peace with Egypt

Submitted by Joel Sussman (United States), Nov 21, 2006 at 11:00

Mr. Pipes,

While I agree with your characterization of Israel's peace agreement with Egypt as being a "cool Peace", I do not think it is totally fair to chastise American weapon sales to Egypt.

On the surface one might think we are giving a potential enemy of Israel (and our closest ally) weapons of parity, the real power in weapon systems is in "controlling" parts and service. F-16 need constant re-supplying and re-tooling. Their braking system alone wears out after only a few months. By U.S. being the sole supplier of weapons to countries like Egypt, they indirectly control the use of those weapons by controlling their maintenance. In that way, they may have done Israel a great favor.

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