Officials: Bush Agrees to Sell F-16s to Pakistan

[M45510G1C]

What is up with this? Can you say bad idea?

More of our wonderful president allying himself with evil to accomplish his goal. This is the sort of thing God used to destroy nations for, or maybe He still does.

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050325/...IGHTERS-DC.html

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush has agreed to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in a major policy shift rewarding a key ally in the war on terrorism, administration officials said on Friday.

A senior Bush administration official said the sale, which was blocked for 15 years, "will not change the overall balance of power" between Pakistan and India, and the jets "are vital to Pakistan's security as President (Pervez) Musharraf takes numerous risks prosecuting the war on terror."

One Bush administration official said the sale involved 24 planes but another said the numbers could change.

India's prime minister expressed "great disappointment," a spokesman in New Delhi said.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called Bush's decision "a good gesture... This shows that our relations are growing stronger."

Washington blocked the sale of the F-16s to Pakistan in 1990 as a sanction against its nuclear weapons program.

Though no final decision has been made "at this point" on similar F-16 sales to India, the senior Bush administration official said: "We will respond positively to the Indian tender for bids to sell multi-role combat aircraft."

The F-16 is made by Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense contractor.

Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, opened new political possibilities for advancing Pakistan's stalled 15-year quest for the F-16 fighters when he said last month that Islamabad would not object to India also buying the American-made jets.

NUCLEAR NEIGHBORS

The decision follows Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to India and Pakistan earlier this month. The State Department informed key congressional leaders on Friday.

In New Delhi, a spokesman for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Bush called him on Friday about the planned sale.

"The prime minister expressed India's great disappointment at the decision which could have negative consequences for India's security environment," Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the prime minister's office, told Reuters.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars and were on the brink of another in 2002, have eased since they began talks last year aimed at ending half a century of enmity.

India has strongly opposed the sale of F-16s to Pakistan after the Pentagon cleared arms sales worth $1.2 billion to Pakistan last year. New Delhi says the planes could only be used against it in a conflict.

Islamabad in turn has said that any move by the United States to sell Patriot anti-missile systems to India would trigger a new arms race in the region, after a U.S. defense team made a presentation last month in New Delhi.

The F-16 sale represents a major policy shift for the United States and a final step toward tacit acceptance of Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons.

"President Musharraf made a commitment to stand with the United States," the senior administration official said. "This is a long-standing request."

[Gerioke]

Well as goofy as this is from a christian perspective, I don't believe Kerry would have stopped short of selling Americans down the toilet either.

It seems that in order to be a democracy , you must have a leader who has the brains of a retarded flea. Canada's Paul Martin is another "genius" at selling his people down the toilet. But hey, we're free.

No wait , I think we've been downgraded to cheap.

[other one]

None of these things make any sense unless you look at it through the end time rosey glasses. The beast is here and moving into place to let Lucifer move into total world power and this all is working to his plan.

Not to worry for our Lord will relieve us of the mess in due time if we will just persevere to the end. He has told us so

[Cerran]

Our lovely president supports democracy by selling high-tech weapons to a dictatorship? Classic.

[Sojc]

Our lovely president supports democracy by selling high-tech weapons to a dictatorship? Classic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is not surprising at all. The US supported Saddam Hussein and even Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan before it was "realized" that they were a problem.

[Gerioke]

should sell them the McDonalds franchise.

That would teach them

[Trinity]

should sell them the McDonalds franchise.

That would teach them

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They already sold it to us!

[ted]

Bad idea, IMO.

t.

[Gerioke]

India to Consider Buying Military Hardware from U.S.

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Mar 27, 7:41 AM (ET)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will consider buying military equipment from the United States, the defense minister said Sunday, two days after New Delhi protested against a U.S. decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to rival Pakistan.

Washington announced Friday it was lifting a ban on sales of F-16 fighters to Pakistan -- imposed in 1990 as a sanction against its nuclear weapons program -- to demonstrate support for a major ally in the war on terrorism.

India expressed "great disappointment," saying it "could have negative consequences for India's security environment," but later added India and the United States had agreed to a series of steps to boost defense and energy ties.

The foreign ministry said as part of the agreement, Washington had approved U.S. defense companies to bid for combat aircraft that India might want to buy and was considering offering India technology for civilian nuclear energy.

"This is the first time we have received an offer from USA," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. "Naturally, when the offer is there, it will have to be actively considered by the government of India keeping in view the requirements of our armed forces."

"Though earlier we used to have sometimes some equipment of high technology, never before an offer of such sophisticated equipment including planes and others were made which have been made now."

But he added: "One point I would like to emphasize, we have no intention of joining the arms race."

India and the United States were foes during the Cold War, and India has traditionally bought military hardware from Russia, but in recent years the world's largest democracies have forged a new relationship, expanding defense and economic ties.

New Delhi has bought artillery finding radars from the United States that are being deployed on the Line of Control that divides disputed Kashmir with Pakistan, and is eyeing the Patriot missile systems as a deterrent to its nuclear-armed neighbor.

India has in the past relied heavily on French and Russian fighters but is now seeking to diversify.

Its MiG fighters, a legacy of close Cold War relations between Moscow and New Delhi, have also been controversial in recent years because of their numerous accidents.

And the war machine keeps turning