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2 DISPATCHES FROM
AMERICA Arab Spring or same old
thing? By Nick Turse
If
you follow the words, one Middle East comes into
view; if you follow the weapons, quite another.
This week, the words will take center
stage. On Thursday, according to administration
officials, President Barack Obama will "reset"
American policy in the Middle East with a
major address offering a comprehensive look at the
Arab Spring, "a unified theory about the popular
uprisings from Tunisia to Bahrain", and possibly a
new administration approach to the region.
In the meantime, all signs indicate that
the Pentagon will quietly
maintain antithetical
policies, just as it has throughout the Obama
years. Barring an unprecedented and almost
inconceivable policy shift, it will continue to
broker lucrative deals to send weapons systems and
military equipment to Arab despots. Nothing
indicates that it will be deterred from its
course, whatever the president says, which means
that Obama's reset rhetoric is unlikely to
translate into meaningful policy change in the
region.
For months now, the world has
watched as protesters have taken to the streets
across the Middle East to demand a greater say in
their lives. In Tunisia and Egypt, they toppled
decades-old dictatorships. In Bahrain and Yemen,
they were shot down in the streets as they
demanded democracy. In the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, they called for
reforms, free speech, and basic rights, and ended
up bloodied and often in jail cells. In Iraq, they
protested a lack of food and jobs, and in response
got bullets and beatings.
As the world
watched, trained eyes couldn't help noticing
something startling about the tools of repression
in those countries. The armored personnel
carriers, tanks, and helicopters used to
intimidate or even kill peaceful protesters were
often American models.
For decades, the US
has provided military aid, facilitated the sale of
weaponry, and transferred vast quantities of arms
to a host of Middle Eastern despots. Arming Arab
autocrats, however, isn't only the work of
presidents past. A TomDispatch analysis of
Pentagon documents finds that the Obama
administration has sought to send billions of
dollars in weapons systems - from advanced
helicopters to fighter jets - to the very regimes
that have beaten, jailed, and killed pro-democracy
demonstrators, journalists, and reform activists
throughout the Arab Spring.
The
administration's abiding support for the
militaries of repressive regimes calls into
question the president's rhetoric about change.
The arms deals of recent years also shed light on
the shadowy, mutually supportive relationships
among the US military, top arms dealers, and Arab
states that are of increasing importance to the
Pentagon.
Since the summer of 2009, Obama,
by way of the Pentagon and with State Department
approval, has regularly notified congress of his
intent to sell advanced weaponry to governments
across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Egypt,
Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and
the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under US law,
congress then has 30 days to review the sale
before the Pentagon and associated military
contractors enter into more formal contract talks
with individual nations.
In July 2009,
according to an analysis of Pentagon documents by
TomDispatch, notifications were sent to congress
regarding the sale to Kuwait of Browning machine
guns, advanced targeting systems for armored
vehicles, KC-130 aircraft, and technical support
for F/A-18 attack aircraft.
Later that
summer, the White House announced plans to outfit
both Bahrain's and Jordan's militaries with
advanced air-to-air missiles to the tune of US$74
million and $131 million, respectively, to equip
the UAE with $526 million worth of Hellfire
missiles and other materiel, to send more than $2
billion worth of advanced surveillance and
navigation equipment to aid Saudi Arabia's air
force, and to see to it that Egypt's military
received a shipment of new Chinook troop transport
helicopters and other high-tech equipment valued
at $308 million.
In the autumn of 2009,
Pentagon documents show a $220 million bid by the
administration to outfit the Jordanian military
with advanced rocket systems and tactical
vehicles, a proposed sale of advanced fighter
aircraft, parts, weapons, and equipment to Egypt
worth as much as $3.2 billion, and another to
equip Kuwait's military with $410 million in
Patriot missile technology.
Then, in
November and December of that year, congress was
notified of plans to sell helicopters to Iraq,
Javelin guided missiles to Jordan, Hellfire
missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, jet engines
and other military materiel to Egypt, and
helicopters and thousands of advanced bombs, among
other high-tech equipment, to the UAE.
Last year, notifications also went out
concerning the sale of F-16 fighters, armored
personnel carriers, tank ammunition and advanced
computer systems to Iraq, C-17 military transport
aircraft for Kuwait, mobile missile systems for
Bahrain, and Apache attack helicopters and
tactical missile systems for the United Arab
Emirates.
Saudi Arabia, however, was the
big winner by far with a blockbuster $60 billion
agreement for helicopters, fighter jets, radar
equipment, and advanced smart bombs that will
represent, if all purchases are made, the largest
foreign arms deal in American history.
Deficits and dictators The
agreement to broker the sale of tens of billions
of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia sheds
light on the Pentagon's efforts to shield itself -
and its favored arms dealers - from the shakiness
of the American economy, as well as Obama's stated
goal of trimming $400 billion from projected
national security spending of $10 trillion over
the next 12 years.
Last October, the
Pentagon started secretly lobbying financial
analysts and large institutional investors on
behalf of weapons-makers and other military
contractors. The idea was to bolster their
long-term financial viability in the face of a
possible future slowdown in Defense Department
spending.
Since then, Deputy Secretary of
Defense William Lynn and other Pentagon
powerbrokers have made regular trips to New York
City to shore up Wall Street's support for weapons
manufacturers. "We are in this for the long term.
We need industrial partners and financial backers
who think and act likewise," Lynn told investors
at a recent defense and aerospace conference in
that city.
Along with Ashton Carter, the
Pentagon's under secretary of defense for
acquisition, technology and logistics, and Brett
Lambert, the deputy assistant secretary for
industrial policy, Lynn is creating a
comprehensive plan to sustain and enrich
weapons-makers and other military contractors in
the coming years. "We're going sector by sector,
tier by tier, and our goal is to develop a
long-term policy to protect that base as we slow
defense spending," Lynn said. America's Middle
Eastern allies are seen as a significant partner
in this effort.
It's often said that the
Pentagon is a "monopsony" - that is, the only
buyer in town for its many giant contractors. As
has been amply demonstrated since Obama took
office, however, it's not true. When it comes to
the Middle East, the Pentagon acts not as a buyer,
but as a broker and shill, clearing the way for
its Middle Eastern partners to buy some of the
world's most advanced weaponry.
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