Editorial: Bush’s views on global arms trade hypocritical

The international arms trade is big business, generating
billions of dollars of revenue every year. Major exporters ““
such as the United States, Russia, France and Germany ““ care
about little else than money when selecting their clients.

Over the years, these exporters have delivered arms to Iran,
Iraq, Afghanistan and countless other unstable nations.

Now, in an amazing moment of hypocrisy, President Bush has
criticized European moves to export arms to China, citing the
potential for China to become a more significant regional
hegemon.

Bush has also opposed a Russian-Iranian deal which would
transfer nuclear fuel to Iran ““ fuel ostensibly for power
generation, but that could be used to produce weapons.

The president is smart to worry about these deals ““ a
heavily armed China or nuclear-capable Iran would not make the
United States safer in the future.

Bush has a duty to keep America safe, but he also should realize
his voice would be much stronger if he had the intent to address
the underlying hypocrisy and United States’ role in the
global arms trade.

In the past, the United States has given arms to countries who
are now no longer allies, as weapons often endure longer than
political ties and “friendly” regimes. Just as the
United States sold weapons to Iran in the 1970s and now considers
the nation a sworn enemy, a similar end to the Europe-China deal
could arise.