U.S. House of Representatives Votes to Stop Selling F-14 Tomcat Parts to Iran

Is it possible that maybe the representatives in the U.S. House actually do have some common sense? After all, why would the United States actually want to help Iran keep their jet fighters in good working order?

This vote on Monday to ban sales of F-14 fighter parts to Iran was the second time the House voted on such a measure.

This measure to stop selling left-over F-14 parts was voted on in May that was part of the military funding legislation package approved by the House but vetoed by President Bush.

Now the House of Representatives is sending the so named "Stop Arming Iran Act" as a separate bill to the President for his approval. It would seem this is one bill President Bush will have a hard time vetoing when it comes to his desk.

This bill is expected to gain Senate approval, and from there this bill would then head to the White House for final approval. Considering President Bush has all stated Iran is part of the "axis of evil", White House approval seems to be a given. However, the White House has yet to comment on whether they support this funding ban to a country they consider one that freely fund terrorists, and especially terrorists in Iraq.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., proposed the legislation after The Associated Press reported in January that buyers for Iran, China and other countries exploited weaknesses in Pentagon surplus sale security to acquire sensitive military gear including parts for F-14s, other aircraft and missiles.

In one instance, a surplus auction held by the Department of Defense ended up making its way to Iran.

In citing this AP story, Giffords said the goal of her bill, H.R. 1441, was to stop having military surplus sales from inadvertently ending up in Iran to help Iran maintain their military weapons.

Giffords went on to say the United States must ensure parts that are unique to F-14 fighters do not end up in Iran.

After the AP broke this story about jet fighter parts ending up in Iran, the Department of Defense said they would voluntarily halt sales of Tomcat parts. The Department of Defense also said they would review whether these fighter parts could be sold as surplus parts on the world market without posing a national security risk.
The Department of Defense went on to say they had all ready planned to destroy parts unique to the F-14, but other parts that are common to the Tomcat, and other jet fighters, might still be sold on the open market.

Back in the 1970's, the United States gave Iran permission to buy the F-14 fighters because both countries were allies at the time. Iran is the only country still known to fly the F-14 because the United States just retired their F-14 fleet last year.

The Department of Defense just recently decided to tighten security of surplus military parts when it was discovered that GAO ( Government Accountability Office) investigators posing as defense contractors were able to obtain more than one million dollars worth of sensitive military surplus parts. One item these investigators were able to purchase was a rocket launcher.

One of the new measures adopted by the Pentagon is the accurate identification of military surplus items to ensure they are safe to sell before actually putting these items up for sale.

Giffords and Wyden say a broad, permanent ban on the Pentagon's sale of the thousands of spare F-14 components is needed to make sure sensitive parts do not accidentally wind up in surplus sales, as has happened in the past.
This legislation calls for the banning of export licenses for F-14 parts.

In addition, this legislation will ban the sale of F-14, and F-14 parts, to anyone except museums and historical groups. Before the F-14's are sold to these groups, these planes also have to be rendered useless.

Read more about bill HR 1441 at Yahoo News