Article about How Vast Financial Aid to Israel has Contributed to US Terror Risk
Pat Buchanan: Cabal of (JINSA/PNAC) US Officials Colluding with Israel to Ignite Wars:
http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/cover.html
Published, April 16, 2003, Media Monitors Network, at:
http://www.mediamonitors.net/williamhughes43.html
NYC Cuts Workers, While Israel Grows Richer
by William Hughes
In a ³doomsday² budget, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to cut 10,000
city employees, and close 30 to 40 firehouses, unless state lawmakers bail
out the municipal government. His draconian contingency plan calls for
billion in cuts. Hardest hit will be police, fire, and sanitation workers,
after school programs, and even the closing of two of the city¹s fabled
zoos, one located in Queens, and the other in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, the extreme right wing regime of Israel¹s Ariel Sharon is
rolling in greenbacks, thanks to the deep pockets of the heavily duped
American taxpayers. In the ³Omnibus Appropriation Bill,² passed on Feb. 13,
2003, the U.S. Congress gave the Likudnik-dominated government 0 million
in economic aid, .1 billion in military aid, plus million for
something called, ³refugee resettlement² (WRMEA, 04/03).
These freebees don¹t include the billion in loan guarantees and
billion in additional military aid, that the Sharonists demanded in January,
2003. It¹s possible that even more moneys for Israel could be filtered to
it, via the billion Iraqi War budget, in a ³supplemental² anti-terrorism
appropriation, or some other covert budgetary device.
Bloomberg is hoping to squeeze financial aid from the state government
in Albany to avoid the more drastic budget cuts. This could prove extremely
difficult, since New York State is running a billion deficit. In order
for the state to help out, it would itself have to raise even more taxes.
U.S. military loans to Israel, according to Congressional researchers
are ³converted to grants,² and eventually ³forgiven by Congress.² This is
why the Israelis can boast that they have never ³defaulted on a U.S.
government loan.² Aid to Israel is also given in a ³lump sum² at the start
of the fiscal year, which leaves the U.S. to borrow from future revenues to
pay it off. Other countries, less favored, receive their aid in quarterly
payments. In fact, Associate Professor Stephen Zunes of San Francisco U.,
pointed out, that ³Israel even lends some of the money back through U.S.
treasury bills and collect the additional interest² (WRMEA.com).
Despite all the aid to Israel over the years, Zunes said, (01/26/01),
³We are less secure than ever, both in terms of U.S. interests abroad and
for individual Americans. There is a growing and increasing hostility of the
average Arab towards the U.S. In the long term, peace and cooperation with
the vast Arab world is far more important for U.S. interests than this
alliance with Israel. This is not only an issue for those who are working
for Palestinian rights, but it also jeopardizes the entire agenda of those
of us concerned about human rights, concerned about arms control, concerned
about international law² (WRMEA.com). Keep in mind that Professor Zunes was
writing all of this before 9/11 and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Ironies abound here. No one suffered more from the 9/11 terrorist attack
than New Yorkers, especially its brave police, firemen and rescue workers,
and their families. And, as Professor Zunes correctly predicted, the
increased Arab ³hostility² to the U.S., as a result of our one-sided
favoritism towards Israel, has made all of us ³less secure.²
On top of that, we now have the mayor of NYC, ready to layoff police and
firemen and to close fire houses in order to balance the municipal budget.
Yet, federal largess to Zionist Israel, in the billions of dollars annually,
continues unabated, without any real consideration of its justification, or
its consequences to our national well-being.
Actually, things are worse than they appear. According to Thomas
Stauffer, a consulting economist, aid to Israel has really cost U.S.
taxpayers, from 1956-2002, about .7 trillion. This is more than ,700 per
person. In a brilliant analysis, (³Middle East Policy,² Spring, 2003), he
set out, in a comprehensive study, six identifiable areas of relevant and
connected cost: 1. Oil Crisis; 2. Military and economic aid; 3. Special and
ad hoc aid; 4. Lost trade and employment; 5. Energy, and; 6. Defense of the
Gulf, some of which is detailed below.
At the center of the .7 trillion costs, Stauffer insisted, is the U.S.
backing of ³Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians.²
This conflict has been caused by the refusal of the Israelis to give back
the land that it stole from the Palestinians, in the 1967 War (UN Sec. Res.
242). So far, Stauffer figures, that ³bill adds up to more than twice the
cost of the Vietnam War² (See also, Christian Science Monitor, ³Economist
Tallies Swelling Cost of Israel to U.S.,² David R. Francis, 12/09/02).
Stauffer¹s report shows that ³U.S. policy and trade sanctions reduce
U.S. exports to the Middle East about billion a year, costing 70,000 or
so American jobs.² He estimates, ³Not requiring Israel to use its U.S. aid
to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000
jobs.² Israel had also blocked some major U.S. arms sales, such as 15
fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. Stauffer indicates that
cost at ³ billion over 10 years.² Fear that the Arab nations might use
their oil clout against us has required the U.S. to set up a Strategic
Petroleum Reserve. The economist set that cost, conservatively, at ³4
billion.²
Question: How much longer are the American people going to put up with
this gross distortion of priorities that mocks our Republic?
© William Hughes 2003
William Hughes is the author of ³Andrew Jackson vs. New World Order²
(Authors Choice Press) and ³Baltimore Iconoclast² (Writer¹s Showcase), which
are available online. He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
"The Men from JINSA and CSP" (this is the article from "The Nation" which Robert Fisk mentions in the above referenced article):
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest&c=1
Washington's Zionist Extremist hawks to reshape Mid-East for Israel:
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=1047
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=280279
JINSA/PNAC Zionist Extremist Cabal Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' before Bush Presidency:
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=1970
Warmonger JINSA/PNAC Zionist Extremist Perle Resigns:
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=5044
PNAC/JINSA Zionist Cabal (in Bush Regime) on ABC's "Nightline" Program:
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=4267
Please also visit the "Israel" and "UK Involvement in War" message boards via clicking on "War against Terror" after arriving at the following URL:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com