The United States exports most of its weapons to human
rights abusers, particularly in the Middle East.
A new report said that more than half of the top 25 recipients of U.S.
military equipment in the developing world were defined as undemocratic by
the State Department. The New York-based Arms Resource Center said that in
2003 13 nations received more than $2.7 billion in U.S. weaponry under the
Foreign Military Sales and Commercial Sales programs.
The center, part of the World Peace Institute, cited the top recipients
as Saudi Arabia, with $1.1 billion; Egypt, $1 billion; Kuwait, $153 million;
and the United Arab Emirates, with $110 million, Middle East Newsline reported.
"In all, four of the five top U.S. arms recipients in the developing
world had major issues, ranging from undemocratic governments, to poor human
rights records across the board, to patterns of serious abuse," the Arms
Resource Center report, entitled "U.S. Weapons at War 2005: Promoting
Freedom of Fueling Conflict," said.
The report said Israel received $845.6 million in U.S. arms exports in
2003. The United States transferred weapons to 18 of the 25 countries
involved in active conflicts, including Israel and Pakistan.
Twenty of the top 25 U.S. arms clients in the developing world were
classified as either undemocratic regimes or major human rights abusers, the
report said. The report based its findings on the State Department's annual
Human Rights Report.
In 2004, Congress debated several initiatives to reduce or eliminate
funding to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Bush administration defeated both
attempts.
The largest U.S. military aid program, Foreign Military Financing,
increased by 68 percent between 2001 and 2003, from $3.5 billion to nearly
$6 billion per year. The report said Jordan received one of the largest
increases in military aid, $525 million. Bahrain received a $90 million
increase.
In 2002, Algeria became a new recipient of FMF. The report said Algeria
has sought combat aircraft from the United States.
"Arming undemocratic governments all too often helps to enhance their
power, frequently fueling conflict or enabling human rights abuses in the
process," the report said. "These blows to the reputation of the United
States are in turn impediments to winning the 'war of ideas' in the Muslim
world and beyond, a critical element in drying up financial and political
support for terrorist organizations like Al Qaida."
The report warned that U.S. arms and military technology could end up in
the hands of U.S. adversaries. The report cited Iraq in the 1980s and Al
Qaida in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
"The time has come to impose greater scrutiny on U.S. arms transfers and
military aid programs," William Hartung, director of the Arms Resource
Center, said. "They are not simply another tool in the foreign policy
toolbox, to be used to win friends and intimidate adversaries as needed."
