Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
You are concerned about Obama potentially breaking a law about aiding other countries, but you would be okay with him declaring martial law for thirty years and arresting thirty thousand republicans just because they were republicans?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
I the read the full article, but it seems you didn't. Can you point me to where it says aid is still being sent?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...s-foreign-aid/
This article is about a bill to stop aid from being sent, but no where does it say that aid has in fact been sent since the coup. Does the article say "We gave them twenty tanks last week" or does the article "We gave them twenty planes last week"? No, it doesn't.
The Republicans have their panties in a bunch saying "Obama is breaking the law" without even having a record of what has been sent.
This is the NSA crap and the IRS crap all over again. It's really a non story. The Washington Post released their documents about the NSA, and turns out that the NSA made a few mistakes (and then reported itself).... Hardly the smoking gun you all thought it was... And the IRS? Come on... You claim the orders "came from the top" when the truth is it was a low level department head.
You read into this BS and you believe it all... |
I love it Richard, they admit to breaking the law and you say it's ok
We're funding a military that killed 636 people, you like that?
Ok, here's how it works, try to pay attention
US taxpayers could take a hit if the aid pipeline is shut down. A special arrangement known as cash flow financing lets Egypt and Israel make arms purchases from the United States against promises of future aid and pay for things over time - like a credit card.
The Pentagon declined to discuss what amounts might be outstanding under Egypt's cash flow financing arrangement, but analysts say it is at least $2 billion.
"So Egypt has used its credit card recently to buy an additional squadron of F-16 (fighter jets) and an additional batch of M1A1 (tank) kits," said Robert Springborg, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
"If suddenly we were to say, you are not sending those F-16s or those M1A1 kits, then the question arises what's going to happen to them. If nothing else can be found to be done with them, then the US government would be liable to be sued by the manufacturers ... The estimated outstanding amounts are somewhere between $2.3 billion and $3.5 billion," Springborg said.
Under cash flow financing, multi-year contracts may be signed and payment schedules are prepared. This allows for the award of contracts that are more than the annual appropriation for a country, as long as the payments estimated in the out years are within the traditional amount of aid. Springborg said Egypt had contracts going out until 2017.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate subcommittee in charge of foreign aid, has long been a critic of the cash flow financing.
"This arrangement, which has been on autopilot for decades, has gotten us into a situation where we have mortgaged ourselves well into the future for equipment which is not necessarily needed, for a military that can't be trusted, and that is costing us huge amounts of money," he said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Cutting military aid to Egypt also would leave some US defense companies looking elsewhere for clients. Joel Johnson, an analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, said it could lead to layoffs in Lima, Ohio, where General Dynamics Corp is building kits to upgrade 125 M1A1 Egyptian tanks.
Johnson said a US aid shut-off also would hit small to medium-sized suppliers that provide components for the tank, which are often more vulnerable than the prime contractors. One industry official said some 500 suppliers could be hurt.
General Dynamics won the tank contract valued at $395 million in 2011. It builds the hulls and various parts and then ships the kits to Egypt for final assembly, said company spokesman Rob Doolittle. He declined to comment on the possible impact of a decision to cancel the Egyptian tank order.
The Lima facility has been counting on foreign orders and smaller contracts with the US government to remain open, given the US Army's plans to "pause" production of heavy ground vehicles for the United States.
Obama's announcement Thursday that the United States was canceling joint military exercises with Egypt was the first significant US move to penalize Egypt's military rulers after the ouster of Morsi. Previously, the US government had announced a decision to halt delivery to Egypt of four US-made F-16 fighters.
Fort Worth-based Lockheed Martin is under contract to supply 20 F-16s to Egypt at a cost of $776 million. Spokesman Ken Ross said 14 of the planes have been delivered through June 30, including seven this year.