BakerMuckraker: Arms Hypocrisy, Blissful Biking

Large news organizations rarely give sufficient coverage to the findings of important reports. Today, though the New York Times did not put it on the front page, where it rightfully belongs, it did tell its readers about a new study from the World Policy Institute that’s deeply troubling.

It reveals the United States' central role as a supplier of weapons that fuel ongoing conflicts – ones where human rights violations are rampant. The hypocrisy, given all the palaver from the White House, and many Americans’ incorrect understanding of this country’s true role in world affairs, is stunning. Read a bit here from the WPI report’s executive summary, and then send it to friends who buy the peace talk coming from Washington:

>Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President Bush’s pledge to "end tyranny in our world" than the United States’ role as the world’s leading arms exporting nation. Although arms sales are often justified on the basis of their purported benefits, from securing access to overseas military facilities to rewarding coalition allies in conflicts such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, these alleged benefits often come at a high price. All too often, U.S. arms transfers end up fueling conflict, arming human rights abusers, or falling into the hands of U.S. adversaries. As in the case of recent decisions to provide new F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan, while pledging comparable high-tech military hardware to its rival India, U.S. arms sometimes go to both sides in long brewing conflicts, ratcheting up tensions and giving both sides better firepower with which to threaten each other. Far from serving as a force for security and stability, U.S. weapons sales frequently serve to empower unstable, undemocratic regimes to the detriment of U.S. and global security.