Lawmakers worried about sale of night-vision

[maddezmom]

Source: USA Today

Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 20:16:50 EDT

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to sell up to 4,000 sets of high-tech night-vision goggles to Iraq, despite U.S. government audits showing that the deal could leave a critical U.S. military asset vulnerable to theft or diversion to insurgents fighting American forces.

The previously unpublicized sale is sparking concern from members of Congress.

The goggles are part of a major, $1.4 billion proposed sale of weapons and other military gear for Iraqi forces, which have been faulted along with their Pentagon supervisors for being unable to account for thousands of firearms and other battlefield equipment provided by the United States in recent years.

The sale also would send Humvees, rifles, grenade launchers and cargo trucks to Iraq, which has become a leading foreign buyer of U.S. weaponry. The night-vision goggles, which have capabilities far beyond commercial versions, are particularly sensitive because they give troops such an advantage that the military often launches its most dangerous missions after dark.



Read more: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/06/gns_goggles_060908/

[Teaser]

1. always seeing the big picture...

thanks guys!

[TheWraith]

2. Apparently so that when they get stolen and sold or given to the insurgents...

...they can shoot at us more effectively.

You can't make this shit up.

[Arctic Dave]

3. They would most likely end up in Iran

being massed produced.

[Not Sure]

4. Pure Genius

These guys have an answer for every situation that could spell an end to their dream of permanent occupation of Iraq and perpetual war.

"We're defeating the enemy? Okay, arm them more effectively!" Damn the cost.

[Carnea]

5. You can't make this shit up... fucking morons

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Not morons at all.

See twominuteshate's post above. That's not cynicism. It's stark reality.

[WilyWondr]

7. There is another level to this

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlggrhdigQlDQmaZeT8nBAUWr7RQD90KGL5O1

The Associated Press - May 12, 2008
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A medical helicopter that crashed in Wisconsin did not have two pieces of safety technology the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended to prevent crashes, company officials said Monday.

Mike Allen, senior vice president at Denver-based Air Methods, said the helicopter was not equipped with a computerized voice system to warn of approaching terrain or night vision goggles for the pilot.

Federal regulators have not required the use of either technology but encouraged companies to voluntarily install them. But a shortage of night vision goggles for nonmilitary use and other technical challenges have slowed installation, industry officials said Monday.
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So our EMT pilots can't get em, but the pentagon can sell them....par for the course for these people.

[AdHocSolver]

9. The Pentagon uses our tax dollars to finance these sales.

The night-vision goggle manufacturer makes more profit selling the stuff to the Pentagon than they would selling to the company that operates the medical helicopter. So all their output must be sold to the buyer who gives them the most profit - that is, the Pentagon which has a direct connection to the taxpayer's wallet.

[AdHocSolver]

8. It is all about profit. Sell to the highest bidder.

Our wonderful corporations made huge profits sellling war materiel to BOTH sides during WWII. German subsidiaries of companies like GM, IBM, and hundreds of others achieved huge profits supplying the Germans with business machines, trucks, and a number of products to aid in their war effort.

Prescott Bush, George W's granddaddy, as a financial executive, was an important financial resource to the Nazis from the earliest years through 1943 when he was sighted under the Trading with the Enemies Act.

The Bush administration just promoted the sale of billions of dollars of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia, the most corrupt, unstable, repressive regime on the planet. The Saudis are the people who "invented", sponsored, and financed modern terrorism, who brought us "9/11", who manipulate oil prices, which are driving the economies of the world toward depression, who promoted and financed the Middle East wars, and whose ruling clique is composed of some of the most fanatical religious zealots on earth.

During the "Cold War", Congress put restrictions on what technology could be sold to other countries. It didn't stop the Soviets from developing their own technology. However, it did slow them down so that the "West" could maintain a lead in weapons systems.

Why haven't recent Congresses maintained oversight on where Western technology is sold? We have seen where weapons sold on previous occasions turned up in the possession of terrorists and insurgents.

With pollution, global climate change, destruction of the environment, and constant warfare promoted for profit, this may be the generation that sees the collapse of civilization. This planet has seen the collapse of empires before with a slide into a "Dark Age". We are not immune.

The major cause of these problems is unregulated corporate domination of economies and governments. The people who control these corporations are greedy psychopaths. The inmates are running the asylum. Major changes must be implemented in government to rein in these nut jobs. This is the most important task we have.

[madrchsod]

10. sounds like hillary better get back to work

she`s not running for president so she does`t need to worry about giving hundreds of millions in earmarks to the war machine...

mark levin and hillary need to do their job for the american people not the defense industries