[R-G] Report: US military re-supplying Israel with ammunition through Greece

[Anthony Fenton]

Report: US military re-supplying Israel with ammunition through Greece
author Thursday January 08, 2009 22:04author by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC  
News
http://www.imemc.org/article/58374

     As the Israeli military continues to pound the crowded,  
impoverished and imprisoned population of the Gaza Strip with the full  
force of its military might, Israel's strongest ally, the United  
States, announced plans to ship large amounts of ammunition to the  
Israeli forces – as it did during Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon,  
when the Israelis ran out of (internationally-banned) cluster bombs,  
and the US shipped them tens of thousands more.

US-made ammunition en route to Israel
US-made ammunition en route to Israel

The US Military Sealift Command, on December 31st, published a  
solicitation for bids from shipping companies to ship two boats, each  
containing 168 TEU's (twenty-foot equivalent container units) of  
ammunition, from Greece to Israel.

The description of the vessels required was brief:

“Required: Request US or foreign flag container vessel (coaster) to  
move approximately 168 TEU's [standard twenty-foot containers] in each  
of two consecutive voyages both containing ammunition.”



Bids were requested by January 5th, but it is unclear whether bids  
were submitted or if a contract was awarded by January 8th.

According to the US Military's solicitation, "Funds are not currently  
available for this procurement. In the event funds remain unavailable,  
this procurement will be cancelled without an award being made."

During the Israeli assault on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, in which  
1,200 Lebanese people were killed, 90 percent of whom were civilians  
(and 168 Israelis were killed, 10 percent of whom were civilians), the  
US Congress approved funding for an 'emergency' shipment of cluster  
bombs to Israel, after Israel had dropped their entire store of the  
banned weapon on civilian population centers in southern Lebanon.

Over one million cluster bomblets were dropped in southern Lebanon,  
largely due to the US 'emergency' shipment. Many of those bomblets  
remain on the ground in Lebanon, unexploded two years later. They  
continue to kill and maim Lebanese civilians, mainly children and  
farmers, who come across the unexploded bomblets and step on them or  
pick them up.

According to Wired magazine's security correspondent Nathan Hodge, the  
current solicitation for a shipment bid is the first such solicitation  
in several months. He said that, according to his research, the most  
recent announcement of a potential arms delivery to Israel was posted  
by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Sept. 29 -- for sale of  
F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Earlier that month, the agency notified  
Congress of the pending upgrades to Israeli Patriot missile fire units  
as well as sales of the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb.

Israel has long used US weapons in its attacks on the civilian  
population of the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the  
West Bank and Gaza. In addition to $3 billion in direct aid a year,  
the US government supplies around $3 billion in weapons transfers to  
Israel, and $6 billion in loan guarantees (none of which have ever  
been repaid by Israel).
category gaza strip | international politics | news report author  
email saed at imemc dot org
Related Link(s): https://www.procurement.msc.navy.mil/procurement/contra...033-0