventsâ¦. But in a setting where ruthlessness is the norm and modesty is not, he was a bit of an oddity." Zaher Shah's wife, Queen Homaira, died in 2002 in Rome, an event that was said to have sapped the former king of strength and his will to live. She was buried in a royal cemetery on the outskirts of Kabul, where he is to be buried today. .
. July 25, 2007 SouthAmerica: The main difference between attacking Osama Bin Ladden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan as the US did in 2002, and today in Pakistan â is that Pakistan is armed with 80 to 100 nuclear warheads. It will be interesting to see if the Bush administration can beat its own record for misjudgment and incompetence and see if they are capable of actually start a nuclear war against another country that is also armed with nukes. I for one would not be surprise if that happened. Most people probably did not realize, but last Saturday we had an actual close call regarding starting a nuclear war â I was relieved when Dick Cheney had the chance to play the role of president of the United States for 2 hours and he was able to restrain himself during that period from starting a nuclear war with another country. *************** âAl-Qaeda's Pakistan bases leave U.S. a dilemmaâ USA Today â July 25, 2007 To bomb or not to bomb al-Qaeda's new bases in Pakistan? That, increasingly, seems to be the question the administration is contemplating. On Sunday, White House national security adviser Frances Townsend confirmed as much. The reason the question is front and center is that a new report compiled by the nation's 16 intelligence agencies concluded that the wild region on Pakistan's northwestern frontier has become as much of a haven for al-Qaeda's leadership as Afghanistan was before 9/11. The logic for military strikes, on one simple level, is overwhelming. Had the United States obliterated Osama bin Laden and his camps in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001, the plot might have been foiled. But the United States held back in part for fear of civilian casualties and a global backlash. So, why not learn from the Afghanistan mistake? After all, bin Laden is determined to devise ways to kill thousands or millions of Americans. The problem is that military action in the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan carries a significant risk of backfiring. A brief list of the dangers: * Pakistan is a Muslim state with nuclear weapons. If attacks were to ignite anti-U.S. fervor and cause the government, now an ally, to fall into extremist hands, the terrorist threat would become much worse. Pakistan's leading nuclear scientist, now under house arrest, has already tried to export nuclear technology to Libya and Iran. Further, elements of the army and the intelligence services are believed to have links to the Taliban. Those threats are suppressed by President Perez Musharraf, and moderate parties dominate Pakistani politics. That situation must not be destabilized. * The targets might prove hard to hit. The United States relies mostly on intelligence from Pakistan and its Taliban-linked spy services. * An anti-U.S. backlash would surely follow if the United States were to attack a third Muslim country (after Afghanistan and Iraq). That happened on a small scale after the United States bombed a village in January last year. The problem is that al-Qaeda camps are growing because Musharraf's plan for closing them has failed. He has cut deals with the tribal leaders who control the largely autonomous region under which his forces would leave them alone if they stopped sheltering extremists. Musharraf is trying to revive those deals. At the same time, his military is stepping up action on the ground, with fierce fighting in recent days. If those efforts fail, there might be no option but to strike at al-Qaeda, which should not be allowed to enjoy any haven. But given the risks, rushing that judgment would be foolish. If there's one obvious lesson from Iraq, it's that war should be the last option, not the first. .
