Posted on 05/04/2010 9:16:33 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
As Hezbollah builds up its rocket arsenal, Israel has asked Washington to help pay for more Iron Dome anti-missile batteries to shield the Jewish state.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Defense Ministry wants to buy more than a dozen batteries of the system designed to counter short-range missiles fired by the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrillas and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry had allocated $250 million for the development of the system, the bottom layer of a planned three-tier missile defense shield, and the purchase of two batteries.
Each Iron Dome battery costs around $25 million, so buying an extra dozen would total at least $300 million, possibly more. That would be on top of the $3 billion Israel gets in U.S. military aid every year.
Iron Dome, built by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, employs an advanced radar, made by Elta Systems, that locates hostile rocket launches and tracks the projectiles for a kinetic interceptor called the Tamir.
The system can determine which missiles will miss military positions or civilian targets and ignores them to focus on those with more dangerous trajectories.
The Jerusalem Post said the ministry has also approached the U.S. Department of Defense for additional assistance to fund the project.
The Pentagon provided the bulk of an estimated $2 billion required to develop the more powerful Arrow missile, which is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles at high altitude and long range.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Hussein 0bama and Hitlery will block this.
Is Israel broke? Why are US taxpayers expected to pay for their defence?
Instead of giving Israel $3 Billion every year, why don't we just stop giving Egypt any money at all?
While we're at it, we should give Russia the big finger, scrap this disarmament crap, and upgrade our own nuclear defences.
It has been my opinion is to give Taiwan and Israel whatever military technology they want since they are on the front lines of “evil”. Evil meaning the Chinese and Arabs.
SELL them whatever they need, of course. But GIVE? Why? Are they so destitute that they cannot make financial sacrifices to defend themselves?
That’s idiotic. Your plan is ill-thought out. Cut off aid to Egypt?! Egypt hasn’t fought the U.S. or our allies since we started giving them aid. They’ve been the sane voice in that region.
Cut off aid to Israel?! Rubbish. Giving Israel money for weapons uses Israelis to fight the same forces who would otherwise fight us.
Giving Russia the finger?! Why not fight the whole world?! Make oil-supplier Russia mad, all while ignoring China. Brilliant!
Not...
The Israelis are doing all the leg work in the Middle East since Zero refuses to do about the growing Islamic threat. The Taiwanese and the Japanese are doing all the leg work since Zero refuses to do something about the growing Chinese and Russian threat. Give them the tools to get the job done.
Egypt is run by The Mulsim Brotherhood, which is the real force behind the Taliban. Egypt treats Coptic Christians like s**t, has virtual Sharia law, and accepts our money with a broad smile of friendship, while none of it goes to the impoverished masses.
I don't believe in using Israelis as surrogates. That's demeaning and cowardly. Let them buy weapons at cost from us, but it's their country to defend. They shouldn't be our client state in the ME.
As for Russia, what favors have they done us lately? Or ever? Except in their own self-interest, of course.
I am upset because we spend thousands of times more money and lives defending the borders of countries that are not really our allies than we do defending our own borders.
And if you are for giving away money to worthwhile causes around the world, I am sitting at home waiting for my free check from the gov't!
Well, sort of.
Israel is not poor; but they'd be even more capitalistic, and more prosperous, without the Foreign Welfare helping to prop up the State Socialism which burdens their otherwise-productive economy.
Actually, the same holds true for welfare-dependency in pretty much any welfare recipient.
(And why stop with cutting off aid to Egypt, while we're at it? Let's cut off Foreign Aid to ALL Islamic countries. Collectively, the US Federal Government gives more money to Israel's enemies, than it gives to Israel! Good grief!!)
The big pisser, to me, is how much we give $%#@$&! Moslem countries, like our 'friend' Pakistan. And it turns out we are making Iraq safe for Sharia law.
We could never in a 1,000 years mold Afghanistan into a politically unified country. They want Sharia law also.
I am thinking the next Republican candidate for POTUS should, ideally, run on a platform of "pull our forces back, secure our borders, drill for our own oil, shore up our real allies, and wait for Iran/China/NK to make their big move."
We can't stop Iran from getting nukes, but we sure as hell can set them back a thousand years if they dare to use them against us or our allies. (I count Israel and Taiwan as important allies, just to be clear.)
At this point, I think that Sarah Palin is about the closest to that Ideal that we're likely to get. JMHO and time will tell, but that's my current read on it.
Though if you were to add, "And it's okay with me if Israel wants to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities on their own dime, I'm not their Mama," then you've basically got Ron Paul in 1981.
(Ron Paul was one of the only US Congressmen to support Israel's self-defensive strike against the Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, when even the Reagan Administration bowed to international pressure and condemned the Israelis).
So -- you believe that Ron Paul is wrong, and that the US should have condemned Israel for bombing the Osirak reactor in 1981?
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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1 in 5 Israeli children do live in poverty, yes. We’ve accepted literally hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Africa and the mid-east that came in with literally nothing but their clothes. So, yes, we have our financial issues.
But that is not actually the point.
Iron Dome is a essentially a proof-of-concept test bed with technology that is transferred directly to the USA as a result of the deal with funding.
Israel is like a cancer patient in this regard; more than willing to be experimented on.
“As long as we’re getting something out of the deal ourselves, it’s not so much of a “giveaway””
In this instance, Iron Dome is a test bed for tech that is transferred directly to the USA.
Another example are the predator drones, et al, which were all derived from joint Israeli-USA co-operation.
Why bother. They’ll only say “later,” which really means “no.”
Joint cooperation with Israel, with collateral benefits to the US military capabilities, is fine with me. What I want to know is why we are supplying Turkey with predator drones now. Turkey is a Muslim state in retrograde, tending toward throwing off secularism and returning to Sharia law.
What I protest is the oxymoronic, pointless and wasteful policy of massive aid to Israel, followed by massive aid to Israel's enemies. Like any form of welfare, for every 1 deserving recipient, there are two or three who don't need/deserve it (but get it anyway).
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