Posted by
Ben Amis on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:44:15 AM
Recently, President Bush has publicly announced a new plan to halt the growing Iranian threat - arm other Middle East countries to counter the arms build-up by Iran. Now, most nations that would receive parts of the multi-billion dollar arms deal are our allies and would probably not be a problem. Such nations include Israel, Qatar, and Kuwait. However, these countries also include Egypt and Saudi Arabia, nation known for having substantial radical Islamic factions within their borders. So, the question is, would we be arming the enemy?
I'm not even going to beat around the "Bush", as the case may be, and am going to outright condemn this action. We must NOT arm these foreign nations, namely Egypt and Saudi. Why? These countries are known for radicals...especially the Saudis, and we could potentially be arming the same enemy we're trying to stop. Simply put, these nations aren't as evolved as the United States, and I question their ability to responsibly handle advanced technology.
This is not racism or Islamophobia, this is simply truth. There are nations which I absoluely love, but would never want to give these weapons to, at least not without conditions. An example would be fellow the democratic state and former U.S. terroritory of the Philippines. I have many friends that live there/come from there, and absolutely love the nation, but their government is struggling to sustain itself right now, so I know they couldn't handle having these weapons. If we couldn't trust this democracy to be responsible with these weapons, why should award them to a nation like Saudi Arabia, which is a dictatorship?
I don't like dealing with any non-democratic state. I've been very outspoken against our dealings with nations like Saudi, and our trading relationship with nations like China...yes, China! I look forward to the day we break ties with them and bring all of that revenue and work back to our own shores. As if that will ever happen...sigh...
I've been a supporter of the President, but I have to question his logic on this move. I don't think it would be wise, and I can't see how we could justify making an arms deal with dictators and--potentially--terrorists.