← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Ed Toner
Thread ID: 3767 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2002-11-30
2002-11-30 15:07 | User Profile
[url=http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021130-7348426.htm#2]http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021130-7348426.htm#2[/url] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR November 30, 2002
U.S. loans to Israel The article "Israel seeks military aid increase" (Nation, Wednesday), which tells of an Israeli request for loans and grants totaling $14 billion, mentions that Israel never has defaulted on a loan. Friends of Israel never tire of saying that Israel has never defaulted on repayment of a U.S. government loan, but it would be equally accurate to say Israel has never been required to repay a U.S. government loan. The truth is complex, and designed to be so by those who seek to conceal it from the U.S. taxpayer. Most U.S. loans to Israel are forgiven, and many were made with the explicit understanding that they would be forgiven before Israel was required to repay them. By disguising as loans what in fact were grants, cooperating members of Congress effectively exempted Israel from the U.S. oversight that would have accompanied the loans. Initially, Israel was expected to pay the interest and eventually begin repaying the principal on loans. But the so-called Cranston Amendment, which has been attached by Congress to every foreign-aid appropriation since 1983, provides that economic aid to Israel will never dip below the amount Israel is required to pay on its outstanding loans. In short, whether U.S. aid is extended as grants or loans to Israel, it never returns to the U.S. Treasury. The total since 1949 exceeds $84 billion. Saying that Israel never has defaulted on a loan is a partial truth, but part of it is quietly suppressed.
ED TONER
Brick, N.J.
2002-11-30 16:18 | User Profile
Nice letter. I love that nonsense about "loans" - they're not loans and any critical thinker knows better.
-J
2002-11-30 17:11 | User Profile
Nice letter Ed. Pharisaic arguments are alive and well in modern America while the whole truth is relegated to the fringes of society.
2002-11-30 20:46 | User Profile
Excellent letter in a place with a wide circulation! Very detailed and factual, too. I'm sure many readers had never heard of the Cranston Amendment or knew its significance.
2002-11-30 23:42 | User Profile
Bravo, Ed!
I'm currently writing out a form letter for my 'representatives' in Congress protesting the latest $15 bill we're about to piss away, and believe me I will incorporate info from your text in my own copy.
STOP THE MADNESS; no more money to Israel while Americans are taxed to death in a nose diving economy.
2002-12-02 01:50 | User Profile
Great job, Ed.
2002-12-02 02:31 | User Profile
Excellent post Ed.
Thank you for shining the light of truth on the machinations of " Our favorite parasite in the middle east " and their lackeys in the CON- gress.
2002-12-02 18:24 | User Profile
Great work - Ed. Please inform if you have stirred up the tribal elders. I am sure you will get a response.
2002-12-03 10:03 | User Profile
Nice work, Ed.
You got some serious cajones, compadre.
Keep your head low.
Walter
2002-12-04 20:24 | User Profile
[url=http://www.antiwar.com/]antiwar.com[/url]
has a link to Ed's article in the Washington Times.
SARTRE :ph34r: