| Eric5273 |
10-30-2006 06:22 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by ifly
All I can say is when you have the 5 largest arms manufacturers in the world as the 5 permamnent members of the UN security council what better conflict of interest could you ask for?????
If someone can't buy from one then they will buy from another. You also have to remember that a lot of weapons deals actually have to be sanctioned beyond the borders of those countries by the government before they can be shipped. If you check government records on arms sales (the ones they actually admit to) for the last 50 years the USA has actually shipped weapons into the theatres of 85% of the conflicts! The same groups probably bought from the other 4 countries.
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Keep in mind that while what you say is true with regard to both China and Russia, with regard to the United States the weapons manufacturers are private corporations. They are not government controlled. The government does indeed place restrictions on them. But as we all know, in recent years with the Republicans controlling this country there has been a trend towards less and less government oversight of industry, and thus the military hardware manufacturers have the freedom to pretty much do what they want, with perhaps the exception of selling weapons to Iran, Cuba or North Korea.
In many cases they have actually sold weapons to both sides in a conflict. The Pakistan/India war of the early 1970s comes to mind. In many instances each side shot down their own planes as they all looked the same -- they were all American. They also sold arms to both sides in the Iran/Iraq war.
But from the look of that article I posted, it sounds like perhaps someone is making money on the side by selling American arms to the Iraqi insurgency. Where else could tens of thousands of weapons go? It's not like they are only missing a few.
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