The U.S. considers Bahrain and important non-NATO ally in the War against Terrorism, often using Bahrain as a staging area fro entry into Iraq. For this reason, the Bush administration continues to support increases in arms transfers to Bahrain. Weapons transferred to Bahrain have included large and small weapons from shot guns to M60 tanks.
Indonesia
In 1999 Indonesian armed forces killed citizens in East Timor in response to the formation of anti-independence militias that were being organized. The government forces were equipped with U.S. M-1-6 rifles and other U.S. military equipment. The militia was also equipped with $1 billion in U.S. arms and training. In this case, the U.S. had been supporting the illegal occupation of East Timor since 1975. The U.S. supplied arms to both forces and as a result, had to accept partial blame for the conflict in the eyes of the world. One of the key points of contention among the militia was human right abuses from the Indonesian military. Some of these atrocities included murder of refugees in camps, many of which were committed with U.S. arms.
Turkey
The Turkish government had a policy of restricting freedom of speech and freedom of association. They also demonstrated an oppressive and brutal attitude towards it Kurdish population. Since 1984, the Turkish government had received $10.5 billion in arms from the U.S. When their war against Kurdish rebels began in 1998, U.S. arms played a major role in the suppression of the already oppressed Kurds. However, the U.S. continued to supply the Turkish government with arms for one year after the conflict developed. In this case, the U.S. government helped to support the genocide of a group of people, simply base on their national origin.
Disarmament
The case of Bahrain demonstrates the extent of arms proliferation in countries that do not produce their own. Bahrain also demonstrates the conflict that exists regarding policies and practice. In recent conflicts, small weapons have played a greater role than larger weapons. Due to this trend, the UN is promoting a program to reduce the number of small arms available for conflict in regions. One of the key programs under the UN Convention on Small Arms is to develop a uniform reporting system for small weapons. Participation in this program is voluntary. However, the United States was willing to comply.
There are several concerns over the reliability of these reporting instruments that could affect future policy. The first is that countries may not reveal all of the small arms that are passed into other countries. They may also not know where the final destination of arms when they arrive in destination. The person that they sold them to may be legitimate, but from there the country of origin has little control. They could be destined for the hands of criminals through illegal deals once they are out of the United States. There is no way of knowing how many legitimately exported weapons end up in the hands to illegal arms dealers once they reach their destinations.
The UN convention is an attempt to provide some level of accountability in the small arms trade, with the intention of keeping arms out of the hands of those that would have the intention of harming others and mistreating their citizens. Accountability will have several affects. The first is that countries will be forced to develop better tracking systems. The second will be that they are no longer self-regulating. They have to adhere to the rules set forth or face sanctions from the UN. Increased accountability will force governments to be more careful in its arms sale and the tracking of those arms once they leave the country.
There are many variables that cannot be tracked, such as this case. Such problems with the accuracy of the data plague many of the reports collected by the UN and other world organizations. Under this reporting system, countries would be motivated to present themselves in the best possible light. There are many factors that could effect the accuracy of the numbers, including private weapon sales. In today's global economy, it is easy to conduct worldwide trade. One no longer has to rely on large distribution centers for these transactions. Private arms may make it into the hands of other governments that are not accounted for in the reports. These arms do not necessarily represent arms that were voluntarily sold by the government, but they still represent arms that made it into the hands of one side or the other.
Government Policy vs. Actions
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