In a "doomsday" budget, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to cut 10,000
city employees, and close 30 to 40 firehouses, unless state lawmakers
bail out the municipal government. His draconian contingency plan calls
for $1 billion in cuts. Hardest hit will be police, fire, and sanitation
workers, after school programs, and even the closing of two of the
city's fabled zoos, one located in Queens, and the other in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, the extreme right wing regime of Israel's Ariel Sharon is
rolling in greenbacks, thanks to the deep pockets of the heavily duped
American taxpayers. In the "Omnibus Appropriation Bill," passed on Feb.
13, 2003, the U.S. Congress gave the Likudnik-dominated government $600
million in economic aid, $2.1 billion in military aid, plus $60 million
for something called, "refugee resettlement" (WRMEA, 04/03).
These freebees don't include the $10 billion in loan guarantees and $4
billion in additional military aid, that the Sharonists demanded in
January, 2003. It's possible that even more moneys for Israel could be
filtered to it, via the $79 billion Iraqi War budget, in a
"supplemental" anti-terrorism appropriation, or some other covert
budgetary device.
Bloomberg is hoping to squeeze financial aid from the state government
in Albany to avoid the more drastic budget cuts. This could prove
extremely difficult, since New York State is running a $12 billion
deficit. In order for the state to help out, it would itself have to
raise even more taxes.
U.S. military loans to Israel, according to Congressional researchers
are "converted to grants," and eventually "forgiven by Congress." This
is why the Israelis can boast that they have never "defaulted on a U.S.
government loan." Aid to Israel is also given in a "lump sum" at the
start of the fiscal year, which leaves the U.S. to borrow from future
revenues to pay it off. Other countries, less favored, receive their aid
in quarterly payments. In fact, Associate Professor Stephen Zunes of San
Francisco U., pointed out, that "Israel even lends some of the money
back through U.S. treasury bills and collect the additional interest"
(WRMEA.com).
Despite all the aid to Israel over the years, Zunes said, (01/26/01),
"We are less secure than ever, both in terms of U.S. interests abroad
and for individual Americans. There is a growing and increasing
hostility of the average Arab towards the U.S. In the long term, peace
and cooperation with the vast Arab world is far more important for U.S.
interests than this alliance with Israel. This is not only an issue for
those who are working for Palestinian rights, but it also jeopardizes
the entire agenda of those of us concerned about human rights, concerned
about arms control, concerned about international law" (WRMEA.com). Keep
in mind that Professor Zunes was writing all of this before 9/11 and the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Ironies abound here. No one suffered more from the 9/11 terrorist attack
than New Yorkers, especially its brave police, firemen and rescue
workers, and their families. And, as Professor Zunes correctly
predicted, the increased Arab "hostility" to the U.S., as a result of
our one-sided favoritism towards Israel, has made all of us "less secure."
On top of that, we now have the mayor of NYC, ready to layoff police and
firemen and to close fire houses in order to balance the municipal
budget. Yet, federal largess to Zionist Israel, in the billions of
dollars annually, continues unabated, without any real consideration of
its justification, or its consequences to our national well-being.
Actually, things are worse than they appear. According to Thomas
Stauffer, a consulting economist, aid to Israel has really cost U.S.
taxpayers, from 1956-2002, about $1.7 trillion. This is more than $5,700
per person. In a brilliant analysis, ("Middle East Policy," Spring,
2003), he set out, in a comprehensive study, six identifiable areas of
relevant and connected cost: 1. Oil Crisis; 2. Military and economic
aid; 3. Special and ad hoc aid; 4. Lost trade and employment; 5. Energy,
and; 6. Defense of the Gulf, some of which is detailed below.
At the center of the $1.7 trillion costs, Stauffer insisted, is the U.S.
backing of "Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the
Palestinians." This conflict has been caused by the refusal of the
Israelis to give back the land that it stole from the Palestinians, in
the 1967 War (UN Sec. Res. 242). So far, Stauffer figures, that "bill
adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War" (See also,
Christian Science Monitor, "Economist Tallies Swelling Cost of Israel to
U.S.," David R. Francis, 12/09/02).
Stauffer's report shows that "U.S. policy and trade sanctions reduce
U.S. exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000
or so American jobs." He estimates, "Not requiring Israel to use its
U.S. aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs
another 125,000 jobs." Israel had also blocked some major U.S. arms
sales, such as 15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s.
Stauffer indicates that cost at "$40 billion over 10 years." Fear that
the Arab nations might use their oil clout against us has required the
U.S. to set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The economist set that
cost, conservatively, at "$134 billion."
Question: How much longer are the American people going to put up with
this gross distortion of priorities that mocks our Republic?
William Hughes is a Baltimore attorney and the author of
"Andrew Jackson
vs. New World Order" (Authors Choice Press), which is available online.
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