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When Congress gets back to business in the new year, one of its priorities will be consideration of the Bush administration’s request for a massive arms sale – in the neighborhood of $20 billion – to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.

Israel and Egypt also stand to gain billions more in U.S. weapons as part of the package Congress will review.

The proposed deal is controversial because of the Saudi component. Given the Saudi government’s questionable record on fighting terrorism and curtailing terrorism financing, its funding of extremist wahabbist mosques, its supply of foreign fighters into Iraq and a judicial system that recently ordered 200 lashes for a rape victim, some in Congress don’t believe the kingdom should be rewarded with top-of-the-line American weaponry. (Story continues below interactive map.)

More than 250 House lawmakers have signed a letter warning the White House that they might not support the sale – especially of highly accurate smart bombs known as JDAMs – unless the administration can certify that the weapons won’t be used against American or allied forces.

One of the of the big names supporting the deal is William Cohen, the former senator and defense secretary under President Bill Clinton and regular commentator on CNN.

Cohen has opined on the cable network that the arms deal is good for the U.S. and good for Saudi Arabia.

“The issue really is, are we going to help them modernize their forces so they can be a force to contend with an expansionist Iran, with Iran trying to spread its Shia and revolutionary zeal,” Cohen said last summer when the administration first proposed the sale.

“I think it’s an important idea,” Cohen said on CNN. The Persian Gulf countries “are worried about Iran. In order to help them prepare for their defense capabilities, we should be the country supplying it, so it will be interoperable with our own forces.

“They can buy it from us, they can buy it from the French, the British, the Russians, the Chinese or other country, potentially,” said Cohen. “So the real issue is, are we going continue to solidify our own influence or have it undermined by other countries quite willing to move in and take over the position that we had to date.”

While Cohen cloaked the sale in terms of what is best for American interests, he left out that the weapons sale is good business for him personally.

As chief of the Cohen Group, a lobbying and consulting firm based in the nation’s capital, Cohen represents some of the country’s largest weapons manufacturers, companies that stand to benefit from the weapons sale.

For example, according to lobbyist disclosure documents on file with the U.S. Senate, the Cohen Group represents:

· Lockheed Martin, the country’s largest weapons contractor and builder of high performance jets such as the F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, and the C-130 transport plane. The company also is a major supplier on the JDAM smart bomb.

The Cohen Group has other direct ties to Lockheed Martin. Two of the Cohen Group’s senior officials – retired Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and James Loy, former commandant of the Coast Guard and deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security – sit on Lockheed Martin’s board of directors.

· Pratt & Whitney, manufacturer of engines that power high-performance military aircraft. The company’s engines are in Air Force F-15s and most F-16 aircraft and the F-35 jet.

· Sikorsky Aircraft, a manufacturer of military helicopters, including the Black Hawk and CH-53 heavy lift helicopters.

· Rolls-Royce North America, a builder of military engines for weapons such as the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, the V-22 Osprey, Kiowa helicopters and C-130 transports.

· General Dynamics, manufacturer of combat ships, tanks and the Stryker armored combat vehicle.

Like Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright and others in senior Cabinet posts, Cohen has traded on his government service to build an impressive operation that offers clients access to the halls of government and strategies for meeting their corporate goals.

In addition to the defense companies, clients of the Cohen Group include DynCorp International, T-Mobile USA, Oracle, Iridium Satellite, Alcoa, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Bechtel.

The roster of lobbyists and consultants on the Cohen Group’s payroll boasts former high-ranking government officials along with a coterie of staffers who know how to navigate official Washington’s bureaucratic class.

In addition to Ralston and Loy, group staff includes Marc Grossman, a former State Department under secretary, Lord George Robertson, former NATO secretary general, retired Army Gen. Paul Kern, former chief of the Army Materiel Command, and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege, former chief of the Defense Information Systems Agency.

According to the lobbying disclosures, Kern is conducting lobbying for the Cohen Group on behalf of Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney. Kern is responsible for “identifying Defense Department market opportunities for aircraft engines” and “identifying opportunities for helicopter sales,” the documents say.

Ralston is listed as another Sikorsky lobbyist. So is Lesley Kalan, who previously worked on the Senate defense appropriations committee, which helps set defense spending priorities.

The Cohen Group lists Paul Gebhard and Danny Sebright as lobbyists on behalf of General Dynamics. Gebhard previously worked as assistant chief of staff for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and for Cohen when he was the defense chief. Sebright also worked under Rumsfeld and Cohen when they ran the Defense Department

The Cohen Group’s disclosure statements list Gebhard and Sebright as lobbyists on behalf of Lockheed Martin, along with Deborah Rosenblum, formerly a homeland security advisor at the Pentagon, and Brian Knapp, also a former Pentagon adviser.

Contact: eric@muckety.com

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