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TRADE RESOURCE CENTER
CURRENT UPDATES: September 11, 2003
Dear Friends, On this second anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington, the New York Times is crammed with ads from Tiffanys, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales... They are tasteful non-ad ads, with messages like "we remember." But these are not the only messages we should be hearing. It seems fitting that we turn to those who lost loved ones on 9/11/01. September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows published a powerful statement that ends with the line; "So today as we mourn, reflect and remember, we ask that you join with us in pursuit of true peace, security, and justice. We owe it to the dead, we need it for the living and we must do it for the generations to follow. Let us move forward together to build a future of peaceful tomorrows." Read the whole statement at www.peacefultomorrows.org
A few others counter the steady beat of patriotism and war in writing about 9/11:
James Carroll has a moving piece in the Boston Globe: "To Honor the Victims, Let Us Make Peace, Instead of War". "Sept. 11 will live in the American memory," Carroll writes, "But as what?"
Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's magazine, writes on fear 2 years later. "Pretty well all the Bush administration has got going for it now is this foreign war. Fear is something this administration has been selling for two years. You sedate the populace with the drug of fear and maybe the electorate won't notice what a mess you have made, not only of domestic politics, but also our international relations. In order to conceal, disguise, dress up their own incompetence, they beat the constant threat of war and fear." Read Lapham's "Wild West Show" published in the September 9, 2003 issue of Harpers online.
Remember, Mourn and Organize,
In this update:
You know the old saying? "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." The adage aptly describes the stance of weapons manufacturers these days. These are the halcyon days of endless war for companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. They should be dancing on their revved up assembly lines. But they are not; they are dogged by scandal, controversy and sinking stock prices... So what do they do? Get aggressive. We were shocked to read that Lockheed Martin, the largest weapons contractor in the free world- in the whole world, in fact-, the recipient of the millions in taxpayer financed federal subsidies, the original welfare queen, the arms behemoth- was suing protestors. Yep, you heard right. On April 22, 2003 fifty-two protesters were arrested at the demonstrations at a Lockheed Martin facility in Sunnyvale, CA. The company seeks an unprecedented legal penalty: Restitution of $15,000 to cover the cost of alleged additional security during a non-violent, peaceful protest and demonstration. The case has not gone to court yet. A more fitting case for the courts would be trying Lockheed Martin for systematically overcharging the Pentagon on contracts. Just ask Ken Pedeleose, an industrial engineer and nine-year employee of the Defense Contract Management Agency. He and two colleagues wrote a report for DCMA and Congressional investigators accusing Lockheed of billing the Pentagon $5,217 for brackets that should have cost $258 and $714 for fasteners that should have cost $53. Pedeleose's report says waste and fraud have helped inflate C-130J prices from an original goal of about $45 million per airplane when production began in 1995 to about $70 million today. Makes the $15,000 Lockheed Martin claims the protestors cost them seem like a drop in the bucket, right? For more on Lockheed's suit visit the www.stoplockheed.org
Boeing has also gotten tough. Pushing a deal on Congress and the country to have the Air Force lease 100 air-refueling tanker planes for billions more than it would cost the Pentagon to buy them outright. Sounds like a bum deal? It sure is. Frida Berrigan wrote an article on Boeing's Military Industrial Rip-Off for In These Times.
Former White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsay was ridiculed for estimating a year ago that the invasion would end up costing $200 billion. It now looks like it will exceed that. Contrary to the impression given by Bush, the bulk of the $87 billion will go to military-related activities, much of which will profit companies close to his administration. In his speech announcing the need for more war money, President Bush said, "We will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom, and to make our own nation more secure." But, is it the nation he wants to make secure, or corporations with close ties to his administration? Bush is asking Congress for $87 billion in emergency funding, the bulk of which-- $66 billion--- would be for military and intelligence operations over the next year in Iraq and Afghanistan "and elsewhere." This $87 billion request for 2004 comes on top of the $79 billion bill past in March to pay the war costs for the current fiscal year. The financing, if approved by Congress, would significantly add to the federal government's deficit, which is approaching $500 billion. Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat and presidential candidate, pointed out that the $87 billion for war in Afghanistan and Iraq is more than the federal government will spend on education this year." He could have also pointed out that each month the United States is spending $5 billion on war in Iraq and Afghanistan-that same amount could eliminate illiteracy world wide, according to the World Game Institute. The Department of Labor reported recently that U.S. companies cut 93,000 jobs in August. While Americans suffer unemployment, underfunded schools, inadequate health care.. one industry is thriving, and it is the war industry. Chris Hellman, from the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies, prepared the following comparisons. Comparing the Costs
Costs to the United States of Other Wars [Note: The total cost of military operations for the 1991 war was $76 billion. Of this, $67 Billion was "covered" either by in-kind contributions (fuel, etc.) or direct cash payments to the U.S. by other countries.] Harpers on the "Defense" Budget Ratio of Iran's military budget to the amount spent by the Pentagon since last fall for "increased worldwide posture" : 1:1 Amount the Defense Department has lost track of, according to a 2000 report by its inspector general : $1,100,000,000,000 Ratio of this amount to the rest of the world's military budgets combined : 2:1 Approximate number of accounting systems in use at the Defense Department : 2,300 Percentage change since 2001 in the median annual compensation of CEOs of major U.S. defense contractors : +79 Change since March 2001 in the number of working-age Americans who are neither working nor looking for work : +3,600,000 Average salary of a state legislator last year : $30,300 Average amount spent lobbying one : $130,000 More at Harpers.org
III. LONDON WEAPONS FAIR Manufacturers of brutal and indiscriminate weapons and companies with a history of breaking arms embargoes and legislation are to promote their business at a government-sponsored weapons exhibition at London docklands, September 10-13. The Campaign Against Arms Trade released a report that reveals the track records of a number of companies exhibiting at Defence Systems Equipment International (DSEi). Companies at the fair include Bulgarian small arms firm Arsenal Company, which is reported to have "sold small arms for $7-8 million to Chad and Angola" and has supplied arms to Sierra Leone, in breach of the UN embargo. "Many of these companies have been fingered for shipping arms, sometimes illegally, into regions of terrible conflict like the Congo," said Martin Hogbin, campaigns coordinator. "Others manufacture some of the most brutal and indiscriminate weapons in the world, including landmines and cluster bombs." CAAT's report also details many of the countries shopping for arms next week. Campaigners were shocked to learn that 'axis of evil' country Syria has been invited to shop for arms at DSEi 2003. Other countries of concern to CAAT, because of their human rights record, their developmental or conflict problems, have been invited. They include Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Israel, Chile, Colombia, Turkey, South Africa, India and Pakistan. "Put together, the invites are a roll call of human rights abusers, countries drowning in poverty and countries with huge internal and small arms conflict problems," said Hogbin. The report also tackles the controversial issues of government subsidies for arms firms, ballistic missile defence, small arms and depleted uranium. The full version is available as a PDF at www.CAAT.ORG.UK
IV. RECENT ARTICLES Frida Berrigan wrote "A Growth Industry: Private Military Corporations" for Peace News, the publication of War Resisters International. She also wrote "Boeing's Military Industrial Rip-Off" for the September 11, 2003 issue of In These Times. Read it online at (It should be posted online in the next day or two) or better yet, buy it from your local independent bookseller. Bill Hartung is putting the finishing touches on his new book, tentatively title "How Much Did You Make on the War, Daddy?" The book will be published by NationBooks and should be out before the end of the year. While you are waiting for Bill's book to come out, check out their recent selections at www.nationbooks.org Reports | Recent News Coverage | Updates
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