Thursday, 18 January 2007
 

ChiComs shoot down weather satellite
Contributed by Bill Faith

I'm taking up way too much room on this site lately, making it way too far from the top of the site to the first thing by any of the other Dogs. If you haven't read this yet read it here.

(I may get in the habit of doing this on a lot of my posts after they've been here a day or so for our regulars to see. I'm tired of Old War Dogs looking like a one-Dog site at first glance. I have a one-Dog site.)

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 18, 2007 at 03:09 PM in Bill Faith, China | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 26 July 2006
 

So how much do we trust our friends?
Contributed by Bill Faith

Showdown Brewing Over F-22 Sales

Senate appropriators this week moved to keep in place restrictions that prohibit the Air Force from selling its F-22A fighter to other nations, setting up a conference showdown with their House counterparts who support the idea.

During a July 18 Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee mark-up of the fiscal year 2007 Pentagon spending bill, panel Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) confirmed the measure would keep in place the so-called “Obey Amendment.”

Tacked onto the FY-98 defense spending measure by Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the provision reflected lawmakers' concerns at that time about secretive technologies planned for the F-22A being passed to potential U.S. adversaries. It prohibits the service from selling the Raptor to any other nation. Obey is now the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.

[Read on.]

Does it sound to anyone but me like someone's being a little too cautious here? Should we sell top of the line fighters to China or Iran, or even to Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Pakistan? Not just "No," but "Hell no!" On the other hand, I can't think of any reason in the world that Israel, Japan, Taiwan, Great Britain, Australia, or any of several other allies, shouldn't have the best weapons money can buy. When it hits the fan (I said "when", not "if") with Iran or North Korea, we're going to be glad to have all the help we can get, and we need them to be armed with the best. Is it really that complicated?

Contributed by Bill Faith on July 26, 2006 at 06:41 AM in Bill Faith, China, Current Affairs, Islamism Delenda Est, NoKo, US Air Force | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack