Arms control

During 2005, the United States "provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions&mdash;many already engaged in conflict&mdash;grew to the highest level in eight years," according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The United States "supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries," which was "45.8 percent of the total and far more than second-ranked Russia with 15 percent and Britain with a little more than 13 percent."

"Arms control specialists said the figures underscore how the largely unchecked arms trade to the developing world has become a major staple of the American weapons industry, even though introducing many of the weapons risks fueling conflicts rather than aiding long-term US interests." 

"The United States, for instance, also signed an estimated $6.2 billion worth of new deals last year to sell attack helicopters, missiles, and other armaments to developing nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Developing nations are designated as all those except in North America, Western Europe, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.

"In addition to weapons already delivered, new contracts for future weapons deliveries topped $44 billion last year&mdash;the highest overall since 1998, according to the report. Nearly 70 percent of them were designated for developing nations." 

General

 * arms smuggling
 * Arms-to-Iraq affair
 * bioterrorism
 * Case for Iraq's Qualitative Disarmament
 * Center for Security Policy / Center for Security Policy/National Security Advisory Council
 * civil war in Iraq
 * Committee on the Present Danger
 * cooked intelligence
 * counter-terrorism
 * Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
 * Depleted Uranium
 * Executive Outcomes
 * global security
 * gun control
 * Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.
 * International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) (formerly Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board (ACNAB))
 * Iran/Contra scandal / Iran-Contra II
 * Iraqi supergun affair
 * nanotechnology
 * National Counterproliferation Center
 * National Missile Defense
 * Nuclear Threat Initiative
 * nuclear weapons
 * nuclear weapons complex
 * Private Military Corporations
 * Proliferation Security Initiative
 * Russia "Cleaned Up" Saddam's WMD
 * terrorism / war on terrorism
 * The alleged linkage of Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction
 * The Other War: Afghanistan
 * transnational organized crime
 * United States as a rogue nation
 * United States National Security Council
 * UNMOVIC
 * UNSCOM
 * U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
 * violence in the Middle East
 * war in Iran
 * war profiteering
 * watchdog organizations
 * weapons of mass destruction
 * yellowcake forgery

People

 * Ken Adelman
 * John R. Bolton
 * Richard A. Clarke
 * Anthony H. Cordesman
 * Richard L. Garwin
 * Robert M. Gates
 * Manucher Ghorbanifar
 * John A. Gordon
 * Robert Joseph
 * Scott Ritter
 * William Schneider, Jr.

External articles

 * Bryan Bender, "US is top purveyor on weapons sales list. Shipments grow to unstable areas," Boston Globe, November 13, 2006.
 * Aaron Klein, "Fox News reporters freed for $2 million. Terrorists used cash for arms to 'hit Zionists,' payment said to encourage more abductions," WorldNetDaily, November 14, 2006.
 * Deborah Tate, "Arms Control Experts Urge Senate to Change US/India Nuclear Deal," Voice of America News, November 14, 2006.