Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Obama Bundles $200 Million Palestinian Aid Into Emergency Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental


Of course he did:

President Obama released his FY 2009 supplemental request... asking for $83.4 billion to fund ongoing military, diplomatic and foreign assistance activities... There are programs included in this supplemental request that could otherwise be funded in the base budget. Some of the major items requested in this supplemental are long-term acquisition programs that are not directly related to ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan... * $600 million to purchase four new F-22 fighter jets;
* $400 million for a new Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capabilities Fund;
* $3.6 billion to train and equip Afghanistan Security Forces;
* $806.2 million to upgrade the U.S. diplomatic facilities in Pakistan; and
* $200 million for budget support to the Palestinian Authority.

Nothing like hiding $200 million's worth of de facto Hamas funding in an "emergency funding for our troops" request that's insulated from political opposition. Although it couldn't have been that well insulated since the original request was for $800 million. Still - fingers crossed that they pick up the slack in the regular budget, right? I'm not sure exactly what these funds are earmarked for. They could be going to Gaza infrastructure, freeing up Hamas to move more money into attacks and war crimes. Or they could be going to Fatah weapons, getting hardware into the region so that Hamas can get it sooner rather than later. Either way, at least we know that boosting Hamas is now officially shovel-ready. Less shovel-ready: offensive and defensive military cooperation with Israel. F-22 projects employed 95,000 Americans and boosted American and Israeli offensive capabilities. They were - at worst - nowhere near as inefficient as the rest of the stimulus black hole. But whatever. The Palestinians will probably put the money to better yes. And it's not like Israel will be needing any offensive capabilities, since they're cooperating with the US to develop next-generation Arrow-3 interceptors. Except not:

Israel's Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile may be one of the first victims of U.S. President Barack Obama's defense spending cuts. Ynet, the Web site of the respected Tel Aviv daily Yediot Aharonot, reported Monday that U.S. funding for the Arrow-3 program is likely to be eliminated... Ynet reported that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a strong enthusiast for the Arrow-3 program, recently met with a delegation of visiting U.S. senators and congressmen; following that meeting, he briefed a private meeting of his Labor Party, in which he warned of the pressures to kill the Arrow-3.

It's fine though because Israel doesn't face a missile threat. Nor if it faced such a threat would it need access to home grown anti-missile technologies. In the absolute worst case the Israelis can always count on the White House to support them on critical national defense issues. Well, unless the Israelis want support for an operation against Iran's genocidal mullahs. Then they're out of luck. References and previously after the jump...

Comments by Aggie: Besides contacting our senators and Reps, does anyone know which committee chairs are in charge of this budget proposal? We all need to scream bloody murder, because that is what this money will be used for. Aggie

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The whores for Hamas in DC need to be recalled from office!!!