WASHINGTON -- While President Trump berates Qatar for sponsoring terrorism at the highest levels, he is simultaneously authorizing the country to purchase over $21 billion of U.S. weapons. One part of the deal was inked on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., when Qatar's Defense Minister met with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-s...-days-after-accusing-it-of-funding-terrorism/
The State Department describes this sale as fermenting U.S. efforts to "strengthen the security and defense architecture of the region." They point out that it does not directly conflict with the current regional dispute as it will take years to complete and fill the sale in full. ... The full arms sale, of over $20 billion, was notified in November 2016. This means it had already been authorized by congress and the executive branch, when President Obama was in office, before the Trump administration came into office. Eventually, Qatar is set to receive 36 American-made F15s.
That's like calling out Columbia for all the drugs that get smuggled out of its country into ours fueling drug addictions then allowing them to do it...wait our government has already done that.
This deal has been in the works since Obama. I assume we control a kill switch of some kind, obviously.
If they're giving US companies billions of $ in weapons sales rather than giving cash to Hamas or ISIS, win-win, right? Not likely that a terrorist will start employing one of those F-15s against us.
more than likely they'll use them against innocent women and children in some poor region they want to intimidate but you're right...they won't fly them over here...they'd rather use commercial planes for attacking us it seems
This sound more like a heart string tug than a logical assessment. Rather illogical to boot. Why would a tyrant spend billions on F15s to use against poor women and children? Thugs with clubs can do the deed for mere millions, perhaps thousands.
They are an extremely strategic stopping point for our military in the Middle East. We pay them to use their land essentially.
See Assad.....Syria....refugees.....real logical area to assess eh? Middle Eastern and African countries have many of these issues...you arm them and they'll use them....why use chemical weapons against civilians.....don't know...arming the region is like pouring gas on a fire ....
that you ask this question says it all.....why would a peace keeping nation sell weapons to Qatar......? One reason....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$....just like when we armed Bin Laden to during the Reagan years.....
or build nukes or suppress human rights or use nerve gas........why you ask? I thought you were a student of history.
This is not meant derogatorily, but have you seen what Qatar has been up to economically recently? They have earmarked over $200 billion for their 2030 plan, of which about $10B is slated for infrastructure around the 2022 World Cup. As said above, Al-Udeid is a pretty strategic air base for us...bridge to Central Asia. Air support for our Bahraini shipyards. They just build up an international airport that is attempting to rival Dubai as the crossroads of the Middle East--being named the 6th 5-star airport in the world and 1st in the Middle East. (There's even a terminal for VIPs/royalty...Editor of RC2 didn't qualify me). Unlike many of the nouveau riche Arab countries, they're attempting to be smart and invest in longer-term options than their natural gas reserves. Their superport south of Doha just opened up in January. Al-Jazeera is based there. Do I think some of their citizens play dirty and finance crime. Absolutely. Do I think they harbor terror financiers? Probably, though (like Switzerland) their laws are based upon being a global banking power for the super-rich, rather than a terrorist banking country. Do I think it's absolutely disingenuous for the Saudis and Yemenis to say anything about anybody's financing of terror? Absolutely. Qatar is much more likely to go the way of Kuwait (taken over by a bully neighbor for its material riches) than Syria (broken apart by sectarian violence). Which is probably why they want to spend a tithe of their development on making sure some Arab shiek or Islamic mullah-in-charge doesn't steal it from them.
great post and I hope you're right ......I don't know much about Qatar really.....I just sense an arms race that I think in the long run is very unhealthy for everyone. there was plenty of black market arms dealing corruption in Viet Nam during my time.....I think selling arms to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on that scale is just like arming Iraq and Bin Laden to deal with Iran in the Reagan era....and in some ways that mistake carries over still today. I'd rather we sold them high speed rail systems and desalination plants, etc.....improving infrastructure....I also understand that if we don't sell them weapons...France, China or Russia will.
This is just nuts. You call them a state sponsor of terror and you want to sell the latest and greatest technology on the battlefield. At some point, it's more than just about the economy. I wouldn't have done business with Saudi either.
