[size=18]US eyes big Pakistan, India arms sales[/size]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is maneuvering to balance possible big new U.S. arms sales to archrivals India and Pakistan in the new year.
In the past week, U.S. Vice PresidentDick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have made separate visits, not announced in advance, to Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.
Before the October earthquake, Pakistan had asked about buying as many as 75 new F-16C/D models and 11 refurbished F-16s, Air Force Lt. Gen. JeffreyKohler said in May.
In May, the Pentagon told Congress it was proposing to let Pakistan buy 300 AIM-9M-1/2 "Sidewinder" heat-seeking, air-to-air missiles and 60 Harpoon missiles with a combined value of up to $226 million.
Separately, the United States is poised to push in the new year for major arms sales to India, a hedge against China's growing regional military clout and influence.
The Bush administration is weighing, among other things, whether to let India buy a state-of-the-art radar system as part of a U.S. bid for a potential $5 billion contract to supply 126 multi-role fighters, Kohler said in the interview.
New Delhi's ultimate choice of its next fighter aircraft "will be a fairly significant political statement," he said.
India is widely said to be interested also in a range of U.S. arms, including P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, PAC-3 anti-missile systems and electronic warfare systems.
Analysts fear U.S. sales could fuel an arms race between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since the 1947 partition of British India.
[b]If their rivalry flared anew, the United States could be on the hook to deliver sophisticated weaponry to a region on the brink of war, said Matt Schroeder of the Federation of American Scientists' arms sales monitoring project. [/b]
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051225/pl_nm/arms_india_pakistan_dc_1]Yahoo News[/url]
The U.S will make money but the weapons will never be used, it will jus be money well wasted.
If India Buy, then Pakistan will also HAVE to buy, and if Pakistan buy, then India will HAVE to buy. cuz if ones got less weaponery than the others, or less sophisticated, then there is a danger.
But, having bought the dangerous weapons, both countries will be reluctent to use them becuz they know that if we attack, then they can attack immediately also. And if they buy the weapons listed, then its safe to say that both countires will have the other countires major cities in range, and can wipe out trade.
I hope both leaders of the respective countires can realise this, and mutually agree to not buy weaponery offa america.
The U.S have manouvered a grand oppurtunity buy going public with the fact that they intend to sell to bth countires, normally it is done in secret. But the U.S gta write off the debt they have some how.
Bloody devils
_____________- -SupeRazor- -_______________
Some ppl make their goals the stars.
They may live n die n never reach the stars,
but in the darkness of the night, those stars will guide them to their destination.
Becuz they made them in their eyesight