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CounterPunch
February
11, 2003
An Iron Triangle
Raytheon-Israel-Congress
by JOSHUA RUEBNER
"To qualify for self-determination,
a people must show some kind of national identity....What political
organizations, social institutions, literature, art, religion,
or private correspondence express any ties between the Palestinian
people to the Land of Israel?"
--Adam Cherrill,
Manager of Business Development,
Raytheon Business Systems, November 18, 2002
I travel around this country speaking about the
need for the United States to support a balanced foreign policy
toward the Israel-Palestine conflict. At these events, inevitably
I encounter staunch defenders of Israel's military occupation
of Palestine who refuse to question the morality of Israel's
policy of denying another people their fundamental human rights
to live in freedom and dignity.
It is difficult to become anesthetized
to the shock of encountering people who view Palestinians as
being less deserving of universally recognized human rights than
others. Normally, I just take these types of statements to be
representative of a hate-filled fringe, refute them, and move
on.
However, the remarks above, delivered
in response to an address I gave at the University of Arizona,
were different. Adam Cherrill is not a member of a shadowy, millennial
cult busily preparing for the building of the Third Temple in
Jerusalem. If he were, then it would be easy enough to dismiss
what he had to say. No, Cherrill is a person of considerable
clout-the program manager for Raytheon's joint marketing of the
Black Sparrow ballistic target missile with the Israeli weapons
manufacturer Rafael.
I wondered why would Raytheon-one of
the largest U.S. weapons makers, employing 77,500 people worldwide
and generating $16.9 billion in revenues in 2001-place an advocate
of the expansionist notion of "Greater Israel" in such
a prominent position in the U.S.-Israeli military relationship?
What does it say for U.S. foreign policy to have an American
responsible for marketing Israeli missiles who believes that
"Israel has a far stronger claim to Judea and Samaria, which
is considered the West Bank, than the Arabs"?
The answers to these questions become
clear when one examines the business perks that Raytheon and
other defense contractors enjoy thanks to a U.S foreign policy
which unconditionally bankrolls Israel's military occupation
of Palestine. For FY2003, Congress has earmarked more than $2.1
billion for Israel in foreign military financing. Israel will
use this money to purchase the American-made weapons it needs
to entrench its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip and the U.S. arms industry will get a lump-sum of guaranteed
business-a sweetheart deal for all involved.
Unsurprisingly, Raytheon has been a beneficiary
of this American taxpayer largesse in recent years. Since 1998,
Raytheon has sold to Israel through foreign military sales more
than 200 AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles for
more than $100 million, 14 Beech King B200 fixed-wing aircraft
for $125 million, and a Patriot missile system for $73 million,
according to the Federation of American Scientists.
But the export of weapons to Israel can
take place only if Congress is willing to turn a blind eye to
the U.S. Arms Export Control Act which bans such weapons from
being used against civilians. Unfortunately, Israel has used
U.S.-provided weapons on several occasions to kill innocent Palestinian
civilians. The most egregious example of this happened in July
2002 when U.S.-made F-16s reduced to rubble an apartment building
in Gaza City, killing 17 Palestinians civilians in what Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon termed "a great success."
Even White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer was compelled to
acknowledge that it was "a deliberate attack against a building
in which civilians were known to be located." However, to
admit that Israel is in violation of this law would jeopardize
future U.S. arms exports to Israel and present the defense industry
with a nightmarish scenario in which their $2 billion yearly
subsidy would dry up.
To prevent this from happening was one
reason why the defense industry doled out a whopping $13 million
in total contributions in the 2002 election cycle, according
to the Center for Responsive Politics. Raytheon Co. PAC alone
gave $523,725 to federal candidates. It is no coincidence that
stalwarts of the deadly U.S.-Israeli military relationship-such
as Martin Frost ($4,000), Dick Gephardt ($3,000), Jane Harman
($12,500), Anne Northup ($6,000), Ed Pastor ($8,000), and Mitch
McConnell ($6,000)-were rewarded quite handsomely by Raytheon
for turning a blind eye and acting unaccountably, while the few
Members of Congress who have called into question Israel's violations
of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act-Robert Byrd, John Conyers,
John Dingell, and Nick Rahall-received a grand total of $0.
Of course Israel is not sole determinant
in the calculations of how the defense industry dishes out its
hush money. But the $2 billion subsidy that it receives from
the American taxpayer isn't exactly chump change either and creates
interests that are surely worth protecting.
Joshua Ruebner
is co-founder of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel (JPPI)
and a former Analyst of Middle East Affairs for Congressional
Research Service (CRS). He can be reached at: He can be reached:
jruebner@hotmail.com
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