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  • GWOT money for Pakistan fighters

    Yet another brilliant move...

    U.S. to Help Upgrade Pakistan Fighter Fleet
    By OLIVIER KNOX, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
    Published: 24 Jul 14:18 EDT (18:18 GMT)

    WASHINGTON - The White House confirmed on July 24 that it planned to shift $230 million from counter-terrorism programs to aid for Pakistan to upgrade Islamabad's aging F-16 fighter jets.

    The news came as U.S. President George W. Bush prepared to host Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on July 28 for talks set to focus on cooperation to fight Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists and Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions.

    White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said a New York Times article detailing the shift was "accurate" but rejected criticisms that Pakistan chiefly views the jets through the lens of its nuclear rivalry with neighbor India.

    "The F-16s that they have are used in counterterrorism operations. We made them available to the Pakistanis and they need to be maintained," Perino told reporters.

    Pakistan's new government "is facing a lot of pressure from a severe fiscal situation" stemming partly from soaring food and energy costs, and "they need assistance from the United States," the spokeswoman said.

    But the Times reported that some U.S. lawmakers have greeted the proposed shift with anger, saying that Pakistan does not use its F-16s in support of the campaign against fighters in its remote tribal areas out of a fear that civilian casualties could fuel support for the extremists.

    Asked what the U.S. would get in return for the move, Perino replied: "The F-16s are used in their counter-terrorism operations, so we get support in our national security efforts."

    The package for the fighters would run about two-thirds of the $300 million that Pakistan will get this year in U.S. aid for military equipment and training, the Times said.

    In 2007, U.S. lawmakers specified that the monies should to go to law enforcement or counter-terrorism.

    The daily cited unnamed US State Department officials as saying that the upgrades would sharpen the fighters' ability to carry out accurate air strikes, reducing civilian casualties.

    The move came with Gilani expected to face searching questions about his fledgling government's commitment to battling Islamist extremists, particularly in the remote tribal areas along Afghanistan's border, where terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding.

    Bush said earlier this month that he was "troubled" by the movement of extremists from Pakistan to Afghanistan and would discuss the threat with Gilani when he visits.

    U.S. military commanders have reported a 40 percent rise in militant attacks on parts of eastern Afghanistan since Pakistan's new government launched peace talks with Taliban rebels in the tribal belt.

    Legislation was introduced in the U.S. Congress on July 15 proposing non-military aid to Pakistan be tripled to $7.5 billion over five years, but linking security aid to counter-terrorism performance.

    Washington has already pledged $750 million in development aid to the tribal areas over the next five years, in addition to the $10 billion in military aid it has channeled to Islamabad since 2001.

    Link

  • #2
    That is a new tack.

    F 16s to fight terrorists! :))

    They should also get ICBMs for remotely fight terrorism!


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

    Comment


    • #3
      All of it is an eyewash to keep Pak on its side. Wonder how many missiles Pak F16s have fired since the GWOT started against the terrorists. Everyone knows that the F16s are targeted towards India.

      Comment


      • #4
        BREAKING NEWS after provididng pakistan with f-16s to fight terror the whizkids at the U.S dod decided to give sri lanka the USS NIMITZ ! what for you say ? well the LTTE is a naval terror group so thats why!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by bengalraider View Post
          BREAKING NEWS after provididng pakistan with f-16s to fight terror the whizkids at the U.S dod decided to give sri lanka the USS NIMITZ ! what for you say ? well the LTTE is a naval terror group so thats why!
          With a full complement of Super Hornets? :)):))

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by bengalraider View Post
            BREAKING NEWS after provididng pakistan with f-16s to fight terror the whizkids at the U.S dod decided to give sri lanka the USS NIMITZ ! what for you say ? well the LTTE is a naval terror group so thats why!
            WOW!!!!!
            Last edited by The One; 26 Jul 08,, 12:01.

            Comment


            • #7
              Won't go very well with the opposition here.
              Though the UPA has pulled it off, left and NDA will find the news in support of their hulla-bulla against the deal.
              sigpicAnd on the sixth day, God created the Field Artillery...

