Bush’s
Twenty-Billion Dollar
Arms Sale To Saudi Arabia
Scuttled By The Israel Lobby
By James Petras
29 November, 2007
James
Petras Site
The
debate on which forces determine US Middle East policy has cut across
the usual political spectrum: On one side most neo-conservative and
progressive writers, academics and journalists argue that the military-industrial
complex and Big Oil interests are the most influential forces shaping
US policy.
On the other, a small group
of conservative and leftist writers and a few academics have identified
what some call the Israel or Zionist Lobby and others refer to the Zionist
Power Configuration (ZPC) as the prevailing influence in deciding US
strategic policies in the Middle East.
While the debate rages over
who and what interests got us into the Iraq war and the escalating confrontation
with Iran, there is no better test of conflicting positions than the
proposed US sale of $20 billion dollars of military equipment to Saudi
Arabia.
The Pentagon led by Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates agreed to the sale; it was backed by President
Bush, Vice President Cheney and at least tacitly by the entire executive
branch, including the National Security Council. All of the biggest
US, European and Asian multi-national petroleum companies, refiners
and importers were in favor of upgrading the military defensive capacity
of the world’s biggest oil producer, since hundreds of billions
in commercial and financial profits are transacted there every year.
The US Middle East Command (CENTCOM) with major air bases and strategic
logistic support systems in Saudi Arabia could not but support Saudi
acquisition of a defensive high-tech air reconnaissance system.
Saudi Arabia is the most
reliable and biggest single supplier of petroleum to the US world-wide.
Saudi Arabia has been a staunch ally of the US – more like a client
state -- in all the US military and surrogate wars and interventions
from the co-financing of anti-Soviet Muslim fundamentalist in Afghanistan,
the attack on Yugoslavia and support of break-away Bosnia and Kosovo,
to the two Gulf Wars and present confrontation with Iran, to its opposition
of each and every Arab nationalist or leftist regime over the past 60
years. From the perspective of US imperial interests, dominance and
influence in Asia, the Balkans and especially the Middle East, one would
thing that a military sale worth $20 billion dollars to the Saudi monarchy
would be automatically and overwhelmingly approved by the US Congress.
This is especially the case
because a $20 billion dollar sale will generate thousands of new jobs
and will lessen the huge trade deficit. At the recent OPEC meeting,
the Saudis strongly opposed dumping hundreds of billions of depreciating
dollars they currently hold as foreign reserves – or even discussing
the matter.
There is no greater contrast
from the point of view of costs-benefit in comparing Saudi Arabia to
Israel. The latter is subsidized by the US, which has given over $120
billion dollars over the last 30 years while it competes, as the second
largest arms exporter, with the US-military industrial complex thus
costing American jobs and supplies absolutely no strategic materials
to the US economy. Indeed Israel has direct access to the most up-to-date
US funded military technology, which it then sells to its clients. This
is in stark contrast to Saudi Arabia’s servile relation with the
US. Israel has constantly demanded and received US support and financing
for its wars, its illegal colonization of Palestinian land and has unwavering
US support for its repudiation of international law and numerous violations
of United Nations mandates. While Saudi Arabia supports the US economy
and is a strategic supplier of petroleum, Israel drains the US economy
and secures its petroleum from it. Beginning in early 2007, the entire
Zionist power configuration (ZPC) mobilized to block the US arms and
military technology sales to Saudi Arabia. Zionist pressure was so intense
and its control over Congress was so evident to the White House and
Pentagon that Defense Secretary Gates did not even try to counter the
ZPC’s campaign in the US Congress. Instead he went straight to
the ZPC’s control center in Israel and not with empty hands. He
pleaded with Israel to call of its American attack dogs in exchange
for a ‘donation’ of over $30 billion dollars in US military
handouts to Israel over the next ten years. Olmert accepted Gates offer:
The US had paid the price but still the ZPC did not turn over their
hostage Congress. President Bush and Secretary Gates were convinced
that Israel would muzzle the Presidents of the Major American Jewish
Organizations to allow the Saudi sale to go through. This did not happen.
Why should it? President Bush could not withdraw the well-publicized
pay-off to Israel; it was already in the legislative books. He could
not retaliate – the ZPC-controlled Congress would oppose any and
all counter measures.
So Bush and Gates went ahead
and sent the bill to Congress authorizing the $20 billion sales to Saudi
Arabia, a trillion dollar economy with a two-bit military wholly dependent
on its US military protector.
Immediately the ZPC rounded
up its automatic 190 members of the House of Representatives to sign
a letter opposing the sale. The ZPC formulated the position embodied
in the letter and oversaw its draft with the collaboration of its co-religionists
in Congress. Zionist Congress members Shelley Berkeley and Anthony Weiner
teamed up with Michael Ferguson. The Zion-Cons claimed justifiably that
they could mobilize over three quarters of the Congress on any issue
affecting Israel’s ‘security’. Zionist lawmakers claimed,
“the sale would undermine Israel’s superiority in the region”.
Every major independent military think tank would dispute this argument
since Israel is the only nuclear power in the region, has the biggest
and most technologically sophisticated air force and missile system,
while Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf States have trouble even controlling
local ground level bomb throwers.
There are two likely outcomes
both demonstrating categorically that it is the ZPC that dictates US
policies in the Middle East:
The military sales will not
fly.
The military sale will be
approved on conditions that Israel is privy to all its details and can
modify or omit any part of the agreement.
The ZPC was even able to
strong arm the Congress-people who have made a lifelong career out of
aggressively promoting the interests of Big Oil (BO) and the Military
Industrial Complex (MIC) to switch sides and vote against the sale of
weapons to Saudi Arabia – BO’s strategic partner and the
MIC’s best overseas customer. Congress members from BO states
like Texas and states with large military industries like California
endorsed the ZPC letter prejudicing their constituents and big campaign
financers. The feeble ‘lobbying’ by BO and the MIC in favor
of the White House were crushed by the ZPC Congressional juggernaut.
The major trade unions of
the AFL-CIO, like the steel workers, machinists, oil and chemical workers,
electrical workers – whose members’ jobs were at stake,
did not protest, let alone challenge the ZPC, demonstrating the high
degree of Zionist influence over the trade union bosses. The obvious
point is that the Congress and the ZFL-CIO are both Zionist colonized
institutions.
The issue is not whether
the US should or should not sell arms to Saudi Arabia (I oppose all
arms sales and the MIC and BO around the world). The fundamental issue
is whether we, the citizens, the elected representatives and the trade
unionists in the United States, can be free of foreign colonization
to decide the issue. The issue is whether we are or can be a free and
independent nation or a subject of a tiny powerful elite acting for
a foreign power.
The narrative on the US proposed
multi-billion dollar arms sales to a wealthy third rate military power
demonstrates once again that Israeli interests have priority over US
trade, jobs and geopolitical interests. Secondly the narrative confirms
that the Israeli state dictates US political relations in the Middle
East through its US conduit – the ZPC. Finally it refutes the
Zionist geo-politicians and ‘oil’ and ‘military experts’
who cover up for the ZPC by falsely blaming Big Oil for policies they
oppose because it prejudices their strategic partnership.
By blackmail and deceit,
the Israelis got their additional $30 billion dollars over the next
ten years and they double-crossed ‘their’ president by unleashing
their Fifth Column to block his military sales to the Saudis. And if
Bush dares a complaint, he will be added to the list of ‘anti-Semites’
– the only honorable list in his entire 8 years in office.
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