By Owen Matthews
Trump has already clearly signalled his opposition to future arms shipments from the US. But cutting off arms already promised and paid for seems cruel and gratuitous.
鈥淭his decision was made to put America鈥檚 interests first following a DoD review of our nation鈥檚 military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,鈥 explained White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly. 鈥淭he strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned 鈥 just ask Iran.鈥
But drill down into the list of weapons withheld this week, and the claim that the US is protecting its own dwindling supplies makes little sense. For a start, almost all the pledged weapons are located in US military stockpiles in Poland, not in the US.
The Defence Department has blocked the transfer of 250 GMLRS missiles to Ukraine 鈥 yet Lockheed Martin makes 14,000 a year. Ukraine will receive 8496 fewer rounds of 155mm artillery shells 鈥 which is less than a week鈥檚 production by US industry. And it鈥檚 hard to see how holding back 25 Stinger missiles is going to help Make America Great Again.