Obama hurts Israeli capabilities and puts 95,000 Americans out of work in one fell swoop
Last week, I pointed out the damage to Israel's defense capabilities that may be caused by the cancellation of the F-22 Raptor program by the Obama administration. On Monday, Hugh Hewitt asks why the Raptor program cannot be considered economic stimulus in the overall scheme of things. Even if the Raptor wasn’t a guarantor of margins of safety for every American soldier, sailor or Marine operating below its shield, even then you’d have to conclude that the shuttering of its production line in an era of giant job losses was indicative of a remarkable, deeply ideological hostility towards defense spending.Captain Ed expands on the Carter analogy.
The second coming of the Carter Administration is upon us, heralded by this almost wanton sluffing away of a weapon of unmatched capabilities and the simultaneous paring of missile defense appropriations.
The Carter reference, in this case, relates to Jimmy Carter’s cancellation of the B-1 bomber program shortly after taking office. I recall this quite clearly, as the Admiral Emeritus worked for Rockwell International, the prime contractor for the B-1, and would have lost his job had he transferred to that program as he had been planning. Carter decided to cancel the B-1 to focus on the new work being done in stealth technology, but Ronald Reagan reinstated it, convinced that America could walk and chew gum at the same time.Could it be that the Obama administration wanted so badly to put Israel in a bind that it scrapped the whole program at the cost of 95,000 American jobs? Or am I being paranoid?
This seems like a similar circumstance. The question for the Pentagon appears to have been whether to buy more Raptors or wait for the F-35 Lightning II deliveries in a couple of years. The correct answer would have been to do both; buy more Raptors and keep 95,000 people employed, while waiting for the Lightning IIs.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:55 PM
4 Comments:
Perhaps. A better question is why the idiots in Israel canceled production of the Lavi, a next generation fighter plane that would have created tens of thousands of jobs in Israel and made Israel less sensitive to American political swings. It would have been entirely Israeli produced and equipped. Israel is not going to be hurt if it restarts production of a plane that exceeds the capabilities of the American F-22 Raptor. It may even be considered an Israeli economic stimulus, which the economy badly needs. And it will pay for itself in the long run.
Aftre four years of Obama, Israel could likely sell the Lavi to the US military, whatever remains of it.
Yeah, we can talk about Carter, but that was before Israel was a force in technology. Now, if the US scraps plans to build the plane, Israel can build it. Israel could become the leader in modern defense technology in the next four years. This is just surreal.
Yeah, you are being paranoid.
The Left so hates the military that they would rather spend $ on the F-35, which will take years to build up a fleet, than to add jobs and provide for an interim plane.
We will have to see if enough of the 535 solons in D.C. object. My guess is no. Military jobs are NOT public works to these guys.
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