jgallandt said:
I totally agree.. And if they are buying this to fight their war on drugs, would this not be beneficial to the U.S.?
Hi jgallandt & others, thanks for your posts.
I would hardly take Chavez' claims about "fighting the war on drugs" at face value, any more than I take the word of a politician at face value who claims to be supporting something "for the children." Chavez is a politician, and a strongly anti-United States one at that. With a strong Anti-United States stance, it is reasonable to want to keep Chavez weak. Strengthening the hand of someone who hates you never makes much sense.
If Chavez wants to beef up his military, fine...but if U.S. technology is involved, it doesn't make much sense to allow it to go through, does it?
terrywoodenpic said:
They can easily buy equivalents from Russia Europe or the Far east.
Then let them. Why help arm a potential enemy?
terrywoodenpic said:
Think of all the real arms sold to Iraq.
That was an A-number one stupid decision. If we learned anything from that, we should stop doing it in the future. One mistake doesn't mean that you're obligated to continue doing the same thing over and over again.
jgallantd said:
But I also do not find Castro to be a threat anymore. To continue the embargo against Cuba I find stupid.
I agree it's stupid, in that we're busy engaging in free trade with a far greater threat, namely China, to whom we cheerfully gave advanced missle technology in the 90's.
painted wolf said:
You may remember Pat Robertson calling for his assassination, not to long ago.
A very politically stupid remark by a close allay of the Bush White House. Even if Robertson supported such an action (which he no doubt does), he immediately destroyed the possibility of doing so by calling for it. If Chavez dies, no matter what the circumstances, many will suspect US involvement--partially due to Robertson's thoughtless remark. (Of course, many would suspect it anyway...but why feed the paranoia?)
Peace