. July 29, 2007 SouthAmerica: The American way to peace in the Middle East â just throw more fuel into the fire. When I see the pundits on television talking about the American role as the only surviving superpower and its efforts in working to bring peace into the Middle East. I feel like laughing. These people must be kidding. The American solution to the chaos in the Middle East â supply the countries in the area with $ 50 billion dollars more in armament to make sure the chaos will continue⦠The death industry in the United States should be at least impartial and they should spread its deadly goods more evenly between Israel and the Arab countries â how about $ 30 billion dollars in deadly goods for each side? I wonder if the contracts on the sell of these armaments have a clause saying that the armament, including the mother of all bombs and all guided missiles, have to be used on a certain time limit â letâs say in the next 3 years â against each other, because that would give a chance for the US death industry to replenish once again their arsenals with even more deadly goods. Today it is hard to find products made in the USA that can be sold around the world â but the death industry is one area that Americans industry still excel â the United States is number one when it comes to spread death around the world â the US death industry sells more than 50 percent of the armament used around the world to kill all kinds of people. Quoting from a cover story on The New York Times - article published on July 28, 2007. ââ¦arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that is expected to eventually total $20 billion at a time when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are playing a counterproductive role in Iraq. The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 yearsâ¦.â ************ âU.S. Set to Offer Huge Arms Deal to Saudi Arabiaâ By DAVID S. CLOUD Published: July 28, 2007 The New York Times WASHINGTON, July 27 â The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that is expected to eventually total $20 billion at a time when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are playing a counterproductive role in Iraq. The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years. But administration officials remained concerned that the size of the package and the advanced weaponry it contains, as well as broader concerns about Saudi Arabiaâs role in Iraq, could prompt Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the package when Congress is formally notified about the deal this fall. In talks about the package, the administration has not sought specific assurances from Saudi Arabia that it would be more supportive of the American effort in Iraq as a condition of receiving the arms package, the officials said. The officials said the plan to bolster the militaries of Persian Gulf countries is part of an American strategy to contain the growing power of Iran in the region and to demonstrate that, no matter what happens in Iraq, Washington remains committed to its longtime Arab allies. Officials from the State Department and the Pentagon agreed to outline the terms of the deal after some details emerged from closed briefings this week on Capitol Hill. The officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who are to make a joint visit to Saudi Arabia next week, still intended to use the trip to press the Saudis to do more to help Iraqâs Shiite-dominated government. âThe role of the Sunni Arab neighbors is to send a positive, affirmative message to moderates in Iraq in government that the neighbors are with you,â a senior State Department official told reporters in a conference call on Friday. More specifically, the official said, the United States wants the gulf states to make clear to Sunnis engaged in violence in Iraq that such actions are âkilling your future.â In addition to promising an increase in American military aid to Israel, the Pentagon is seeking to ease Israelâs concerns over the proposed weapons sales to Saudi Arabia by asking the Saudis to accept restrictions on the range, size and location of the satellite-guided bombs, including a commitment not to store the weapons at air bases close to Israeli territory, the officials said. The package and the possible steps to allay Israelâs concerns were described to Congress this week, in an effort by the administration to test the reaction on Capitol Hill before entering into final negotiations on the package with Saudi officials. The Saudis had requested that Congress be told about the planned sale, the officials said, in an effort to avoid the kind of bruising fight on Capitol Hill that occurred in the 1980s over proposed arms sales to the kingdom. In his visit with King Abdullah and other Saudi officials next week, Mr. Gates plans to describe âwhat the administration is willing to go forward withâ in the arms package and âwhat we would recommend to the Hill and others,â according to a senior Pentagon official, who conducted a background briefing on the upcoming trip with reporters on Friday. The official added that Mr. Gates would also reassure the Saudis that âregardless of what happens in the near term in Iraq that our commitment in the region remains firm, remains steadfast and that, in fact, we are looking to enhance and develop it.â The $20 billion price tag on the package is more than double what officials originally estimated when details became public this spring. Even the higher figure is a rough estimate that could fluctuate depending on the final package, which would be carried out over a number of years, officials said. Worried about the impression that the United States was starting an arms race in the region, State and Defense Department officials stressed that the arms deal was being proposed largely in response to improvements in Iranâs military capabilities and to counter the threat posed by its nuclear program, which the Bush administration contends is aimed at building nuclear weapons. Along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are likely to receive equipment and weaponry from the arms sales under consideration, officials said. In general, the United States is interested in upgrading the countriesâ air and missile defense systems, improving their navies and making modest improvements in their air forces, administration officials said, though not all the packages would be the same. Ms. Rice is expected to announce Monday that the administration will open formal discussions with each country about the proposed packages, in hopes of reaching agreements by the fall. Along with the announcement of formal talks with Persian Gulf allies on the arms package, Ms. Rice is planning to outline the new agreement to provide military aid to Israel, as well as a similar accord with Egypt. The $30.4 billion being promised to Israel is $9.1 billion more than Israel has received over the past decade, an increase of nearly 43 percent. A senior administration official said the sizable increase was a result of Israelâs need to replace equipment expended in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer, as well as to maintain its advantage in advanced weaponry as other countries in the region modernize their forces. In defending the proposed sale to Saudi Arabia and other gulf states, the officials noted that the Saudis and several of the other countries were in talks with suppliers other than the United States. If the packages offered to them by the United States are blocked or come with too many conditions, the officials said, the Persian Gulf countries could turn elsewhere for similar equipment, reducing American influence in the region. The United States has made few, if any, sales of satellite-guided munitions to Arab countries in the past, though Israel has received them since the mid-1990s as part of a United States policy of ensuring that Israel has a military edge over its regional rivals. Israeli officials have made specific requests aimed at eliminating concerns that satellite-guided bombs sold to the Saudis could be used against its territory, administration officials said. Their major concern is not a full-scale Saudi attack, but the possibility that a rogue pilot armed with one of the bombs could attack on his own or that the Saudi government could one day be overthrown and the weapons could fall into the hands of a more radical regime, officials said. .
