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Bush’s Twenty-Billion
Dollar Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia:
The Zionist Power Configuration
Defeats Big Oil, the Military Industrial Complex, the White
House and the Pentagon
By James Petras
12/01/07 "ICH"
--- - 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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