Money I Think not
Posted on 10/13/2002 8:12:17 AM PDT by icantbleaveit
Outrage as Iraq views UK arms
Peace campaigners angered as Saddam's top brass
'rub shoulders' with British firms at weapons bazaar
Jason Burke, chief reporter
Sunday October 13, 2002
The Observer
A British Minister will lead a major sales drive by UK weapons
and military technology firms at an exhibition attended by
high-ranking Iraqi military officials this week.
The news has sparked outrage among arms control
campaigners and groups opposed to military action against Iraq.
'It is absurd that we are gearing up to fight a war against these
people and simultaneously rubbing shoulders with them at an
arms bazaar,' said Martin Hogbin of the Campaign Against Arms
Trade.
Around a dozen British firms will be displaying equipment such
as tanks, thermal imaging night sights and state-of-the-art air
defence missiles at the exhibition in Amman, Jordan. Machine
tools that could be used to produce weapons will also be on
show. The government-run Defence Export Services
Organisation will also have a stall.
Promotional material for the Sofex military fair boasts that
Saddam Hussein is sending an official delegation. Sultan
Hashim Ahmad, the Iraqi Defence Minister, attended the last
Sofex. Sudan, Syria, Libya and Iran - all listed as sponsors of
terrorism by the US State Department - are also expected to
attend.
'It's an appalling example of double standards. Where there is a
buck to be made, we're there,' said Andrew Bergen, spokesman
for the Stop the War Coalition, which campaigns against military
action against Iraq.
In the Eighties the UK and US supplied Iraq with millions of
pounds' worth of military equipment. Baghdad used British
companies to procure 'dual-use' machine tools to make
ammunition. Even though the UK had imposed an embargo on
'lethal equipment', the Conservative Government let the sales
proceed.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed last week that Lord Bach, the
Defence Procurement Minister, would be attending the fair.
'Sofex allows the UK defence industry to demonstrate its
product range to a number of potential overseas customers very
effectively,' said an MoD spokesman.
There is no suggestion that the British firms are doing anything
wrong. 'We exhibit there. The Government decides what we can
sell to whom,' said a spokesman for the American military
aviation giant Lockheed Martin, whose British arm is attending
the fair. Lockheed Martin makes the Longbow 'fire-and-forget'
and the Hellfire 2 anti-tank missiles. Both would be expected to
play a key role in any attack on Iraq.
Some senior industry figures, however, have expressed surprise
at the British presence. 'Are we there to show the Iraqis what we
are about to drop on them?' one asked. Exhibition organisers list
Raytheon, the American company which makes the long-range
Cruise missiles that experts predict would spearhead any US
bombardment of Iraq, among companies at the fair. Vickers, the
UK arms company which makes the Challenger, the Army's
main battle tank, will also be exhibiting.
Sales by British firms are carefully vetted, but other nations are
less rigorous. The Russian state arms export corporation,
Rosoboronexport, which will be at Sofex, provided Robert
Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe with 21,000 AK-47s and eight
attack helicopters.
A Romanian firm which offered banned anti-personnel mines for
sale at an arms fair in the UK three years ago, will exhibit, as
well as Vazovski, a Bulgarian company, which makes grenade
launchers, missile and anti-aircraft systems. Vazovski small
arms were shipped to Unita rebels with false 'end-user'
certificates in the late Nineties.
Britain has always had a tradition of military co-operation with
Jordan and the strong representation of UK companies at the fair
is being seen as an expression of support for the government of
King Abdullah. The Jordanian economy benefits hugely from
trade with Iraq. Any military operations will have a massive
impact in the kingdom.
The Middle East has long been a good market for British
weapons firms. According to recent Foreign Office figures, the
UK licensed arms exports worth £1.4 billion to the Middle East
and North Africa between January 1999 and December 2001.
The fact that you are siding with the left and with the Islamists should be embarrassing to you.
