Edwards Assails U.S. Arms Sales to Arabs
July 31st, 2007 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat John Edwards said the Bush administration’s plan to sell $20 billion worth of weapons to friendly Arab states amounted to a foreign policy of convenience and he will take a tougher stance with Saudi Arabia if elected president.
Edwards said the United States should require the Saudi government to shut down the movement of terrorists across its borders, help stabilize the Iraqi government and participate more seriously in regional security before they are offered weapons.
“Whether it’s Iraq or terrorism, the Saudis have fallen way short of what they need to be doing,�? the 2004 vice presidential nominee told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “And the Bush administration’s response is to sell them $20 billion worth of arms, which is short-term and convenient and not what the United States should be doing.�?
Edwards is the first Democratic presidential candidate to speak out against the deal. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Saudi Arabia Tuesday as part of a two-day visit with Arab allies that opened talks on the proposed U.S. arms package.
Edwards said the arms deal could backfire by giving Iran an incentive to build its nuclear strength.
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Edwards Assails U.S. Arms Sales to Arabs
This is really scary, this is the 1st time I have ever been in agreement with John Edwards, ever, and I never expected it would happen, but for whatever reason he’s saying this about Saudi Arabia, he’s correct, 100% correct in this assessment, now it may just be him playing politics, but this time, he IS correct in his statement…
George W. Bush accepts the Saudis as if they were his long lost family, he embraces them, he supports them, he welcomes them into his home and now he’s going to sell them $20B in arms…
I, and many others have pointed out, and we didn’t bite our words in doing so, we have spoken our minds and stated our opinions of the Saudis and what we feel is their less than direct involvement in the attacks of 9-11-01, I and many others feel that Saudi Arabia was the under the radar power behind the attacks, we know that the attackers were trained in Saudi Arabia, that is a fact, not a supposition, but many feel the Saudis were very involved in those actions…
And I seem to remember Mr. Bush saying that we would deal harshly with ANY nation that trained or supported terrorism, in ANY way, I guess he meant any nation other than Saudi Arabia…
Mr. Edwards has hit this one square on the head, oh well, as I have heard on several occasions, even a blind hog finds truffles every now and then…
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Even a broken clock is right once a day.
WOW!
John Edwards said that? Good for him and I also agree.
Bush is not only fighting the terrorist, he now wants to arm them, WTF?
I actually had to check the weather to see if DC had frozen over.
Hear that “lefties and libs” reading the above (Bueller, Bueller, anyone? Ok, you’re probably not reading this…)??? Us “fundies” can admit when one of you is right! I know it’s hard to believe, but we really are grounded in logic. I know it’s a shocker, but islamofascism and terrorism as encouraged by the quran, and as encouraged by Saudi funded wahabi mosques on U.S. soil, is BAD. If Edwards can see that, so can you. There might be hope for America yet.
I hope now that Edwards has spoken out against Saudi Arabia, the source of many terrorists, many Americans will start to pay attention and take off their PC blinders. I pray EVERYONE can stand united against terror and realize that no matter how “peaceful” you want to be, it would be criminal not to fight against people like Hitler- people intent on genocide, destroying freedom, and destroying this country.
The end result of socialism is slavery, not some sort of PC multi-culturalistic party. The sooner the left realizes that, and stands up against Islam, the better chance America has at surviving.
Yeah, I have to agree but I also figure that it is a dilemma for the Bush people and will be if the dim-a-crits including Edwards gets in the White House. Whether we like it or not the West needs Saudi Oil and the Saudi government needs the west. I figure the Saudi family is holding onto power by a thread and needs the help to keep the rabid ragheaded mullahs under control..the only possible answer from where I sit is for the dim-a-crits to pull their support for the greenies and allow some new drilling and refineries in order for the country to become energy independent from the raghead oil. They can’t eat nor drink the crude oil and have been too gotdamn ignorant to use their money for any other industry other than what the Royal families have invested in the USA and Europe.
To GuyK, who decries the “ignorance” of the Saudis — who are, on balance I’m sure, a LOT WEALTHIER THAN HIM (OR ME),
so that he is perhaps “fermenting” some “sour grapes” by his characterization of them.
This country DOES INDEED DESPERATELY need to get SERIOUS about getting OFF of “our” ADDICTIVE DEPENDENCY on OTHER PEOPLES’ OIL.
But his OWN ignorance appears to be exposed by expressions of vacuous “thinking” to the effect that that can somehow be achieved just by “allowing some new drilling and refineries”.
Sorry, dimbulbs of the world out there, but it is going to take a GENUINE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION — involving CONVERSION TO FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT primary energy sources and transmission/storage media.
We have GOT to shift over to (meltdown-proof!) NUCLEAR — and ultimately to THERMONUCLEAR (which will be CLEAN!), transmit power far more generally by ELECTRICAL means, and store and transport it by means of HYDROGEN GENERATED BY ELECTROLYSIS (from ordinary H2O), using metal- or ceramic-hydride safe-storage-of H2 technology DEVELOPED MANY YEARS AGO NOW ALREADY.
Instead of squandering bazilion$ in resources gratuitously inciting enmity among Arabs and Islamic Fundamentalists, this country needs to get busy tackling its REAL problems!
And if that sort of thinking qualifies me as a “liberal”, well then so be it. That’s better than being a “rock-ribbed REACTIONARY” who imagines that now-obsoleted technology can be kept running indefinitely!
I see that I have been attacked..typical when the argument cannot be refuted. Yeah, I agree that we need to invest in alternative energy..or at least the private sector needs to invest in an alternative energy source. But the question is what do we do in the meantime? Without? Until such time as an alternative energy source is developed this country and the western world are dependent on raghead oil..whether you like it or not. The options are limited..buy it or take it. Buying it is easier and safer.