[w4WBthjv]

This is your Nobel Peace Prize winner, folks. This is the Messiah who would bring peace and end all war on earth.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/critic...ry?id=12192558

Critics Slam Obama Administration for 'Hiding' Massive Saudi Arms Deal

Largest Arms Deal In U.S. History Pushed While Congress In Recess

By MATTHEW MOSK
Nov. 19, 2010

The Obama administration has quietly forged ahead with its proposal to sell $60 billion worth of fighter jets and attack helicopters to Saudi Arabia unhampered by Congress, despite questions raised in legislative inquiries and in an internal congressional report about the wisdom of the deal.

The massive arms deal would be the single largest sale of weapons to a foreign nation in the history of the U.S., outfitting Saudi Arabia with a fully modernized, potent new air force.

"Our six-decade-long security relationship with Saudi Arabia is a primary security pillar in the region," Defense Sec. Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote in a Nov. 16 letter to congress. "This package continues that tradition."

But some critics are questioning the deal, and the stealthy effort by the Obama administration to avoid a more probing congressional review by notifying Congress last month, just as members were headed home for the November elections. Congress had 30 days to raise objections -- a review period that concludes Saturday. With most members leaving Washington today, any significant effort to block the deal appears dead for now, officials said.

"I do not think there will be any action" to hold up the sale, Rep. Howard Berman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Bloomberg News Thursday.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat, submitted a resolution this week to try and block the deal, and was among those who objected to the way the administration approached the required congressional review.

"Hiding this in a recess announcement is a sign of how unpopular it is," he said. "It's bad policy that now is further tainted by shameful process."

[DJkillos]

Congress had 30 days to raise objections. Huh. That's exactly what happened in 2008.

Bush Announces $20 Billion Arms Deal for Saudis
January 14, 2008

President Bush, on his first visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday, delivered a major arms deal aimed at countering the perceived threat from Iran.

Bush also met with Saudi King Abdullah in talks expected to cover the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The arms sale, which Congress has 30 days to review, would amount to $20 billion worth of weapons, including precision-guided bombs. It is "a pretty big package, lots of pieces," national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters on Air Force One.

The sale is an important part of the U.S. strategy to bolster the defenses of oil-producing Gulf nations, such as Saudi Arabia, against threats from Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states with majority Sunni Muslim populations, harbor deep suspicions about Shiite Iran.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=18076351