http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040721-7.htmlMemorandum for the Secretary of State
Presidential Determination No. 2004-40
SUBJECT: Eligibility of Iraq to Receive Defense Articles and Services Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended, and the Arms Export Control Act, as Amended
Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 503(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and section 3(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and services to Iraq will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace.
You are authorized and directed to report this finding to the Congress and to publish it in the Federal Register.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/consequences/2004/0712armstrade.htmArms Suppliers Scramble into Iraq
By Thalif Deen
Inter Press Service
July 12, 2004
When the 15-member United Nations Security Council legitimized the US-imposed interim government in Baghdad in June, the five-page unanimous resolution carried a provision little publicized in the media: the lifting of a 14-year arms embargo on Iraq. The Security Council's decision to end military sanctions on Iraq has triggered a rush by the world's weapons dealers to make a grab for a potentially multimillion-dollar new arms market in the already over-armed Middle East.
The former US-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which handed over power to the new Iraqi government on June 28, finalized plans for the purchase of six C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft, 16 Iroquois helicopters and a squadron of 16 low-flying, light reconnaissance aircraft - all for delivery by next April. The proposed purchases were part of an attempt to rebuild and revitalize Iraq's sanctions-hit, weapons-starved military.
But some experts question the strategy. "The flow of weapons to Iraq will not improve the security situation in Iraq, nor will it make the country safe from outside threats or an external invasion," said Naseer H Aruri, chancellor professor (emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts. "With 140,000 US military personnel, 20,000 from the so-called coalition of the willing and another 20,000 contracted civilians, Iraq remains occupied and denied effective sovereignty," said Aruri, author of Dishonest Broker: The US Role in Israel and Palestine.
"Purchasing weapons at this time, therefore, is more relevant to the needs of the occupier relating to the suppression of armed opposition, and consolidation of US hegemony. Moreover, it is not appropriate for the interim government, a subcontracting agency for the United States, to go shopping for arms as numerous arms exporting countries compete feverishly for contracts," he told Inter Press Service (IPS).
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