$56 BILLION FOR MID-EAST ARMS...AND COUNTING
"Americans pay more for a gallon of water in the grocery store than they do for a
gallon of gasoline, originally pumped in Arabia and shipped half way across the
world!"
MER - Washington - 23 Oct:
While the duplicitous "peace-makers" were doing their thing at Wye Plantation
-- alternately denouncing (in private) and applauding each other (in public) -- the
corporate arms bazaars were humming along full speed ahead.
Indeed, on the very day of the latest White House signing extravaganza, the new figures
for annual arms sales were just being published -- and 1997 was the grandest year of all
so far!
Some $56 billion, last year alone, was transferred from the struggling countries of the
Middle East to the arms merchants in the West, the bulk of it going to American arms
manufacturers of course.
And this 5% growth from the previous high took place even with oil prices collapsing
all around them, the Arab client regimes in bed with the Americans, and outfoxed by the
Israelis, even when it comes to their one resource, black gold.
Indeed, decades after the creation of OPEC and the Saudi "oil embargo",
Americans pay more for a gallon of water in the grocery store than they do for a gallon of
gasoline, originally pumped in Arabia and shipped half way across the world! The petro
regimes, especially the Saudis, have mismanaged everything for their people, miserably.
The same day, by the way, it was also revealed that the Americans are rushing ahead
with a "Manhattan Progect" approach to ballistic missile defense. Even though
the technology isn't yet working, many billions continue to be pumped into the effort,
even more than the Pentagon requests! Once again, its the Israeli/Jewish lobby and the
Congress at work; pushing the "new war" as much as they possibly can and
readying for the days when the U.S. and Israel will pre-emptively attack countries
developing their own missiles and mass destruction weapons, hoping to cloak themselves
behind their technological shields.
