Israel Throws US Under The Bus

The Nunn-Lugar is the 1992 Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program within the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The CTR website says "the purpose of the CTR Program is to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states." CTR provides funding and expertise for states such as Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to decommission nuclear, biological and chemical weapon stockpiles as agreed by the Soviet Union under former disarmament treaties. Under scrutiny of American contractors warheads are stockpiled at designated sites in Russia; CTR expanded its mission to include protecting against WMD "on the move" by enhancing land and maritime border security in the former Soviet Union. On December 22, 2010 the Senate voted 71 to 26 (13 Republicans defied their leadership) in favor of New Start – a strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia to further reduce their nuclear arsenals and resume the on-site inspections that lapsed in December 2009 with the expiration of the original Start law.  

The letter Romney mentions that was signed by 38 Democratic Senators was in April 2010 and it was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and forwarded to the President. The pro-Israel group AIPAC organized the initiation of the letter because the President was irritated with Israel going against the 2001 US request to halt its expansion of settlements in Palestinian territories. During the President’s transition the Israelis and Palestinians were at war in Gaza and on paper the Gaza War ended in 2009 with unilateral cease fires. Despite knowing for years what was necessary to attain peace, in March 2010 via Vice President’s Biden’s visit to Israel the US was told by Israel’s Interior Ministry that they were building new settlements in contested East Jerusalem. Israel’s settlements within Palestinian territories are the subject of wide international scorn and have been deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice and are not supported by any country in the world.

So, Romney’s snide comments are another sign he is not ready to be President. Obama got a better deal with Russia than the Nunn-Lugar and restored on-site inspections of nuclear weapons. And, I don’t appreciate our representatives thinking it is okay for Israel to – throw us under the bus - especially since we give them about $3 billion a year.