Despite their frustration with our role in Iraq, the Bush administration seems more than willing to sell us $20 billion worth of advanced weapons. While the Congress is expected to oppose the deal when notified about it this fall, and some lawmakers have already said they plan to stop it, everything seem rather quiet around here.
I don’t have much more to say about this than what Mahmood said, but it is really sad that no one here seems to give two shits about this. Why no one is objecting to spending this huge amount of money on weapons which we can’t use when we better invest in our younger generations, the future of this country?
Saudi Jeans 
Ahmed, the following is a column I wrote sometimes back…on the subject of arms purchase…
Dictating an arms sale
‘Do you know what this (expletives deleted) Bush is trying to do now?’ growled Mustafa, my walking partner as we made our way around the block one warm evening. ‘He is trying to sell us $20 billion worth of arms that we don’t need. And to top it off, he is using his taxpayers’ money to fund Israel with $30 billion in the same bill. Now what does this region need with more arms?’
‘Just look around!’, continued Mustafa. ‘Everything this (expletive deleted) has involved himself in is in a mess. From Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian situation, nothing has improved since he became president. His war on terror message is beginning to scare me as he is acting more and more like a global dictator, and terror seems to be his means to the end.’
‘It’s interesting you say that, Mustafa. Why we need more weaponry in a region adrift with violence is beyond me. We fork up billions in cash, while US taxpayers come up with an amount more than twice as high to keep the Israelis happy. Meanwhile, Bush’s most loyal constituency groups, the war profiteers, make out like bandits. You can be assured that lobbyists for a defense industry that stands to make a few billion from the deal will be vigorously wooing Congress to push this deal through.’
‘Bush and his cabinet are robustly promoting this war of aggression between the Arabs and their neighbors. Selling us arms goes along with those themes. But do you think they give a damn? It is those of us who are caught in the line of fire of this weaponry for generations to come who have to shoulder the burden of violence, while Bush and company remain safely ensconced in the safety of the White House.’
‘And you know what else, Mustafa? This dictatorship thing has some substance. As a matter of public knowledge, George W. Bush went on the record (twice) as saying he has nothing against dictatorship, as long as he could be dictator, subtly underscoring a clear and present policy statement.’
‘And just recently a former Reagan official spoke out his fears in a publicized warning that the current administration was preparing to orchestrate a staged terrorist attack on US soil in order for Mr. Bush to declare a state of national emergency, defer the upcoming Presidential elections, and stage a strike against Iran, settling himself in as President for life in the long haul.’
Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury speaking on the Thom Hartmann radio program, stated that “When Bush exercises this authority (under the new Executive Order), there’s no check to it. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. The American people don’t really understand the danger that they face,” adding that the neo-cons intended to use this staged act of terrorism to rally the American people around the fading Republican Party, and by default extending Mr. Bush’s tenure..
‘The administration figures themselves and prominent Republican propagandists … are preparing us for another 9/11 event or series of events,” he said. “You have to count on the fact that if Al-Qaeda is not going to do it, it will be orchestrated as such.’
Roberts suggested that in the absence of a massive popular outcry, only the federal bureaucracy and perhaps the military could put constraints on Bush’s current drive for a fully-fledged dictatorship. “They may have had enough. They may not go along with it,” he said.
‘You know Mustafa; these people are not simple clowns with doomsday predictions or wild erratic theories. They have been close to the seat of power long enough to realize that the recent policies and patterns of the Bush administration have given them cause for alarm. And not only for the American people.’
‘The rest of the world better watch out as well.’
Tariq A. Al-Maeena
The messenger of the devil is drinking our coffee!, so very ugly!