Bombs and Bulldozers Are Us

W.J. Astore

More Weapons to Israel to Power a Genocide

I recently ordered a few items from Amazon. Random stuff like a shower caddy, an iPhone case, and lamp sockets. It won’t surprise you to learn they were all “Made in China.”

I ordered some clothes from a fancy online retailer. The clothes said “Designed in California” but they were, of course, Made in China.

What is America making? What are we sending overseas? Bombs and bulldozers for the devastation and dismantlement of Gaza and other Palestinian Territories. Consider this article from Ken Klippenstein (excerpt follows), which details roughly $10 billion in “foreign aid” to Israel.

Here’s what Klippenstein had to say:

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While the entire news media is focused on Trump’s suspension of arms for Ukraine, the administration is arming Israel to the teeth. The nature of the bombs being sold indicates Israel’s military is preparing to continue its bombing campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen; as well as preparing for possible war with Iran.

Included in the sales are tens of thousands of controversial 2,000 lb. bombs so heavily criticized during the Gaza war for their destructive capacity, and thousands of “Hellfire” missiles that are used for targeted killings.

When I visited the Defense Security Cooperation Agency website’s section for major arms sales to see a breakdown of the weapons, I was immediately struck by the fact that five of the last six sales were to Israel.

Screenshot of DSCA’’s “Major Arms Sales” landing page

The U.S. bombs and missiles being sent to Israel, almost all made by Boeing, are included in:

  • February 28 sale worth $2.04 billion, including:
    • 35,529 MK 84 (general purpose) or BLU-117 (hardened) 2,000-pound bomb bodies (or combination of both).
    • 4,000 I-2000 (hardened) 2,000 lb. advanced penetrator warheads for 2,000-pound bomb bodies.
  • February 28 sale worth $675.7 million, including:
    • 201 MK 83 MOD 4/MOD 5 general purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
    • 4,799 newer BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
    • 1,500 KMU-559C/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) anti-jam enhanced GPS guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
    • 3,500 KMU-559J/B JDAM guidance kits to attach to MK 83 bomb bodies.
  • February 7 sale worth $660 million, including:
    • 3,000 AGM-114 Hellfire Air-to-Ground Missiles, aircraft, helicopter and drone carried, used to attack vehicles and individuals.
  • February 7 sale worth $6.75 billion, including:
    • 2,166 GBU-39/B 250-pound Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) Increment 1.
    • 2,800 MK 82 General Purpose, 500-pound bomb bomb bodies.
    • 13,000 KMU-556 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to MK-84 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
    • 3,475 KMU-557 JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to BLU-109 (2,000-pound) bomb bodies.
    • 1,004 KMU JDAM Guidance Kits to attach to 500-pound GBU-38v1 bomb bodies.
    • 17,475 FMU-152A/B multi-function fuzes for bombs.

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Holy shit! Nearly thirty-six thousand 2000-pound bombs! That is 36 kilotons, roughly the equivalent of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. And that’s not including the assorted 1000- and 500-pound bombs tossed into the mix.

This is an astonishing amount of ordnance for Israel to continue its ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.

President Trump, of course, has the full support of most Democrats in sending this stockpile of destruction to Israel. Call it bipartisan genocidal enablement.

America sure is an “exceptional” nation. No nation is better at bombing others—or supplying the bombs for others like Israel to do so—then flattening what remains with “Made in USA” bulldozers.

Honestly, I wish my country made shower caddies, iPhone cases, and lamp sockets instead of bombs and bulldozers. Don’t you?

4 thoughts on “Bombs and Bulldozers Are Us”

  2. Dear Bill, keep on keeping on. In 1991, the Washington Post (actually Colman McCarthy who had two columns each week on the Opinion page of the Post) wrote of my Maine Endwell High School student’s Town Meeting on Economic Conversion. Most war manufacturers locally did not show–at that time, Martin Marietta (Lockheed Martin) and GE and IBM did not send a PR person to our event but we did get some lesser companies. It was a perfect time to move away from our culture to kickass and get their gas or whatever we want when we go to other countries to meet their people and kill them. We missed the chance, but here I am, an old fart who won’t give up. I’m working with Cornell and Binghamton University students to expose merchants of death on their campuses and in their local towns. Pretty shocking info gleaned from a simple Google Search of Defense Contractors in _______________note your county. University students are surprised at the pervasiveness of the system. Cornell and Binghamton are just two examples. I’m working with them on an action for Tax Day. Last Tax Day I was arrested at BAE Systems trying to deliver a letter to the management–went to trial and lost (I always do) For me,, the bigger story is a young woman I have interviewed is up for trial. Local police came to her dorm at Cornell in the wee hours. She was arrested while in her pajamas for disrupting the Job Fair of Boeing and L3Harris, just two of the murderous US exports of whom you write jack gilroy Veterans For Peace Field Representative Pax Christi Up State NY bcpeaceaction.org Go to our website or to veteransforpeace.org to see our locally generated pledge not to interview with arms-maker companies. It will soon get legs as the young woman I just noted and her Cornell pals will circulate the pledge to worldwide universities. jack

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  3. The United States chief export product has; for some time now, been DEATH.

