Thalif Deen

The US has accelerated arms sales to some of the world’s most repressive and undemocratic regimes since the 9/11 according to a new report from leading arms trade researchers. The report, from the Arms Trade Resource Centre at New York-based New School University’s World Policy Institute, says the increase in sales and military grants is a payoff to countries that have either joined what the White House calls its “war on terror” or have backed the US in its military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the report, US-supplied arms are involved in a majority of the world’s active conflicts, including Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Colombia, Pakistan, Israel, and the Philippines. The study cites the recent decision by the Bush administration to provide new F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan while pledging comparable high-tech military hardware to India. And the tens of millions of dollars in US arms transfers to Uzbekistan, where more than 160 anti-government demonstrators were killed last week, “exemplify the negative consequences of arming repressive regimes,” it says.

According to the study, countries defined as “undemocratic” in the State Department’s annual human rights report also are major recipients of US military aid or US weapons systems. These include: Saudi Arabia ($1.1 billion in 2003), Egypt ($1.0 billion), Kuwait ($153 million), UAE ($110 million), and Uzbekistan ($33 million).

The largest US military aid programme - labelled Foreign Military Financing (FMF) - increased by as much as 68 per cent from 2001 to 2003, rising from $3.5 billion to nearly $6.0 billion. Under FMF, recipient nations get outright US grants on condition these funds are used only for the purchase of US weapons systems, thereby ploughing back the money to the multi-billion-dollar US defence industry. The only countries that are exceptions to the rule are Israel and Egypt, the two close US allies.

Two dozen nations including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan either became first-time recipients of FMF during this period or were restored to the programme after long absences. As a result, the number of countries receiving FMF assistance increased from 48 to 71 between 2001 and 2005.

Natalie J Goldring, executive director of the security studies programme at the School of Foreign Service at Washington-based Georgetown University, said the Bush administration has failed to demonstrate any link between open-ended weapons transfers and success in fighting terrorists.

“While the US doles out billions of dollars in foreign aid every year, Washington tends to favour military aid and weapons sales over other forms of aid, de-prioritising humanitarian, health and development aid, even though these types of foreign aid have long-term constructive impact,” the study says.

The US arms trade policies mirror the approach of 30 years ago, when then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger travelled the world, “treating arms transfers as if they were party favours,” Goldring said. — IPS