31 March 2012By Franklin Lamb
How Many Violations of US Arms Laws are Too
Many?
It depends whether the miscreant enjoys "We will
always have your back regardless"…. status
On March 6, 2012, the US Congressional Research
Service released a report to the US Congress
concerning Restrictions on the use of American weapons
by recipient countries. For those who have followed
the subject there was not a whole lot new in the CRS
study, yet it is instructive in identifying Israel
once again as far and away the most egregious violator
of virtually every provision of every US law which
purports to regulate how American weapons are used.
According to one CRS researcher, requesting
anonymity during a Skype conversation and subsequent
memo:
"An intern and I decided, almost for amusement, to
count violations of US Arms Export Control laws by
Israel between the date of ACEA enactment, 1976,
through last month and we estimated more than 2.5
million violations if we applied the law given the
legislative history and intent of Congress at the time
of its passage. We based that figure on our estimation
of each individual violation of the act as well as of
the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act. It could be firing a
US 155 mm artillery shell, various missiles, bombs,
rockets and of course cluster munitions. For example,
were Israel brought before a Court, the prosecutors
would surely argue that each cluster booklet dropped
on Lebanon in 2006 was a separate violation plus the
two million estimated dropped during the 1982 invasion
of Lebanon and during the 1978, 1993 and 1996
invasions. Add to this figure Israel's records of
violating US Arms export laws in Gaza, the West Bank
and Syria and the true number is surely several
million violations. Essentially all committed with
impunity."
In accordance with U.S. law, the U.S. Government is
mandated to enforce strict conditions on the use
against civilians, of weapons it transfers to foreign
recipients. Violations of these conditions can lead to
the suspension of deliveries or termination of
contracts for such defense items, and even the cutting
off of all aid to the violating country.
Section 3(a) of the 1976 US Arms Export Control Act (AECA)
sets the standards for countries to be eligible to
receive American arms and it also sets express
conditions on the uses to which these arms may be put.
Section 4 of the AECA states that U.S. weapons shall
be sold to friendly countries "solely" for use in
"legitimate self-defense, for use in "internal
security," and to enable the recipient country to
participate in "collective measures requested by the
United Nations for the purpose of maintaining or
restoring international peace and security."
Should the President or Congress determine pursuant to
section 3(c)(3)(A) of the Arms Export Control Act that
a "substantial violation" by a foreign country of an
applicable agreement governing an arms sale or grant
has occurred, then that country is automatically
ineligible for further U.S. military hardware. This
action would also terminate provision of credits, loan
guarantees, cash sales, and deliveries pursuant to
previous sales or grants. Other options include
suspension of deliveries of defense items already
ordered and refusal to allow new arms orders.
The United States has only once used such an option
against Israel.
Questions raised by researchers in Beirut during the
summer of 1982 and by Washington Post journalist
Jonathan Randal regarding the use of U.S.-supplied
military equipment by Israel in Lebanon in June and
July 1982, led the Reagan Administration to determine
on July 15, 1982, that Israel "may" have violated its
July 23, 1952, Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement
with the United States (TIAS 2675) and the AECA.
The pertinent language of the 1952 agreement between
Israel and the United States states: "The Government
of Israel assures the United States Government that
such equipment, materials, or services as may be
acquired from the United States … are required for and
will be used solely to maintain its internal security,
its legitimate self-defense, or to permit it to
participate in the defense of the area of which it is
a part, or in United Nations collective security
arrangements and measures, and that it will not
undertake any act of aggression against any other
state."
Alarm centered on whether or not Israel had used
U.S.-supplied antipersonnel cluster bombs against
civilian targets during its carpet bombing West Beirut
during the nearly three month siege.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held hearings on
this issue in July and August 1982. On July 19, 1982,
the Reagan Administration announced that it would
prohibit new exports of cluster bombs to Israel. This
prohibition was lifted by the Reagan Administration in
November 1988 under US Israel lobby pressure on the
White House designed to assist the Presidential
campaign of George H. W. Bush against Senator Walter
Mondale.
The facts of this case which mainly centered on events
in Lebanon are instructive. During the 1973 Ramadan
war, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, watching Arab
forces advance on Israel troops following the October
6 Egyptian and Syrian offensive, and being advised by
the Israeli Defense Ministry of a pending disaster,
threatened President Nixon with Israel using nuclear
weapons unless the US rescued Israel. Nixon's
immediate response was to order a massive air lift to
Israel of US arms stockpiled for use in Vietnam at
Clark air force base near Subic Bay, Philippines. The
base commander at Clark immediately resigned because
being on the defensive in Vietnam, he advised
Washington US troops needed those weapons. Included
were eight types of US cluster bombs including the
M-42, M-46,CBU-58 A/B, APAM (BLU) 77/B, MK 20 "Rockeye",
MK 118 and he M-43 "Birdie" as the U.S. Marines in
Beirut referred to the M-43 it in late 1982 and 1983.
During a late June 1982 meeting with Israeli Prime
Minister Begin, Reagan was handed a note from George
Shultz. Based on the information he had in hand,
Reagan directly told Begin that the US had reliable
information than Israel was using American weapons
against civilians in Lebanon. At this point according
to Reagan, Begin became very agitated. He lowered his
glasses and while glaring at Reagan and shaking his
index finger said, "Mr. President, Israel has never
and would never use American weapons against civilians
and to claim otherwise is a blood libel against every
Jew, everywhere." Following their meeting Reagan told
Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, as reported by
Weinberger and by various biographers of Reagan that
"I did not know what the term "blood libel" meant, but
I know that the man looked me straight in the eyes and
lied to me."
The original Secretary of State George Schultz
suggestion to Reagan of Israel using two types (the
M-42 and the CBU-58) of American cluster bombs was
soon changed to the charge that Israel in fact used
all eight types of American cluster bombs Nixon had
sent to Meir during October 1973.
Proof of the use of the eight types of US cluster
bombs was delivered to an assembly of US Pentagon and
other officials in late July 1982 at the Indian Head
Ordnance facility on the Potomac River in Southern
Maryland on instructions from the late American
Journalist Janet Lee Stevens to this observer.
Substantive and still preserved demonstrative and
physical evidence, including photographs and US
cluster bombs, some of which still were filled with
the high explosive minol, that were carried in my
suitcase, that had been gathered from around West
Beirut by Janet and her research team that included
Palestinian fighters delegated by Yassir Arafat and
Khalil al Wazir (Abu Jihad) some Marabatoun fighters,
as well several Amal milita as well as this observer
to aid with the task.
The US / Israel lobby accurately considers American
arms control laws as meaningless. The prohibitions
against Israel's use of American weapons against
civilians have not, are not and in all likelihood will
never be enforced against Israel given the regime's
continuing occupation of much of the US government.
The once cherished American value of building a nation
based on humane laws and the American national
security interest of achieving a foreign policy that
deals on the basis of equality with other nations have
been sacrificed so as to delay the inevitable collapse
of the apartheid colonial enterprise implanted on
Palestine.
The Obama "we've got your back regardless"
genuflection endangers America as surely as it
threatens with US weapons, every country in the Middle
East and beyond that may even contemplate challenging
Zionism's regional hegemony.
It's high time for true American patriots to take back
their country and rejoin the community of nations on
the basis of equality and mutual respect for all,
entangling and corrupting alliances with none.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is
reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com
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