WMDs are good business

and, after all, the business of the united states IS business... never mind that a great deal of that business is arms sales... wars, death and destruction are hugely profitable... god help us all if peace breaks out...

meanwhile, just listen to that cash register ring... ka-CHING...!

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.

the u.s. not only sells arms to allies, we sell arms to ANYBODY who will buy, even if it's a developing country already involved in conflict...


Global arms deliveries in 2005

The United States last year provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions -- many already engaged in conflict -- grew to the highest level in eight years, new US government figures show.

According to the annual assessment, the United States supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries in 2005 -- 45.8 percent of the total and far more than second-ranked Russia with 15 percent and Britain with a little more than 13 percent.

[...]

The United States, for instance, also signed an estimated $6.2 billion worth of new deals last year [2005] to sell attack helicopters, missiles, and other armaments to developing nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Developing nations are designated as all those except in North America, Western Europe, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition to weapons already delivered, new contracts for future weapons deliveries topped $44 billion last year -- the highest overall since 1998, according to the report. Nearly 70 percent of them were designated for developing nations.

it would be nice if more people realized that the backbone of the u.s. economy involves the manufacture and sales of arms... if somebody is killed by violence anywhere in the world, the odds are great it will be done with a u.s.-made weapon...

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