Pak F-16 Bill presented July 13, 2006 WTF!!!

[101Scout]

Well Well Well... isn't that just peachy? Lets further arm a terrorist nation with beaucoup fighter jets and munitions!! This package may include up to 32 new fighter jets and upgrades for the existing 34 fighter jets that Pakistan already has that we know of. Plus another package that includes 26 used figher jets. Therefore, this Bill concerns/covers approx 100 fighter jets for Pakistan under this Bill that BushCo presents tomorrow July 13, 2006.

India is not happy with this deal. Gee I wonder why? India will probably not forget who supplied their troublesome neighbor with such aerial firepower. What's BushCo's thinking with this? Promoting good foreign relations in Asia and the Middle East? They expecting something soon? Another invasion possibly? Someone maybe like Iran? India? Caucuses region?

:confused0006[1]:


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US Congress to take up Pak F-16 Bill on July 13

Washington, July 4: The Bush Administration will present a bill regarding its plan to sell Pakistan F-16 fighters in a deal worth five billion dollars before Congress for approval on July 13.

According to reports, Pakistan would get 18 new F-16 aircraft with an option to purchase another 18 new planes, a support package for up to 26 used F-16s, a munitions package, an upgrade package for Pakistan's current fleet of 34 F-16s if the US Congress approves the deal.

The US Congress usually approves such bills within a month. A US State Department spokesman said that the deal is a part of a long-term US-Pakistan cooperative arrangement.

The Bush administration had notified the US Congress of the plan on June 28.

The latest development on the F-16 deal vis-a-vis Pakistan comes a day after New Delhi expressed its grave concern over Washington going ahead with the sale of the state-of-the art fighter aircraft to Islamabad.

[TheBoss(DCA)]

You know maybe we should forget about impeachment talks, if we get the Chimp and his republican lead congress to simply not touch anything for the remainder of his term? God how much more can the gop screw up is beyond me.

[101Scout]

My God ..... look at this package!!!!



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House panel defers hearing on F-16 deal with Pakistan

Indo-Asian News Service

Washington, July 13, 2006


A key panel of the US House of Representatives has postponed a hearing to review the $5.1 billion arms package, including F-16 aircraft and weapons systems, offered to Pakistan for America's global war on terror.

The 50-member House Committee on International Relations, headed by Republican chairman Henry Hyde, was due to hear John Hillen, the State Department's Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, Thursday on the deal notified by the Pentagon on June 28.

Unless stopped by Congress within 30 days, Pakistan will get 36 new F-16C/D fighter aircraft, 200 sidewinder missiles, 200 air-to-air missiles, 500 kits for ground-attack satellite-guided bombs and 36 advanced pilot helmets that can display targeting information on the visor.



But reports suggest that some lawmakers have raised objections to the Bush administration's bid to push America's largest arms deal with Islamabad without due consultations with the US Congress.



Among other things, legislators are concerned about how Pakistan intends to ensure that its long-time ally China will not have access to advanced US technology and whether there has been any diversion of such technology already in Pakistani hands.

Also complicating the matter is a new report by Congressional Research Service, Congress's analytical arm, that the single-engine Block 50/52 Falcon being sold to Pakistan is the most modern F-16 flown by the United States and may be better suited to air-to-air combat against India than fighting terrorists.

[Coastie]

This is not about "aid" to Pakistan - or India - or any of our clients/aid recipients. It is a direct transfer from the US Treasury to Lockheed-Martin Corp. (corporate headquarters- Bethesda, MD) and the aircraft are assembled in Ft. Worth TX.

This is a local political payoff - most military aid programs are payoffs to Congress critters with defense plants in their districts.

When I was in college I learned that military aid programs were really make work programs for techies and defense contractors.

[101Scout]

Concerning Lockheed Martin Corp's best Republican interest. :evil: Big Corp Amerika... strongly connected in NeoCon DC!


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10/11/04; Vol. 19 No. 14

The Money Trail: Contractors lean to the right


President George W. Bush will be a shoo-in for the November election if the largest federal IT companies and their employees get their way.

As a group, these contractors in overwhelming numbers are supporting President Bush and other Republican candidates with their campaign contributions, with 62 percent of their total donations going to the GOP and 38 percent to the Democrats, according to an analysis prepared for Washington Technology by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group that tracks campaign contributions.


Following Verizon on the list of top contributors are defense giants Northrop Grumman Corp. ($1.6 million), Lockheed Martin Corp. ($1.5 million), Boeing Co. ($1.4 million) and General Dynamics Corp. ($1.3 million).

Although companies and their employees might give purely for ideological reasons, they also want to win support on policies and legislation that affect their businesses. And government contractors want to court the good will of lawmakers who control spending on their projects.


Not surprisingly, the next four largest contributors are defense companies.

Northrop Grumman, the second largest overall contributor, “supports those who support strong national defense,” said Thomas Henson, the company’s manager of media relations.

Lockheed Martin, the third largest donor, looks at five criteria when determining whether to give money to the Democrats or Republicans, said Steve Chaudet, the company’s vice president of state and local government affairs. The company considers a candidate’s position on national defense, high tech issues and broad-based business issues.

In addition, the company considers whether a lawmaker represents a district in which the company has a facility or in which employees reside, and whether incumbent candidates sit on oversight committees that have jurisdiction over areas of interest to the company, Chaudet said.

[The_Bammo]

This is not about "aid" to Pakistan - or India - or any of our clients/aid recipients. It is a direct transfer from the US Treasury to Lockheed-Martin Corp. (corporate headquarters- Bethesda, MD) and the aircraft are assembled in Ft. Worth TX.

This is a local political payoff - most military aid programs are payoffs to Congress critters with defense plants in their districts.

When I was in college I learned that military aid programs were really make work programs for techies and defense contractors.

Whats your oppinion on the above Coastie?

Think its time to change this BS or what, hell you learned about it in college!

Is this BS right and what makes it right if you think its just?

Hang Tough~

[jARRRRhead]

India is not happy with this deal.

India's not happy with this deal? We'll sell them F18 Superhornets. Problem solved.

/obvious sarcasm

[101Scout]

Duuuuuuhhhh ...... but's lets arm them to the teeth so we can later fight against those very arms!!

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Despite the smiles, there is growing concern over Pakistan's role



Pakistan control

There is no doubt that Gen Musharraf has risked much, including his own life, by siding with the US post 9/11. But there is now a clear difference of perception between Kabul and the West over Pakistan's role in the militancy.

US President George W Bush with Pakistan's Gen Musharraf in Islamabad
Despite the smiles, there is growing concern over Pakistan's role
The West believes Pakistan must try harder to control cross-border militancy.

Kabul believes Islamabad already has control of the militant groups but is simply turning a blind eye to their actions. The question, though, that will be worrying both Kabul and the Western powers most is who organised the war council at Barawal Bandey?

Who is attempting to pull together the various disparate anti-Karzai and anti-Western groups to a single focused entity?

The people who will probably bear the brunt of any increased violence from this coalition of militant groups are not the Western troops, but the newly-formed Afghan National Army (ANA).

They are disciplined and dedicated and the local people trust them. But they are very badly equipped. Ironically during the Soviet war some of the ANA soldiers would have fought along side those they now seek to hunt down.