This Isn't Good

[Patriot_1776]

F-16 Jets to be sold to Pakistan and India.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7294441/

-Patriot

[fe352v8]

Lets see, the President said, US policy is to spread democracy because democracy is the key to security.

The present leader of Pakistan over threw a democratically elected government in a military coup

India is the largest democracy on the planet.

So the logic must be, that by selling advanced weapons systems, to a military strong- man’s regime, that he will not use them, in his on going border dispute with a democratic India, and will feel the need to relinquish power and allow free elections once again in Pakistan.

I think the EPA should check the water supply in Crawford, Texas. It would appear that one of the residents, who also maintains a residence in DC, is brain damaged.  No wonder people do not trust what the US government tells, them.  Or maybe he is confused and does not realize that a government that is democratically elected does not mean they are all members of the Democratic Party.

When he refers to himself as conservative is he referring to his political views, or his intellectual abilities, or both?

Life is no joke (but our foreign policy is starting to be) but funny things happen

jon

[Leverdude]

& the cycle continues.  :roll:  How many times are we going to provide weapons to people we pretty much know we are going to have a conflict with eventually?  :x   I think our Gov't does this stuff so theyre sure we'll have someone to fight next week.
Might be a good idea to build a self destruct mechanism into stuff we sell to the mid east. Then next week when theyre not our buddies anymore we can push a button & the stuff will blow.  :twisted:

[DirtyHarry]

Heck.. all the company's here in the US are sending all out jobs over there, might as well send em some fighter jets too.... :roll:

[magooch]

If we don't sell em planes, some other country will and we need the business.

[Leverdude]

If we don't sell em planes, some other country will and we need the business.

Might as well sell them nukes with that logic.
Bet we arent making any money off these sales anyway, moving products maybe but its likely we are giving them up at close to what they cost.

[Dali Llama]

maybe he is confused and does not realize that a government that is democratically elected does not mean they are all members of the Democratic Party.

It was not too DEMONcratically elected, as John Heinz is still pi$$in' and moanin' about his loss, say Dali Llama!!

[Shorty]

For what it's worth, Pakistan already paid for those planes.  After they got the bomb, the US embargoed those planes.  Now that India and Pakistan both have the bomb, and Pakistan is helping in our endeavors in that part of the world, there's no reason not to deliver.  India has expressed an interest in buying F16's or F18's to balance the power.  And WE sell 'em both!  Such a deal!    :wink:

[Nightrain52]

Maybe they were intended for the French and will only fly backwards. :-D  :-D  :-D  :-D

[JPSaxMan]

. I always knew them French were twisted.  :-D

I saw the article in todays paper. Really didn't think much of it. Except the cost. Just one F-16 costs $26.9 million (fas.org). How many did we sell anyway? Anybody know for sure? That's quite a few bucks :shock: .  

[magooch]

If we don't sell em planes, some other country will and we need the business.

Might as well sell them nukes with that logic.
Bet we arent making any money off these sales anyway, moving products maybe but its likely we are giving them up at close to what they cost.

Tell that to the folks who build F-16s.

[Leverdude]

If we don't sell em planes, some other country will and we need the business.

Might as well sell them nukes with that logic.
Bet we arent making any money off these sales anyway, moving products maybe but its likely we are giving them up at close to what they cost.

Tell that to the folks who build F-16s.

I doubt they are selling them direct.
I'd think our Gov't (Who buys them with OUR money) is selling them to theire Gov't. So I guess the folks who build them will get their money as they should. However, I dont see this benefiting our country financially or militarily. Wont be suprised to hear of terrorists stealing these & trying to use them against us or even the Pakistani's using them against us in the future. Is money worth that?
We ought not pick favorites over there anyhow. Our forien policies are as rediculous as our domestic policies.
As we sit here discussing this I'm quite sure they are sitting over there discussing it too, not just the countries we aim to arm but the ones we dont as well. WE give one country over there the means to be superior to their neighbors &  their neighbors hatred of us is certainly fueled.

I supose we will also be paying for our men to go over there & train theirs to use these planes, correct?

Nope, this is a stupid move no matter how you look at it.

We need to start realizing that the region is the problem not individual nations. Who can say what Pakistan will be in 5 years?
We stopped the sale because they were working on nukes, now that they have them theyre not a threat anymore? Just dont compute.

Happy Easter.  

[JPSaxMan]

You too Leverdude, and to all for that matter :grin:

The F-16 is made by Lockheed Martin, for those who care (fas.org). Those are the guys bringing jobs to my area. Yea :roll: .  

[MGMorden]

I don't think India will ever pose a military problem to us.  Not just as far as being strong enough, but India benefits tremendously from exported US jobs and business, and having worked with MANY Indians whilst in college, there's not the "Great white satan" mentality with them.  Most of the country isn't even Muslim (the main religion in India is Hinduism).  

The only military conflicts that might arise from this would be BETWEEN India and Pakistan.  If they're going to be at each other's thoats anyways it's a lot better for them to do it with some F-16's we sold them rather than to start hurling nukes at each other.  

And whilst we're clearing out the F-16's we can start to replace them with the F-35 JSF.  Our fighter fleet is getting too old nowadays anyways.  Back during the World Wars and even Vietnam to a degree many more fighters were being destroyed so we replaced them with newer designs very frequently.  Our current crop of planes has been in service for 25+ years (30 years on some designs) which is just getting a bit outdated, but it's a hard sell to replace them with newer models when the old ones still work.  This allows use to recoupe a bit of the costs for new models and ditch the older planes while we're at it .

[gwhilikerz]

For what it's worth, Pakistan already paid for those planes.  After they got the bomb, the US embargoed those planes.  Now that India and Pakistan both have the bomb, and Pakistan is helping in our endeavors in that part of the world, there's no reason not to deliver.  India has expressed an interest in buying F16's or F18's to balance the power.  And WE sell 'em both!  Such a deal!    :wink:

There you go bringing logic and reason to a debate :grin: