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COPYRIGHT 2005 Voxant Inc.
Original Source: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
LOU DOBBS, HOST: DOBBS: Free trade at work and a new victory for a foreign defense contractor in the battle to win lucrative weapons contracts from the U.S. Defense Department. The British firm BAE Systems will build nearly 500 lightweight howitzers for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps. The deal worth nearly a billion dollars.
Earlier this month, BAE Systems decided to buy United Defense Industries, the maker of the U.S. Army's Bradley fighting vehicle. Bradleys, of course, widely used in the war in Iraq.
BAE Systems calls itself one of North America's foremost national security companies. But the fact is the company is based in Britain and is Europe's largest defense contractor.
There was a notable success for the defense industry today. The United States agreeing to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. The United States also offering to sell F-16s now to India.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush's decision to sell two dozen F-16s to Pakistan is part of the strategy to reward Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for his help with the war on terrorism, U.S. officials say. The F-16s will help Pakistan with one of its immediate military goals: modernizing its fighter fleet.
In 1990, Congress blocked the sale of F-16s to Islamabad because of Pakistan's nuclear program....
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