ZGram - 5/18/2002 - "'Allies" cost a bundle!"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGRAM - Where Truth is Destiny

May 18, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

An article that can make you shudder!  Amazing what Gentiles will do!

[START]

=1FAmericans Pay a High Price for Israel's Friendship
By Thomas Stauffer
May 18, 2002

The American people do not know the extent of domestic economic 
losses resulting from U.S. policy in the Middle East, particularly 
the losses which are "directly or consequentially" linked to U.S. 
support for Israel, according to Thomas Stauffer, an international 
oil and finance consultant.

Speaking at a 14 May 2002 Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine 
(CPAP) briefing, Stauffer blamed the public's na=EFvet=E9 on the U.S. 
government, adding that the magnitude of U.S. aid to Israel and the 
hefty tab the American people are picking up is a well kept 
government secret. Stauffer describes U.S. aid to Israel in terms of 
categories, most of which are kept off the government's budget 
balance sheet and conventional U.S aid records. Putting a price tag 
on the total amount of U.S. aid to Israel is difficult because most 
costs are consequential, or indirect. "It would be interesting to 
know how the public would react if the public knew how much it [aid 
to Israel] costs them," Stauffer said.

Stauffer pointed out that Israel enjoys a "remarkable" spectrum of ad 
hoc and special forms of aid, which for years has cost the American 
people billions of dollars in lost trade, contracts, jobs, and 
business ventures in the Middle East. Stauffer broke down U.S 
economic losses into six broad categories, one being the publicly 
known and traceable form of direct aid that the United States also 
provides to Egypt and Jordan. The total price tag for U.S. taxpayers 
is roughly $5.5 billion per year. Stauffer calls this the "simplest 
and smallest'' category of U.S. aid.

Other forms of aid to Israel come as a result of "consequential" aid 
that the majority of Americans know nothing about. This adds up to 
approximately $8 billion annually over a roughly ten-year period. U.S 
aid to Turkey, which amounts to billions of dollars annually, is 
linked to Turkey's relationship with Israel, which in turn is linked 
to U.S. policy toward Israel. Billions of dollars in U.S. aid to 
Central Asian countries, under the pretext of promoting emerging 
democracies, are part of U.S. efforts to confine Iran, which again is 
tied to U.S. policy toward Israel. The same applies to the countries 
of the Caucasus. Aid to Turkey, Central Asia, and the Caucasus should 
be thrown into the "pot" of aid to Israel, Stauffer stressed. 
Contributions by Jewish organizations and individuals are another 
element of consequential aid to Israel. These contributions, 
averaging from $1-1.5 billion are tax-deductible.

But the real losses to Americans, Stauffer argued, come from the 
harder to track forms of aid because there is no government overview. 
One example comes from the Central Bank of Israel's statistics which 
show that in the 1980s the United States bailed out the Israeli 
banking system at a cost of $10-12 billion. Americans probably never 
knew this because there is no trace of the money in American records. 
Israel has never returned the money and is unlikely to be asked to 
return it. Furthermore, the United States has undertaken loan 
guarantees from various sources totaling about $10 billion, of which 
$7 billion have been initialed. Stauffer calls this a "contingent 
liability" on the United States, and asserts that Israel has no 
prospect of repayment. Jewish immigration from Russia to Israel, also 
a hidden cost, is subsided by the United States with some $60-100,000 
million annually.

And then there are the losses to U.S. military institutions. 
According to Stauffer, the United States has poured billions of 
dollars into Israeli military technology, technology that is in 
direct competition with that of the U.S., citing the Israeli Lavi 
fighter program and Arrow missile system as examples. Israel enjoys 
large discounts on what are considered "surplus" U.S. arms, and 
Israeli military firms have the upper hand in relationships with U.S. 
military firms. U.S. contractors, Stauffer asserted, are required to 
subcontract Israeli firms for military components, subcontracts that 
would otherwise have gone to American firms. Furthermore, for every 
dollar of military equipment the United States gives Israel, the 
United States buys 60 cents worth of Israeli equipment. The 
difference here is that while the United States pays with real money, 
Israel does not.

Another "consequential" cost to the U.S. economy with a potential 
price tag of $20-30 billion a day [...must be a typo!] is the oil 
supplies guarantee. Should Israel's oil supply be cut off, Stauffer 
explained, the United States guarantees to provide Israel with oil 
regardless of U.S. oil supply levels.

Another hidden cost to the U.S. economy with a direct effect on the 
American people is trade losses with Israel and with those countries 
Israel perceives as hostile. Stauffer's data reveal that the United 
States' trade deficit with Israel is about $5-5.5 billion. One reason 
for this is that Israel, for example, can buy textile from China, 
re-label it, and sell it to the United States duty-free. But the real 
reason behind the losses, said Stauffer, is the trade imbalance 
between the United States and Israel.

While the United States pays real money for its imports from Israel, 
Israel does not pay real money for its imports from the United 
States. The result is an annual trade imbalance of just under $10 
billion. In terms of jobs, that comes to about a quarter of a million 
American jobs lost.

U.S. sanctions on Libya, Syria, Iran, and Iraq-sanctions linked to 
U.S. policy toward Israel-are costing the U.S. economy about $14 
billion annually in potential trade, Stauffer argued, basing his 
calculations on trade and economic studies. The sanctions, which only 
affect U.S. companies and not their competitors, translate into 
500,000 to 600,000 in lost U.S. jobs.

U.S. policy toward Iraq, presented to the American people in terms of 
protecting Gulf oil supplies, is really meant to weaken Iraq, seen by 
Israel as a potential threat. The Israeli lobby in the United States 
has foiled major U.S trade contracts with Arab and Muslim countries, 
like the 1980s aircraft sales contract with Saudi Arabia that cost 
the U.S. economy between $20-25 billion annually.

So, who is benefiting from this costly U.S. policy toward Israel? 
Congress and presidential candidates, Stauffer claimed, have 
benefited "handsomely" from contributions made by the Jewish 
community. About 20 to 40 percent of the total political campaign 
contributions-tens of billions of dollars-from the Jewish community 
in the United States, go into the pockets of U.S. leaders. As for the 
benefit to the United States, that, Stauffer said, is hard to find.

(Source:  =1Fhttp://www.miftah.org/PrinterF.cfm?DocId=3D745 )

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

"Softly! Softly! I want none but the judges to hear me. The Jews have
already gotten me into a fine mess, as they have many another 
gentleman. I have no desire to furnish further grist for their mills."

(Cicero, Oration in Defense of Flaccus)