Obama Gives Arms To Israel? Big Deal--Obama Gives Arms To Israel's Enemy Turkey Too!

Obama and his defenders are making a big deal out of the fact that Obama is supplying Israel with the weapons it needs to maintain its military edge and thus maintain its security.

Big deal.

From the looks of things, Obama will give weapons to just about anybody--for example, it was announced Friday that the US is going to give 3 Super Cobra helicopters to Turkey.

Barry Rubin explains why Turkey is no friend of either the US or of Democracy:

Erdogan has led Turkey out of its 65-year-long alliance with America; allied with Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah; fundamentally transformed Turkish society; taken over or intimidated the media; presided over massive repression, including the arrests of many journalists on trumped-up charges; and is seeking to destroy Israel and make Turkey the closest possibleapproximation to an Islamist state.

Once he is reelected, if that happens, he will go much further in destroying Turkish democracy. If he has a two-thirds’ majority he will rewrite Turkey’s constitution. In short, he is an enemy of the United States and of democracy while being a friend to its foes.

Writing in the Commentary blog Contentions, Michael Rubin adds a few items of his own:

• Erdoğan has promised the (U.S.-supplied) Turkish Navy would escort Turkish ships carrying supplies to Gaza in contravention of the lawful blockade.
  
  
• Egemen Bağış, a close Erdoğan aide who now serves as Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs, threatened to use the (U.S.-supplied) Turkish Navy against Cyprus, an EU member state.
  
  
• Turkish warplanes have bombed Iraqi territory, killing seven civilians, a strike for which Turkey neither made the apology nor paid the compensation it demands from others.
  
  
• Turkey has demanded an apology from Armenia, somewhat akin to Saddam Hussein demanding an apology from Kuwait, Russia from Georgia, or China from Tibet.
  
  
• Erdoğan has used his UN address to bash Israel in the crudest possible terms.

More to the point, Rubin points out that the same Obama that thinks he's a true friend of Israel for supplying weapons to Israel, has been supplying more than just helicopters to Turkey:

• It continues its drive to supply Turkey with the next generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter without so much as reporting to Congress the vulnerabilities of technology transfer should the fighters be supplied.

• It has agreed to provide Turkey with Predators, even as Turks suggest they want to develop their own version, again suggesting the Turks mean to reverse engineer the product we supply them.

• Now, Francis “Frank” Ricciardone, Obama’s recess appointee to be ambassador to Turkey, has announced the United States would provide Turkey with three Super Cobra helicopters, a platform that Turkey could easily turn against Cyprus or Israel.

So just how impressed should we be with Obama for giving arms to Israel, when at the same time Obama provides weapons to a country that is not only a threat to Israel but is also a demonstrable threat to the stability of the Middle East as a whole?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Obama and Turkey.