A Thousand Words

 --Moro Islamic Liberation Front   

It is the height of madness to give radical Islamists 
... new and more powerful weapons 
-- Special Ops Veterans Blast Obama’s Weapons Deal 
with the Muslim Brotherhood 
_______________________

International gun control doesn't get much press, but it surely impacts the nature of the Global War on Terror, which should be the premier violence issue in the United States today (but is not.)

Ranger recently came across a photo heading an article on last fall's Fillipino peace deal (Philippine Peace Deal Signed), and noted the Moro Islamic Liberation Front members sounding off with a hearty "Allahu Akhbar" were carrying U.S.-manufactured assault rifles and belt-fed machine guns. Their M-16's have 30-round magazines, while one of the "rebels" lifts a U.S.-issue M-14 with a puny 20-round magazine (but then again, it is a serious 7.62 x 51 knock-down rifle.)  So -- who paid for and supplied these weapons to an Islamic military group?

Ranger reckons "Made in America" is still the mark of excellence in the international arms bazaars supported by U.S. policy.

The category in which these rebels belong is hazy.  They are kitted up as regular soldiers, but they are rebels and do not belong to any government, operating outside of the nation-state paradigm.  However, they are being integrated into the social structure of the government, in a move reminiscent of the British accord with the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.

The Philippine accommodation is cited as a "critical breakthrough" which will allow for the transition of public resources from the military to the economic sectors.  Similarly, when will the U.S. stop its sale of the Long War and transition the freed up resources to address the dire social and economic needs here at home?

Let the Philippines, Iraqis, Libyans, Malians, Egyptians and all the other usual suspects resolve their own problems without U.S. intervention, and we will address our own problems -- as we ever do -- with our own resources, which we should pull back from their sandboxes. The U.S. actions of the last 10+ years have been neither rational nor productive.

The U.S. arms the world, and wonder why they kill each other so well.