July 23rd, 2006
The American Taxpayer Pays For 20% Of Israel’s Military
When you’re hearing and reading about the dead Lebanonese civilians, remember than your tax dollars helped to pay for their deaths even though it’s not our soldiers pulling the trigger. Keep that in mind when you hear about the trapped and dead Americans caught in the conflict too.
- “Almost all of the weapons used by Israel are from the United States. There might be a couple French fighter planes that they’re using, but its F-16s made in Fort Worth, Texas; its Apache helicopters; its Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles; it’s all from the United States.”
- There has been no real “discussion of the fact that all of the Israeli arsenal is from the United States, and that that is in contravention to U.S. law. to the Arms Export Control Act, which says that U.S.-origin weapons are only to be used for self-defense and for internal security.”
- “Israel has always been the largest recipient of military aid from the United States, [and] that that’s actually increased since 2001.”
- “Military aid stands at about $3 billion a year. That’s about $500 for every Israeli citizen that the United States provides on an annual basis. And then, weapons sales, most recently, since the Bush administration came into power, we’re looking at $6.3 billion worth of weaponry sold to Israel.”
- “…essentially the United States provides 20% of the Israeli military budget on an annual basis, and then about 70% of that money that is given from the United States, from U.S. taxpayers, to Israel is then spent on weapons from Lockheed Martin and Boeing and Raytheon. Most other countries don’t have that sort of cash relationship, where they go straight to U.S. corporations with U.S. money to buy weapons that are then used in the Occupied Territories and against Lebanon.”
- “In 1981, the last time there was a full-on invasion by the Israeli government into Lebanon, the Reagan administration cut military aid and froze weapons sales to Israel, while it did an investigation of whether or not the weapons were being used for self-defensive and internal security purposes.”
tags: Middle East, Israel, American taxpayer, Lebanon
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on July 23, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Big Dog said:
And all of Hezbollah’s money and weapons come from Iran and Syria. What is the point?
How many dead Americans are there again?
I keep missing the point….
I did not see you mention the dead Israelis. Could it be you do not care about them. Remember, Hezbollah is lobbing rockets in and does not know where they will land. Their goal is to kill civilians. I missed where you mentioned how Hezbollah (you know, the terrorist organization) sent leaflets into Israel and asked the civilians to leave so they would not get hurt.
I remember Israel doing that. So, which one is trying to limit civilian casualties. The difference is, Hezbollah is just not that good when compared to Israel.
Keep in mind, if the UN would have done its job AND Hezbollah would not have invaded Israel and taken dsoldiers hostage, this would not be going on right now. If Lebanon wants to stop this they can persuade Hezbollah to disarm and give back the kidnapped soldiers.
on July 23, 2006 at 7:17 pm
n. mallory said:
I care about the dead Israelis. However, the proportion of dead Israeli civilians killed by the Lebonese government to dead Lebanonese civilians killed by the Israeli government is quite a bit different.
Oh, wait. That’s right. The Lebanonese government isn’t killing any Israelis. They’re caught in the cross-fire.
I imagine Hezbollah listens to Lebanon about as much as it listens to Israel and the UN.
And I have no patience for a country that, yes, warns a whole town to get out, and then bombs the town and all the exit routes. What sort of sick game is that? Where are those people supposed to go? How are they supposed to survive? Talk about overkill.
And as several people across the net have asked, what’s the point of bombing Beruit? What’s the point of bombing the Christian areas?
Trust me, I care about every life lost, but it’s the complete imbalance of the situation and the insanity of attacking a country that is not supplying the terrorist organization and has no control over it. It’s like attacking Iraq to go after al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
And besides, what fact did I present in the post that was false? It is our tax payers that are funding the Israeli military. It’s our tax dollars that paid for the weapons that are killing those Lebanonese civilians.
That’s quite a lot of money going to another country’s military. I’d really rather it going to “No Child Left Behind” or even a National Healthcare program. I’d like to see that money used constructively to help people rather than kill people.
on July 23, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Big Dog said:
Without the support idiots like the Iranian President would invade Israel and wipe them off the map.Israel only bombed roads that would be used to take their soldoers out and bring new supplies in. People can go north. However, most of the Lebanese you talk about support Hezbollah (those in the South overwhelmingly support Hezbollah).
