What a concept; to actually help the people instead of giving them weaponry
It is no secret that the bulk of our aid to countries like Egypt and Israel is in the form of weaponry and military enhancement. When you have several countries armed through the teeth it is a wonder they don’t want to take military action against their adversaries.
But not only are these weapons used against adversaries; they are used against their own people in order to intimidate and repress any kind of dissent; thus we also facilitate the establishment of tyrannical dictators.
American taxpayers give $1.5 billion dollars a year in foreign aid to Egypt, second only to Israel who receives in addition to the foreign assistance, the United States has provided Israel with $625 million to develop and deploy the Arrow antimissile missile (an ongoing project), $1.3 billion to develop the Lavi aircraft (cancelled), $200 million to develop the Merkava tank (operative), $130 million to develop the high energy laser anti-missile system (ongoing), and other military projects. In FY2000 the United States provided Israel an additional $1.2 billion to fund the Wye agreement, and in FY2002 the United States provided an additional $200 million in anti-terror assistance. For FY2003, the Administration requested $600 million in economic, $2.1 billion in military, and $60 million in migration resettlement assistance. For FY2004, the Administration requested $480 million in economic, $2.16 billion in military, and $50 million in migration resettlement assistance."
In other words, we make it easier for them to go to war, to fight each other. If we totally withdrew any and all military aid to all of the Middle East countries and replace it with schools, teachers, books, health assistance, food and training for trades and other non-military endeavors…the Middle East would finally get peace.
Tear gas canisters made in the USA used against Egyptian protesters.
Of course, some may argue that this kind of thing would hurt the US economy because we produce all these weapons and that would mean a drop in production and revenue. But it is a low price to pay for a lasting peace.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/egypt-protest-police-us-made-tear-gas-demonstrators/story?id=12785598
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Egypt.Giza.Sphinx