. July 29, 2007 SouthAmerica: US military aid to Israel with the compliments of the Chinese. It is easier to give away borrowed money. The United States should take the opportunity and when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are visiting Saudi Arabia they should announce that the $ 20 billion dollar military package for Saudi Arabia it would also be considered military aid. Since the United States has an unlimited line of credit with China â then the US will add another $20 billion dollars into its tab with China No big deal. The US government can go even one step further, and they should increase the military aid to Saudi Arabia to $ 30 billion dollars to match the give away to Israel. It is just money - "OPM" - Easy come, easy go. OPM = Other People's Money ************* âIsraeli PM announces 30 billion dollar US defence aidâ By Ron Bousso Sun Jul 29, 2007 AFP News JERUSALEM (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a new 30 billion dollar US defence package on Sunday to preserve Israel's regional military superiority, as Washington readied an Arab arms deal to counter Iran. The sizeable hike to annual US defence and military aid to its closest Middle East ally was unveiled by the beleaguered Olmert amid reports of a hefty US arms deal with Saudi Arabia. "In my last meeting with the president of the United States, we agreed that the aid would stand at 30 billion dollars over the next 10 years, meaning over three billion dollars a year, starting next year," Olmert said. "This is an increase of over 25 percent in the military and defence aid of the United States to Israel," he said, describing the package as a considerable improvement and very important element for national security. "Other than the increase in aid, we received an explicit and detailed commitment to guarantee Israel's qualitative advantage over other Arab states," said Olmert, whose approval ratings have sunk to single digits amid continuing anger at his government's handling of last summer's Lebanon war. Current US defence aid to Israel stands at 2.4 billion dollars a year. The two countries are increasingly alarmed by Iran's nuclear ambitions -- which have already incurred international economic sanctions. Olmert last met Bush at the White House on June 19, when a senior Israeli government source said the new aid scheme was decided upon. "We understand the United States' desire to help moderate states which stand at a united front with the United States and Israel in the struggle against Iran," Olmert told the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. A senior US defence official has said that Washington is readying a major arms package for Saudi Arabia with an eye to countering the changing threat from Tehran, Israel's arch foe and determined to press a nuclear agenda. The Pentagon provided no details on the package, reportedly totalling 20 billion dollars over the next decade, but officials said it will include new weapons for the United Arab Emirates, and military and economic support to Egypt. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, a member of Olmert's centrist Kadima party, dismissed any suggestion that the region was entering a new arms race, in light of the prospective US arms deal in the Gulf and the US hike to Israel. "This is not an arms race. The weaponry is constantly improving but Israel remains vigilant to possesses advanced weapons and that it keeps its edge over other states," he told reporters. Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog, from the centre-left Labour party, said that it was essential to maintain Israel's armed advantage against the "axis of evil" -- coined by Bush in 2002 in reference to Iran, Iraq and North Korea. "We are at the forefront of moderate states facing the axis of evil. Sustaining Israel's military superiority is an essential element of the ties between Israel and the United States," he told reporters. A senior Israeli government source said that under the 10-year defence package, the United States agreed to sell the Jewish state the new generation F-35 fighter jet, advanced bombs and laser-guided missiles. US defence aid to Israel began in 1973 but a regular 10-year aid plan -- with the previous one expiring this summer -- was institutionalised in 1977 as part of the Egypt-Israel peace agreement, the official said. The military aid is made up of 75 percent US military hardware, ranging from ammunition to warplanes, with the other 25 percent in cash, which goes mainly towards securing new Israeli-made weapons. But although Uri Bar-Joseph, an Israeli professor of international relations specialising in security concerns, said the news arms deal looked like an achievement for Israel, he questioned whether more cash and sophisticated weaponry could fight "terrorism". "The security problems of Israel are not security problems that demand more tanks or more sophisticated airplanes... Sophistication and modern arms don't help when it comes to terrorism," he told AFP. The New York Times reported in April that the US-Gulf arms package had been delayed because of Israeli concerns over the sale to Saudi Arabia of certain precision guided munitions. ************ July 30, 2007 SouthAmerica: Headline news around the world will read as follows in a matter of months â how many months I donât know it can be 9 months or 24 months â at the end of the day it does not matter since the final outcome it will be the same. âHistory repeats itself â after