Official: $20 billion arms sale to Saudis

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/07/28/saudi.arms/


The United States is developing a proposed $20 billion, 10-year arms sales package for Saudi Arabia. The proposed sale is intended to upgrade the Saudi military's ability to counter possible Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf region has been discuessed. The discussions with the Saudis are still going on and the arms sale deal has not been completed. Israel is expected to raise objections to the arms package, and has expressed concerns about previous Saudi arms deals.

The concept of “nuclear credibility.” The term essentially means that a country with these weapons must appear to be willing and able to use these weapons. Whether the country would actually unleash these horrible weapons upon someone else is not of much importance. Only the appearance that a country could and would is the most important part. Having nuclear creditability meant that you have the weapons and you have the guts to actually unleash such a horrible terror. Naturally, no country wants to use these weapons due to the fact that they are so destructive and also that there would be suicidal consequences that followed. If you use the bomb, you are probably going to be bombed as well. Therefore, the only important part of the arms race was to build these horrible weapons to use them only as a threat in order to deter something from happening. It troubles me to know that all this money was spent simply on the fact that they might be used. I am obviously glad that the arms race did not turn into a nuclear war. But it is hard for me to accept that all that money that could have gone to education, health care, and other government programs went to building bombs that could kill millions of people and also bring this kind of destruction to our country. What if we had used one of these bombs during the arms race? How many bombs would have been dropped on our country in response to our offensive? People say that you should hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. I guess that is the approach the government took in the arms race.