“You Can’t Buy Me Love” (uh, support)
GS Don Morris, Ph.D.

So you still think you can buy support? The operational policy of the USA government is quite simple; create a story that says your country is at risk of attack from Iran and indicate that you are possibly in the crosshairs of our enemy and we would like to help you out. Our plan is simple: we provide the following gifts to you over the next 10 years:

· $20 billion of advanced arms - including satellite guided bombs, upgrades to jet fighters and new naval vessels - to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states
· Egypt on a 10-year, $13 billion military assistance agreement

The Arab nations we are attempting to help us with our struggles in Iraq demonstrated their gratitude today. The United States won no specific new promises of Arab help for struggling Iraq after a gathering Tuesday of several nations listed as recipients of an expanded aid and weapons package for friendly states in the region. One headline read:

Rice, Gates win no new Arab help in Iraq

Iraq's Arab neighbors did repeat a general pledge to promote stability in Iraq. We had asked them to simply meet some of their past promises of relief Iraq's heavy international debt, additional foreign aid and help tamping down violence inside Iraq.

Today Ms. Rice indicated there were no fresh commitments from the Arabs. A statement issued following a nine-nation meeting promised only "to continue to support Iraq and expand their financial and political support," and restated a general commitment to blocking would-be terrorists and financing that supports them from entering Iraq.

Unity against Iran is not a hard sell. Washington cannot get Iraq’s Arab neighbors to do much of anything for Iraq or our USA policy. Although possessing oil wealth beyond comprehension, Arab money and diplomatic support has lagged behind Europe's.

We also know that these same “neighborly” Arab countries covertly support attacks inside Iraq. Some of the violence targets U.S. forces and some of it Shiite militias and neighborhoods.

Knowing all of this to be true and accurate, what does the USA do? We arm Israel’s direct neighbors and enemies with ample new weapons; we receive nothing in return from these Arab countries, no assistance, no change in terrorist behavior, no accountability and perhaps what is least understood by our American leadership is we receive no respect from them; instead we are perceived as weak, unethical according to their value system and nothing more than a paper tiger. Meanwhile, they receive billions upon billions of dollars in weapons and military assistance.

The actions of this current USA government demonstrates again either their ignorance with regards to Arab culture or lack of courage to do what is right and correct for our citizens. These same Arab countries are beating us without having to fire a shot. We give these new weapons to Arab governments that are themselves weak and likely to crumble in the coming few years. The end result will be that we have armed an even more powerful enemy!