another defeat this time in Iraq, finally the last American helicopter has lifted from the rooftop of the US embassy in Baghdad reminding all of us of Vietnam just a few decades agoâ¦â Sunni Arab nations including Saudi Arabia are bankrolling Sunni militants on their efforts in trying to survive the Iraq civil war. Probably without the Saudi Arabiaâs assistance the Iraqi Sunnis would have been slaughtered by the Shia-led, US-backed government in Baghdad⦠************ âRice, Gates make key Middle East tripâ (AFP) News - 30 July 2007 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bushâs defence chief and top diplomat head Monday on a vital mission to the Middle East to seek Arab support for Iraq and discuss weapons sales to regional allies. Amid growing calls at home to withdraw US forces in Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and defence chief Robert Gates were also expected to reaffirm US commitment to regional security against possible threats from Iran and its nuclear program. In addition, Washington is expected to underline concerns that some Sunni Arab nations are offering financial aid to foreign fighters fuelling the insurgency against the fragile Shia-led, US-backed government in Baghdad. On the trip, Rice and Gates will make rare joint visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia before separate trips to other parts of the region. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, complained Sunday that some neighbors of Iraq, including Saudi Arabia, were undermining efforts to stabilize the war-ravaged nation. Khalilzad acknowledged on CNN that he was also referring to Saudi Arabia when he wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times last week that âSeveral of Iraqâs neighbours â not only Syria and Iran but also some friends of the United States â are pursuing destabilizing policies.â âYes, well, there is no question that ... Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq,â Khalilzad, the former US ambassador to Iraq, told the US news network. Washington is particularly concerned that its most powerful Sunni Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, is bankrolling Sunni militants and serving as a conduit for them to stoke the insurgency in Iraq. Aside from Saudi Arabia, foreign fighters flowing into Iraq via US arch-enemy Syria come from Qatar and Yemen, among other Middle East allies, US officials said earlier this week. Gates and Rice will âdiscuss the ways in which Iraqâs neighbours can help advance the cause of security and stability in that country,â State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. The duo âare going to be talking to the Saudis as well as others about what they might doâ in supporting the Iraqi government, not only on the security front but also diplomatically and financially, McCormack said. .
. July 30, 2007 SouthAmerica: $ 30 billion dollars in military aid â for a country smaller than New Jersey â and about $ 8 billion dollars of this aid it is in cash For a country with a GDP of around $ 140 billion dollars â why make peace in the area and risk losing the free ride. Israel government annual budget is around $50 billion dollars including defense spending of around $ 10.5 billion dollars. You donât have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that a large part of the defense spending from the Israeli government annual budget goes to pay salary for the soldiers, pensions, health care, maintenance of arsenal including the nuclear arms and so onâ¦. After all these normal expenses related to defense spending there is not much money left to increase the Israeli destruction capabilities. That is where the US military aid comes handy â and most of the bombs, guided missiles, and god knows what else that have been killing thousands of people in the Gaza strip, in Lebanon and so on â the carnage and death toll in that area comes with the compliments of the United States government â and all these deadly weapons have the label âMade in USAâ. Israel have been receiving military aid from the United States since 1973 â adjusted for inflation and in terms of current dollars probably the United States have invested over $200 billion dollars in military aid to Israel during the period 1973 â 2007. The American investments in military aid to Israel during all these years are paying great dividends just look around in that area of the world â Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Iraq and so on⦠And we usually use âEnronâ as an example of what looks like a bad investment. What would have happened if instead of giving all this military aid to Israel during all these years if the money had been invested instead in education, and a Marshall plan to help lift all boats in that area of the world? I donât blame the Israelis from wanting to keep the gravy train coming. ********* "In my last meeting with the president of the United States, we agreed that the aid would stand at 30 billion dollars over the next 10 years, meaning over three billion dollars a year, starting next year," Olmert said. â¦The military aid is made up of 75 percent US military hardware, ranging from ammunition to warplanes, with the other 25 percent in cash, which goes mainly towards securing new Israeli-made weapons.â â¦US defence aid to Israel began in 1973 but a regular 10-year aid plan -- with the previous one expiring this summer -- was institutionalised in 1977 as part of the Egypt-Israel peace agreement, the official said. .