              Comment


              • #8
                The String to the F-16s

                Originally
                posted by Yusuf

                All of it is an eyewash to keep Pak on its side. Wonder how many missiles Pak F16s have fired since the GWOT started against the terrorists. Everyone knows that the F16s are targeted towards India.

                Wrong

                THE REASON

                Lawmakers Scold Administration Over F-16 Sale to Pakistan

                Arms Trade, Matt Schroeder, Pakistan

                At Thursday’s hearing on the sale of 36 F-16 aircraft to Pakistan, Assistant Secretary of State John Hillen endured tongue-lashings from several members of the House International Relations Committee (HIRC), who objected to the manner in which his bureau has managed the $5.1 billion arms package. Of particular concern was the administration’s unilateral decision to waive the customary 20-day pre-notification for major arms sales, which many members viewed as a deliberate attempt to circumvent the committee’s authority. The decision – and the confrontation it provoked – could have far-reaching consequences, not only for Congressional oversight of arms sales but also several key State Department initiatives.

                Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) set the stage by calling the administration’s decision to waive the pre-notification a “deliberate and wholly inappropriate maneuver to diminish Congress’ lawful oversight of arms sales.” He vowed to “take all appropriate actions to prevent the reoccurrence of the flouting of the Arms Export Control Act.” Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, was equally resolute. “[T]his outrage will not stand,” he declared during his opening statement, “Our oversight of arms sales will not be compromised.”

                Under the Arms Export Control Act, the Departments of State and Defense are required to notify Congress 30 days in advance (15 days for NATO countries, Australia, New Zealand and Japan) of arms sales that exceed certain dollar value thresholds. To ensure that Congress and the administration are on the same page when the formal (public) notification is submitted, a 20-day pre-notification period was established. The pre-notification period helps to prevent embarrassing public confrontations over arms sales, which reflect poorly on the administration and alienate recipient governments. The State Department decided to forego pre-notification after its third unsuccessful attempt to receive a waiver from the HIRC.

                Dr. Hillen defended the administration’s handling of the sale, asserting that the level of cooperation with Congress had been “unprecedented.” According to the Assistant Secretary, the State Department has provided several briefings to HIRC members, shared highly sensitive executive branch documents with them, and invited them on trips to Pakistan. Waiving the 20-day pre-notification period, asserted Dr. Hillen, allows the two countries to sign an agreement this calendar year, allowing Pakistan to avoid price increases.

                He also defended the arms package itself. The weapons, claimed Dr. Hillen, would give the US “access and influence” to the Pakistani government, allowing them to “shape the choices of a country at the crossroads.” It would also strengthen Pakistan’s ability to fight the War on Terrorism, improve interoperability between the US and Pakistani militaries, and satisfy Pakistan’s “legitimate self-defense needs.” He concluded by assuring the committee that the pre-notification waiver was “not intended to be a pattern.”

                Rather than placating committee members, Dr. Hillen’s statement seemed to aggravate them, particularly Rep. Lantos. In a tense exchange with the Assistant Secretary, the ranking Democrat berated him for refusing to admit that the pre-notification waiver was “a colossal mistake,” and complained bitterly about the State Department’s inability to answer even basic questions during briefings and about long delays in responding to the committee’s concerns. Other members also railed against the sale, calling attention to Pakistan’s poor human rights record, the military coup that brought President Musharraf to power, the danger of diversion of sensitive US military technology to China, and the Pakistani government’s refusal to give US investigators access to AQ Khan, who led a nuclear proliferation ring that delivered blueprints and hardware for nuclear weapons to North Korea, Iran and Libya.

                The hearing was significant for several reasons. First, Dr. Hillen revealed details of the plan for safeguarding defense trade technology exported to Pakistan – information that is rarely made public. According to the Assistant Secretary, the plan requires
                · site surveys and end-use monitoring, including annual inventories of all equipment related to the F-16s, by US officials;
                · dedicated facilities for storage of spare parts and maintenance;
                · strict limitations on access to the planes;
                · complete segregation of the F-16s from third country-origin aircraft;
                · express permission from the US government before Pakistan can fly the planes outside of its own airspace;
                · full compliance with the security plan before the planes, weapons and equipment can be delivered.


