Xchoboomer

Now anyone who has read this blog knows that I am an Obama fan, but todays headline “US to sell F-15s to Saudis” had me shaking my head and screaming WTF Obama? Did we not learn a lesson with the Osama bin Laden backfire that got us into two wars? Apparently, as an extension of the George W. Bush’s policy to insure against Iranian expansionism and maintain a broader 20 year old arms relationship dating back to the elder Bush’s administration, the Obama folks are in talks to sell 84 of some of the finest aircraft ever made here in the States to the Saudi Arabians worth an estimated $30 billion over 10 years. Now sure, the Saudi’s already fly some of the beasts, and some may say the F-15s are an outdated 40 year old technology, and we have a one up on them with our latest Joint Strike Fighter, but if you’ve ever experienced a squadron of the F-15′s swooping and closing in on you at a low altitude then you understand the shock and awe that these birds can instill in the enemy. And I’m not talking the ceremonial flyover either although those are awesome too. I digress.

To appease the Israeli’s, the F-15′s will not be armed with some of the more sophisticated weapons systems such as the long-ranged standoff systems used for offensive air-to-land and sea attacks. But even more importantly this deal seems like a move by the Obama Administration to entice the Israeli’s into committing to a big ticket purchase of the more sophisticated Joint Strike Fighters. Now I’ve  got to give it to the Obama administration for the creative thinking to stimulate the U.S aerospace industry. But hasn’t that industry been dead for the better part of a decade,  at least here in California where a large sector of our workforce were devastated in the 90′s. Those that remain were out on strike just a few weeks ago. So it seems like too little too late but I’m digressing from the bigger picture.

Now, unlike the United States government, whom just happens to be the largest exporter of arms to the world, I’m no expert on arms dealings, or Middle Eastern affairs, economies, or even terrorism for that matter. But my common sense tells me that equipping the Saudi Arabian government with some of the most strategically powerful man made machines that have ever been produced in order to keep in check the expansionism of a state that has no where to go but nuclear and annexed by the mess that is Afgahnistan and Pakistan is a bad idea. To sell an American hallmark that was built by hard working American citizens who proudly branded our Made in the USA stamp upon to a foreign government who is more like our crack dealer then our friend is un American. If I remember correctly, the majority of the 911 terrorists were Saudi’s and I simply can’t understand how we can trust their kings and princes with their bullshit aristocracy. Ya I’ll buy their oil to get me around town tomorrow but I will never trust the motives of a government whose citizens ruthlessly murdered thousands of our citizens. Some might say well they need us for our Benjamins as much as we need them for their black gold? To that I say China has just overtook us as the leading consumer of fossil based fuels. Whose to say in twenty years allies our no longer allies and enemies our now friends and our own technology is used against us, Israel, and the gains that Americans have bled for in the middle eastern dessert. Now I understand some of the reasons that the Obama administration and the previous administrations have chosen to deal with these bastards but I don’t have to like it.