In 1990, the US banned the sale of F-16s to Pakistan in response to that country's suspected, but undeclared, nuclear weapons program. Well, now that Pakistan has a
known nuclear weapons program, George Bush thinks selling F-16s to that developing country is just a fine idea. And he thinks this is a good idea because the ever-co-operative President General Musharraf has demonstrated his fealty to the White House by aiding in the global War on Terror. High tech weaponry are simply just rewards for a country that, while ostensibly aiding the US in this undefined White House war, continued to ship nuclear secrets and materials to "rogue states" through an intricate network of black market dealings.
Indeed, Islamabad has admitted that the head of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, provided hardware to Iran, the very country the White House is now freaking out about having a nuclear arms program, and, quite probably, Libya. Oddly, while White House officials insist that Pakistan has been a helpful neighbour in a region of the globe that has been a hotbed of unrest for decades, Pakistani officials have been unwilling to allow US officials to interrogate Khan to find out just what and to whom he sold his black market nuclear booty.
Adding an even more annoying aspect to the story is Condolezza Rice talking. Yes, Condi simply opening her yap is usually aggravating enough, but with this statement, she is clearly demonstrating, yet again, a complete and utter lack of facility in the job of Secretary of State:
[...] what we are trying to do is break out of the notion that this is a hyphenated relationship somehow, that anything that happens that is good for Pakistan is bad for India, and vice versa.
Let us overlook the bizarre notion that F-16s are "good" for a developing nation with an average per capita GDP of $440 and where one third of the population lives in abject poverty. Let us first note the immediate response of India via the minister for press affairs at the Indian Embassy in Washington:
We're greatly disappointed to hear the news. This is probably going to have negative consequences for Indian security and the security environment
To even a casual observer of the region, the historical tensions between India and Pakistan would generally inform almost any opinion that the sale of a raft of advanced fighter aircraft to Pakistan would cause India some consternation. Except Rice's opinion, that is. Nothing like facts, history or pissed off Indians will inform her opinion.
So what has India done in response to, what is in their mind, such disagreeable news? Why, New Delhi has just announced a new defense order to Russia, Germany, Italy, ..., hell, anyone, it seems, who might have something to sell. Mirage 2000 V fighters, surveillance aircraft, new air-to-air missiles. Whew, it is quite a list. Only two years after the Kashmir conflict had settled down and now we seem to be witnessing the beginnings of an arms race. Nice work, Condi.
Of course, another vast crater in the logic of this move is the obvious fact that Pakistan is most assuredly not a democracy, General Musharraf having come to power in a purportedly bloodless military coup in 1999. And while George Bush will fervently claim that he loves watching freedom spread, and wants to keep spreading it, he certainly doesn't mind selling lethal weapons to the odd military dictator and/or freedom fighter when they've proved themselves agreeable or appear to be an enemy of an enemy. Indeed, George Bush looks to be following in the semi-conscious footsteps of Ronald Reagan, whose administration handed out weapons to both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein back when that inadvisable action seemed like just the right thing to do for American interests.
A peculiar notion pervades the thinking of western industrialised nations. When shown agreeable or co-operative behaviour on the part of developing nations, western countries view doling out advanced weaponry as just the appropriate thing. Of course, this behaviour is not exclusively American, as the European Union recently announced that, as a reward for China's improving human rights record, it will lift the EU arms embargo against that country, activated in 1989 in response to the Tiananmen Square fiasco. Not surprisingly, the US has objected to this move, claiming it to be entirely unacceptable. The White House position seems to be that, while we have agreed to sell F-16s to the country that has allowed the proliferation of nuclear technology, you, you bastard Euros can't sell shit like that to China. They might get uppity and then where would we get our t-shirts and socks and mp3 players?
But why would countries do this, especially while fretting about weapons proliferation? Are they unaware of the fact that, once outside their borders, those weapons may find their way almost anywhere? Well, here's a clue: long time GOP contributor, Lockheed Martin, the company which happens to make the F-16, will be able to save some 5,000 jobs in, of all places, Texas. Yeehaa!
And while George Bush prattles on about his concern for weapons proliferation by rogue nations, his administration, once again, shows itself to be the biggest source of weapons proliferation on this globe. And we at the BHC have no doubt that the weapons Bush is currently pushing into the world will, one day, come back to bite us on our collective ass.
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