We spend billions more money on stupid pork projects in the US. We support our allies and they get moeny from us. Hell, we give money to many of the other countries in the region. That is where your tax dollars are wasted.
I would rather have tax money protect our interests and that includes Israel. Loss of life is tragic but how long did you expect the Israelis to sit around while Hezbollah lobbed rockets in? As for the proportion of dead. It would be a lot higher if Hezbollah had better weapons because they target civilians. Secondly, Hezbollah keeps weapons in private homes and it hangs around with the local population (who support it). If they are with Hezbollah, they can expect to get bombed.
It is tragic when people die (you still did not tell me how many Americans died) but the UN and Lebanon had 6 years to get it right. Israel has had enough.
on July 23, 2006 at 8:05 pm
n. mallory said:
Well, so far, CNN ha confirmed one American dead, a woman photo journalist who was killed in a taxi this morning.
However, there are Americans would were in the Southern part of Lebananon visiting relatives when this started who have not been accounted for as of yet. Their families haven’t heard from them. The US is preparing for the possibility of having to go in to attempt to extract Americans in that area once they begin contacting them.
on July 23, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Big Dog said:
Though I heard the journalist was from another country it does not fit in with this
Keep that in mind when you hear about the trapped and dead Americans caught in the conflict too.
She was there doing her job and got killed. She probably could have left easier than anyone.
As for unaccounted, they could be anywhere and not dead. We will have to wait and see. I guess the military is waiting too long to extract them as well? I wonder if the people would complain about paying for a ticket out?
Any way, the blame for this is on the terrorists. The Lebanese Hezbollah. They started it and Israel is tired of the mess. Who can blame them?
BTW, it will cost billions to rebuild Lebanon. Should US money be used for that? We did not cause the damage so should we pay for it?
on July 23, 2006 at 8:39 pm
n. mallory said:
Actually, I think Israel should pay for the rebuilding since Israel did the destroying.
I’m generally pretty consistant about that.
Personally, I think that Israel should have focused on the countries supplying the terrorists with the weapons; cut off the supply first, but that’s me.
As for the military going into the Southern area, I don’t think they’re moving too slow there, no. They are waiting on orders and I respect that they are facing the issue of crossfire. I was very impressed with the officer they interviewed this morning on CNN who seemed very determined and certain of himself and the mission to rescue Americans caught in the crossfire in the South. He was the first person in any leadership role over there that didn’t seem to just be spouting rhetoric and seemed to have an understanding of what was actually going on. I wish I’d caught his name, but I wasn’t quite awake when I was listening at that point.
on July 23, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Big Dog said:
Just to clear it up, the reason they bombed all the roads leading into Syria is to cut off the supply routes.
I think Iran should pay to rebuild. They finance Hezbollah and Hezbollah started the fight (on orders from Iran).
Israel should worry about paying for its own repairs.
on July 23, 2006 at 9:36 pm
n. mallory said:
Then they should have bombed Iran. That would have made sense.
I just don’t understand why no one ever seems to be interested in going to the source. It’s like doctors treating the symptom rather than treating the disease.
on July 23, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Big Dog said:
Wow, are you actually endorsing preemptive strikes?
You will get no argument from me there. Iran and Syria should be dust right now. I would love to see us take out all of Iran’s nuclear facilities and military capability. Syria has all of Hussein’s chemical weapons so we need to be careful there.
on July 24, 2006 at 6:33 am
n. mallory said:
OK First of all, I didn’t say “us”. After all, this is clearly Israel’s terrorist issue.
I’ve always been for the U.S. to go after the source of our own terrorist issues. I was for the invasion in Afghanistan for example. I have been disappointed in the failure to complete that mission. It’s clear that we did not get Osama who was the mastermind and source of the attacks of our terrorist issue. It’s becoming evident in Afghanistan no that the Taliban is restrengthening which means we need to refocus our energies there.
I am not in favor of preemptive strikes on countries that aren’t actually attacking us at the time, no.
I think the case with Lebanon and Hezballah is complex. I do think Israel is overreacting. I think they should go after the source, but that’s my opinion.