Still, we are not the only ones who have done some shadowy business. During the 70s and 80s, Italy pulled that nice double-deal, being a loyal NATO country on the one hand, supporting US troops with bases and buying military hardware from us, while at the same time they sold license builds of fighters and instructors to Libya, besides plenty of other industrial deals. Just so much, France sold weapons such as Exocet missiles and Mirage fighters to Argenitinia during their time as a military dictatorship, and later they sold Saddam Hussein fighters and SAM equipment, same with his infamous, and only, nuclear plant. Germany has delivered a lot of technology and equipment to Iran, things that are now in the use of their nuclear program. The list indeed goes on and on, I can't think of a country now that hasn't been involved in one of these dirty little cases.
So what do these countries do diffrent, and why does nobody wave signs and banners "DOWN WITH ITALY", or similar? Certainly the involvements between governments and the defense industry isn't weaker with them. The clients of the defense industry are governments, and government offices, so the strong link between both is part of the nature of this business. I think the difference comes from the extent to which the influence of the military-industrial complex has grown during the cold war. Doing arms deals with someone is one kind, but it is another to take active measures influencing the policy of a sovereign state.
I find nothing in criticism, but Anti-Americanism has become a fashionable attitude, and my haunch is that maybe half of the self-declared Anti-Americans can be taken apart by facts in an actual discussion. However, we also have our share of faults, with an administration that has helped building our bad image in recent years.
