-Caveat Lector- >From SMH http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/22/israeliweapons.htm
}}}>Begin Israeli weapons bear an embarrassing label: made in USA By Paul McGeough March 23 2002 British objections to the use of British-supplied weapons in Israel's latest military push against the Palestinians have focused new attention on the United States' reluctance to restrain Israel's use of the multi-billion-dollar, high-tech arms it sells to the Jewish state each year. The US is embarrassed by the high profile given to some of its machinery in the occupied territories - particularly its F-16 fighter jets, in missile strikes against police stations and other public buildings, and its Apache attack helicopters, in Israel's controversial campaign to assassinate Palestinian militants. But the Administration has refused to go public with its growing unease over the use of US weaponry, in what the UN Secretary- General, Kofi Annan, now calls an "all- out conventional war" on Palestinian civilians. But last week Britain revealed that in 2000 it had extracted a written assurance from Israel that no military equipment originating from Britain would be used in the occupied territories. The revelation was sparked when a British diplomat stationed in the Middle East recognised an Israeli armoured personnel carrier as a modified Centurion tank, which Britain had supplied to Israel up until 1970. Now Britain is demanding an explanation from the Israelis. Last year an unnamed US State Department spokesman told The Independent in London that at some point Washington would have to make a call on whether the Israelis were in breach of a stipulation in the Arms Export Control Act that weapons sold could be used only for "legitimate self-defence" - but yesterday a department spokeswoman would not tell the Herald if the issue had advanced. Israel is one of the biggest buyers of US arms, and much of the trade is financed with the $US2 billion a year it gets from Washington in military aid. Its arsenal includes dozens of US helicopters (AH 64As, AH 1Fs, AH 1Gs); hundreds of tanks (M-60s) and armoured personnel carriers; and the biggest fleet of American fighter aircraft outside the US (F-15s, F-16s, F-4s and A-4s). A US-based lobby group, the Palestinian Monitor, says the US should act against Israel because of its "consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognised human rights" and, in particular, killings carried out by its airborne assassination squads. However, the argument that the US was refusing to put pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians was laughed at by one of the US's top authorities on the Israeli military, Anthony Cordesman, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Told by the Herald about the assurance won from Israel by the British, he said: "Someone has to be joking. This kind of contract clause is a joke in the weapons trade. If you think you can tightly control weapons after you have sold them, then you're living in fantasy land ... "People in this trade make a lot of promises for face-saving purposes. There are provisions in international law on not using weapons on civilians, but defining civilians in a low-level war like this one can be an academic exercise." But on the ground, the Israeli choice of US weapons does make a difference. After the Israelis launched a US-built TOW missile in a helicopter attack on a Gaza police station last year, a staff member who survived confronted an American visitor. "This is what your country is doing," he said, holding up a part of the missile carrying the words "made in the USA". He reportedly went on: "We hate the Israelis for this ... but we hate America more." This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/ 22/israeliweapons.htm End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om