55 deep-penetrating bombs delivered in 2009 after request rebuffed by Bush administration, according to 'Newsweek.'
By JPOST.COM STAFFmissile on victoria for gallery 512(photo credit: IDF Spokesperson)
US President Barack Obama has secretly authorized significant new aid to the IDF, including the sale of 55 deep-penetrating bombs known as bunker busters, according to American weekly magazine Newsweek.The GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrators were delivered to Israel in 2009, Newsweek reported, citing an exclusive story expected to be published next week.RELATED:NYC ads call to end US military aid to IsraelBarak: US military aid at risk if no peace deal reachedAccording to the report, the military sale was arranged behind the scenes when political ties were tense as Obama tried to stop settlement building in the West Bank.Israel first put in a request for the bunker busters in 2005, but it was rebuffed by the Bush administration.In 2007, Bush informed former prime minister Ehud Olmert that he would order the bunker busters for delivery in 2009 or 2010, according to the magazine.The Marine Corps general who served until August as the vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, James Cartwright, told Newsweek that the military chiefs had no objections to the sale.According to Cartwright, there was a concern about “how the Iranians would perceive it,” and “how the Israelis might perceive it.”
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