We need defectors desperately. This is our big moment to get up-to-the-minute, behind the scenes info on Saddam and his preparations. What better way than to show his monkeys-being-led-by-a-madman that it's "jump ship now or die with a Brit SAS/USSF bullet through your teeth."
Let 'em come! Confidently scare the crap out of 'em! We want scud marks in their underwear now!
HF
Oh thanks! I've been looking for all the answers!
Could you please provide a list of all the false claims for me? Also, since you obviously know all, please provide a list of all the true claims.
I don't know how I've made it this far without you, Demi
lol
"I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building," - GW Bush - 2000 Campaign
"We’re not into nation-building," - GW Bush Sept 2001
"The United States, along with the European Union and Arab states, will work with Palestinian leaders to create a new constitutional framework, and a working democracy for the Palestinian people. And the United States, along with others in the international community will help the Palestinians organize and monitor fair, multi-party local elections by the end of the year, with national elections to follow." - GW Bush 2002
The primary focus of the Presidents policy is to remove two dictators, Sadaam and Arafat, both of whom support terrorism.
It is the vacuum that the removal of these two dictators will cause, that will necessitate some sort of nation building.
So the nation building in Iraq and Palestine is the result of the primary focus, unlike in Bosnia and Haiti, where the primary focus was -- NATION BUILDING!
You take the President out of context. You don't even show the full context of his three quotes.
You are the epitome of arrogance!
How in the hell do you know what the administration has come up with?
Do you actually think that you know everything they know?
Money I Think not
The British Government "Does" have control over their countries businesses as to where and to whom these weapons can be shown and sold; if they won't control these businesses who make these weapons, then they are complicit with them, and should be guilty of shedding American blood if these weapons in turn are used against our military.
You've been lied to.....AGAIN! The Terrorists were aided and abetted by Saddam Hussein. There are tons of articles referring to this. You should keep up with current events before you post disinfo's on FR.
Oh really? This sounds like the "depends on what the meaning of the word 'is'" defense.
Special forces are providing the equivalent of secret service protection to Afghan's leaders (not popularly elected it must be noted.)
We occupy Afghanistan and it is for the purpose of getting a gas pipeline built into the Caspian sea.
This becomes obvious to anyone who acknowledges the fact that the US has fresh military bases all along the route of the long-planned and frequently foiled caspian gas line.
Bush criticized the Clinton administration in the second debate for just this very sort of thing. His target was Haiti and Somolia (oddly enough he avoided talking about Serbia which was a gross display of US support of Al Queda trained KLA forces).
There's no spinning this in Bush's favor. He's a bald-faced liar and certainly there's no denying that the plan for Iraq is in fact nation-building.
Logical fallacy. Because I do not agree with Bush's foreign policy is not an indication I support the left. In fact I believe that Bush himself is far left of center thus by definition I oppose the left. I have always opposed the left which is why I have no respect for Bush.
Look at what you're arguing. You're attempting to use what they haven't said as some sort of proof that they must know what they're doing.
Please tell me you aren't trying to convince me that a lack of evidence is actually a good reason to attack Iraq.
Ron Paul proposed this. His bill never made it out of committee. That should give you an idea how far democrats and republicans have their heads up their collective butt....
I'm not trying to convince you of anything!
You are a lost cause!
What I'm trying to bring to the general debate is the fact that our intelligence gathering departments know a helluva lot more about what is going on that we do, and that's the way it should be.
I happen to believe in my President.
If he says there is credible evidence present to attack Iraq, then I'd hit them tonight.
B.S. You cannot say "we're not into nation-building" as a categorical statement and then squirm out of it by applying it into some narrow context. That last quote was AFTER Bush was elected. He's a liar and you've had too much of the kool-aid.
False. There is exactly ONE event that led some people to believe that this was so. And that event itself is completely unsubstantiated. There's no paper trail, no forensic evidence, only the conflicting reports regarding a meeting between an alleged Al Queda official and an Iraqi. The report has never been substantiated but it has been oft-repeated.
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