Bombs and Bulldozers Are Us
More Weapons to Israel to Power a Genocide
I recently ordered a few items from Amazon. Random stuff like a shower caddy, an iPhone case, and lamp sockets. It won’t surprise you to learn they were all “Made in China.”
I ordered some clothes from a fancy online retailer. The clothes said “Designed in California” but they were, of course, Made in China.
What is America making? What are we sending overseas? Bombs and bulldozers for the devastation and dismantlement of Gaza and other Palestinian Territories. Consider this article from Ken Klippenstein (excerpt follows), which details roughly $10 billion in “foreign aid” to Israel.
Here’s what Klippenstein had to say:
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While the entire news media is focused on Trump’s suspension of arms for Ukraine, the administration is arming Israel to the teeth. The nature of the bombs being sold indicates Israel’s military is preparing to continue its bombing campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen; as well as preparing for possible war with Iran.
Included in the sales are tens of thousands of controversial 2,000 lb. bombs so heavily criticized during the Gaza war for their destructive capacity, and thousands of “Hellfire” missiles that are used for targeted killings.
When I visited the Defense Security Cooperation Agency website’s section for major arms sales to see a breakdown of the weapons, I was immediately struck by the fact that five of the last six sales were to Israel.
The U.S. bombs and missiles being sent to Israel, almost all made by Boeing, are included in:
February 28 sale worth $2.04 billion, including:
35,529 MK 84 (general purpose) or BLU-117 (hardened) 2,000-pound bomb bodies (or combination of both).
4,000 I-2000 (hardened) 2,000 lb. advanced penetrator warheads for 2,000-pound bomb bodies.
February 28 sale worth $675.7 million, including:
201 MK 83 MOD 4/MOD 5 general purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
4,799 newer BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
1,500 KMU-559C/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) anti-jam enhanced GPS guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
3,500 KMU-559J/B JDAM guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
February 7 sale worth $660 million, including:
3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles, aircraft, helicopter and drone carried, used to attack vehicles and individuals.
February 7 sale worth $6.75 billion, including:
2,166 GBU-39/B 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) Increment 1.
2,800 MK 82 General Purpose, 500-pound bomb bomb bodies.
13,000 KMU-556 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to MK-84 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
3,475 KMU-557 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to BLU-109 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
1,004 KMU JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to 500-pound GBU-38v1 bomb bodies.
17,475 FMU-152A/B multi-function fuzes for bombs.
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Holy shit! Nearly thirty-six thousand 2000-pound bombs! That is 36 kilotons, roughly the equivalent of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. And that’s not including the assorted 1000- and 500-pound bombs tossed into the mix.
This is an astonishing amount of ordnance for Israel to continue its ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.
President Trump, of course, has the full support of most Democrats in sending this stockpile of destruction to Israel. Call it bipartisan genocidal enablement.
America sure is an “exceptional” nation. No nation is better at bombing others—or supplying the bombs for others like Israel to do so—then flattening what remains with “Made in USA” bulldozers.
Honestly, I wish my country made shower caddies, iPhone cases, and lamp sockets instead of bombs and bulldozers. Don’t you?
Acquisition of military equipment is a competition-free market, notwithstanding the competition phase of major new weapons systems. Once a contractor is selected, contracts are either cost-plus or the heralded 'fixed cost'. But in either case, there is no incentive to reduce future costs - ensuring bonuses for defense executives and charitable contributions to politicians.
In spite of the laws of thermodynamics that say it is impossible, defense spending is a perpetual motion machine. It will be until, and likely after, the debt bomb blows up.
It is sadly clear, as I said from the start of this ceasefire, that the US and Israel had no intention of ever getting to Phase II. They are already framing ways to blame Hamas, even though Israel has repeatedly violated the terms. These weapons being sent that are so well detailed here, coupled with the preemptive positioning of "anti-terror" laws to truncate anti-Israel protests, and the continuing talk of a "Riviera in Gaza" just show that a resumption, and intensification of the genocide is near.