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http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/updates/011907.html Updates from the ARMS TRADE RESOURCE CENTER PAKISTAN: Taliban and Al Qaeda Presence Grows, Government Indifference Continues William D. Hartung, Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute Martin Smith of PBS Frontline has produced an excellent documentary on Pakistan's continuing unwillingness/inability to control Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives in its tribal areas, which are composed of seven districts that run for a 500-mile stretch along the Afghan/Pakistan border. He offers incontrovertible evidence of collaboration and support for these forces by Pakistan's intelligence service (ISI), not to mention at least on Pakistani general. Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has resisted taking military action against Taliban and Al Qaeda elements for fear of alienating religious parties in Pakistan that support these fundamentalist extremists. Not only has this mix of indifference to and outright collaboration with the Taliban been met with little more than rhetoric by the Bush administration, but Pakistan has received over $5 billion in U.S. assistance since 9/11. Major arms deals like a $5 billion sale of F-16 combat aircraft and advanced AMRAAM air-to-air missiles are in the works as well. A transcript and tape of the documentary, "Return of the Taliban," are available at http://www.pbs.org, along with a variety of supplementary resource materials. ----------- BLAIR 86s ARMS SCANDAL PROBE Frida Berrigan, Research Associate, World Policy Institute It sounded like a great scandal. The UK's largest weapons manufacturer pursues a multi-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia known by the Arabic word for Dove-- Al Yamamaha. The wooing of Princes seems to include James-Bond-worthy elements like bribes, inflated prices, offshore bank accounts, and millions for a slush fund to pay for prostitutes, high stakes gambling junkets, fast yachts and hot sports cars. All the dots were being doggedly connected by the UK's Serious Fraud Office. A new breakthrough in the form of a box of documents from the Swiss officials, including print outs of BAE's off shore banking transactions with Saudi middlemen just materialized. And thenÂ…. a brick wall. Prime Minister Tony Blair announces that there will be no more investigating. He asserted that the investigation was creating "ill feeling" with critical allies, and noted that "our relationship is vitally important for our country in terms of the broader Middle East and in terms of helping in respect to Israel/ Palestine and strategic interest comes first." There was also the matter that the Saudis were frustrated enough with the investigation to intimate that they would seek advanced fighter planes elsewhere. BAE is close to sealing a $11.6 billion deal to sell up to 72 Eurofighter planes to the Saudi Kingdom. For its part, BAE cooperated with the investigation, maintained its innocence, and flogged the idea that if they lost the Saudi deal it would cost 100,000 British jobs. The implications of the thwarted investigation are far reachingÂ… Siemens AG-a major German based energy and engineering company with extensive military contracts-is under investigation by German, Italian and Swiss prosecutors for its elaborate web of offshore bank accounts and possible bribes to potential customers. Here is in the United States members of Congress, the Pentagon's Inspector General and other government agencies have been hot on the trail of fraud, waste and mismanagement in Iraq reconstruction contracts. Could these investigations be vulnerable to the same calculations that seem to have been made by UK leaders-- the dangers of lost jobs, lost revenue and embarrassment (and potential alienation) of key political allies in the war on terrorism (however overstated) are more important than the law. BAE is not just a British company. It is (and becoming even more so) a major player in weapons manufacturing in the United States. About one-third of its $30.2 billion in 2005 sales came from United States, and the company bought U.S. defense company United Defense Industries-which makes the Bradley fighting vehicle among other key systems-- in June 2005. And Saudi Arabia doesn't just deal with the UK. According to a recent New York Times article, the kingdom has placed $14 billion worth of arms orders in the past five years, including major deals with the United States, and last summer the Pentagon announced the possible the sale of $5.8 billion dollars worth of major defense equipment (to support the "modernization of the Saudi Arabian National Guard," including 724 light armored vehicles, 4,504 long- range and handheld radio systems, 2,132 night vision goggles, 630 thermal weapon sight, 162 recoilless rifles, and other military equipment. 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