The Pentagon's Dirty Deal

05/29/12

By Tom Andrews

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

The following originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

Should U.S. taxpayers be forced to subsidize the mass murder of Syrian civilians?

Despite objections from both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, the Pentagon believes so. That is why it is fighting congressional attempts to shut down a no-bid contract worth $1 billion to the Russian state-owned arms dealer Rosoboronexport, which happens to be the chief supplier of weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad’s forces have now killed at least 9,000 civilians in response to protests over its regime, according to the United Nations’ last update in March.

Secretary Clinton has passionately urged nations doing business with Syria to cut off trade and arms sales to Assad: “Get on the right side of history!” she admonished. Apparently her cabinet colleague at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, didn’t get the memo about which side of history the administration wants to be on. Pentagon Undersecretary for Policy James Miller acknowledged evidence that Rosoboronexport weapons “are being used by Syrian forces against Syria’s civilian population” in a letter to lawmakers. Nonetheless, being a good customer of Assad’s accomplices is, in his words, “critical to building the capacity of Afghanistan security forces.” So critical, apparently, they get a contract that no one else is allowed to bid on. 

Not bad for a firm that spent years on a U.S. sanctions list for illicit nuclear assistance to Iran.

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