    Jerry King

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  4. May I hold forth? What expedites these huge weapons sales? Whether it is Israel or Ukraine, big money is all for these weapons transfers.

    People say “Wall Street” but what really drives things regarding Israel is that Zionists are often in positions of great power/wealth in the US. The current CEO of G-S is David M. Solomon, who speaks out for Israel, a Zionist. Bill Ackman of Palantir, who declares no pro-Palestinian demonstrator will ever work at his company. Haim Saban, the billionaire of “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” who declares that Israel is his one and only interest, though he is an American. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (deceased) who bought the US embassy in Jerusalem from Trump. The fact is that Jews are quite likely, but not necessarily, Zionists.

    I am anti-Zionist, not antisemite, but the fact is that Jews are disproportionately represented in the 1% with the great influence that goes along with that. In government, in industry, particularly in finance, Zionists are far from uncommon. We know that Trump is surrounded by Zionists such as Stephen Miller and Steve Witkoff who are most certainly not looking at Israel and Palestine with any interest at all in Palestine, only of how to finesse things to work to Israel’s advantage.

    Governors such as Pritzker of Illinois, Shapiro of PA and Huckabee-Sanders of AR are all Zionists, though Sanders is not Jewish. People who are not Jewish will be extremely timid to speak against Israel for fear of being called antisemites or of supervisors, business owners, superiors who are Zionists taking a dim view of someone not pro-Israel.

    I use as proof of this the silence in answer to my question to people: Are you for liberty and justice for all or Zionism? I use this to call out hypocrisy since one can’t be for both. My mayor, a Jew, refuses to answer. So also do all 8 of the members of the city council who are not Jews. Silence indicates fear of the consequences of answering my question as any American should, replying “Yes, I am for liberty and justice for all and against the opposite, Zionism”

    Zionism is bringing the US down to the lowest point it has ever been and is proof positive of the power of the 1%, of wealth over we the people that it can turn the country against its very foundation in liberty and justice for all. This is not some conspiracy, it is out in the open. Fear of what powerful people will do if one speaks out against Israel intimidates just about everyone. Elon Musk rushed to Israel to have Netanyahu give him the magic touch of Zionism.

    We can decry the weapons sales and we should, but it is a symptom of the problem, not the root of it. The root of it is the corruption of our government by wealth, approved by the Supreme Court.

    Clearly antisemitism is wrong. The question is how to call out Zionism and not make the mistake of calling out Jews as a group, of whom some are openly anti-Zionist.

    Even AI is slanted. Anyone who supports Israel is, by definition, a Zionist, as Zionism is the idea that there should be a Jewish state. I asked the Google AI – Is David M. Solomon (CEO of Goldman-Sachs) a Zionist?

    It responded that “there is no evidence Solomon is a Zionist” so then I asked “Does David M. Solomon support Israel? and the answer was “yes, he has spoken in favor of Israel many times”

    Thus the Google AI is doctored to not equate support of Israel with Zionism. What/who is behind that decision, one of so many behind the scenes actions in the US that shield Israel. Pair this with all the means of suppressing pro-Palestinian voices and the fix is in.

    We have a big problem that defies remedy because great power is against a remedy. Our country is hijacked by wealth and wealth is heavily pro-Israel. AIPAC has no problem raising money. Friends of the IDF, an American organization, raises so much money that the IDF doesn’t know what to do with it all (per an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz).

    My hope is that Trump is going to break the grip of Zionism/wealth by doing so many devastating things that there will be a big reaction by the 99%. Trump is making the mistake of almost all who gain great power – they do not know when to stop, fantasizing that the people are supportive, and go on to cause so much damage that their downfall comes.

    Trump is so obsessed with power that he will not relent, though his directives will become more confusing and contradictory as reality bears down on his agenda. We are two months into his chaos with over 3.5 years to go. Trump just might save the country from everything he represents by stimulating the somnolent public to rise up in anger. Our slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians in concert with Israel certainly had no effect, but getting hit with a financial cost can do wonders.

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