                Secondly, the hearing – and the legislation that has (and will) follow – is a dramatic counter-example of the passivity and abrogation of oversight responsibility that critics of Congress assert has plagued the body during the Bush Administration. In fact, HIRC has provided many such counter-examples over the past few years. In 2004, Rep. Hyde teamed up with Duncan Hunter, chair of the House Armed Services Committee, to kill two key Bush Administration initiatives aimed at loosening US arms export controls. In May of that year, they published a scathing report on the Bush Administration’s proposal to exempt the UK and Australia from licensing requirements for commercial arms exports. The report, and the threat of public hearings similar to the one on Thursday, prompted the administration to abandon the proposal. Similarly, the committee’s tenacious opposition to National Security Presidential Directive 19 – a secretive plan to revise US defense trade controls launched by the Bush Administration in 2002 – led to its demise last year.

                Reps Hyde and Lantos have already introduced a bill (H.R. 5847) aimed at “reinforce[ing] longstanding oversight practices,” and more legislation is on the way. Rep. Ackerman has pledged to introduce a resolution of disapproval that, if passed by veto-proof majorities in both chambers, would block most of the sale. The chances of passing such a resolution in less than a week are slim to none, however. More modest but also more realistic is a resolution planned by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) that would nullify the sales notifications submitted in late June, which would force the administration to resubmit the notification and (presumably) honor the 20-day pre-notification requirement.

                Finally, the hearing does not bode well for Dr. Hillen’s “ten strategic initiatives,” two of which involve defense trade controls. The Assistant Secretary announced the initiatives at the annual meeting of the Defense Trade Advisory Group in April, well before the dust up over the F-16 sale. Any significant changes to the arms export process require at least the tacit cooperation of the HIRC. If Thursday’s hearing is any indicator, the trust and goodwill that are required for such initiatives are now in short supply on the Hill.
                Lawmakers Scold Administration Over F-16 Sale to Pakistan » FAS Strategic Security Blog



                Sure these Guys have a lot of brains

                In one shot these guys are

                1.Not let Pakistan get Chinese Flankers

                2.Restraining its air power slowly

                3.Keeping the dog under the leash

                Thanks Guys,The indians owe you a lot:)):))


                Guys don't worry .IT IS FOR OUR INTRESTS INDIRECTLY

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Yusuf View Post
                  With a full complement of Super Hornets? :)):))
                  nope super hornets can't do anything against the terror of ltte the us has decided to send not one but two full complements of f-22 raptors:))

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    More money for the defense contractors. This business smells like good old fashioned pork barreling.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Pork barrelling?

                      Such words will surely upset the Pakistanis, even if it is apt! :))

                      Though Jinnah was known to enjoy his English breakfast!


                      "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                      I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                      HAKUNA MATATA

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        express permission from the US government before Pakistan can fly the planes outside of its own airspace
                        That's a cool news.

                        I am sure they can enforce this with their tech.
                        There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t..

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Let's see here.....

                          Money is given to Pakistan

                          They turn around and spend it right here in Ft.Worth, TX

                          The production lines stay open and defense workers stay employed

                          End-user agreements (ahem!) are in place

                          The world is a safer place:))

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            express permission from the US government before Pakistan can fly the planes outside of its own airspace
                            BS. Such wordings were present with F-86 Sabre and F-104 Starfighters.
                            Dont count too much on these things. These wordings are kept to allay the fears of adversaries of recipient countries but are toothless and are not meant to be effective. Once when the money changes hand and the hardware is shipped, no one can control as to the uses of these planes.

                            Do you guys really think that Pakistan would take permission from State Department or Pentagon before calling airstrikes deep inside Indian territory using these same planes? Nope.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              ^^ Technology can be used to enforce this. If that is really intended in the first place.
                              There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t..

                              Comment

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