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CounterPunch
December
30, 2002
Boomtime
for the Military-Industrial Complex
Arming for Armageddon
by JOHN STANTON
In 2001, the US weapons industry controlled approximately
50 percent of the world arms market. The Federation
of American Scientists (FAS) reports that for fiscal year
2001, the US government exported $12.2 billion in weapons and
was awarded $13.1 billion in new foreign contracts through its
Foreign Military Sales program. That excludes the $36 billion
in direct commercial sales by US weapons manufacturers to foreign
nations. FAS indicates that the weapons industry is second only
to the US agriculture industry in its receipt of US taxpayer
subsidies. Yet, the weapons industry still whines about export
restrictions and pesky public disclosure requirements that actually
make them somewhat accountable to the US Congress and the American
people. So it's no surprise that in 2003, the weapons industry
will be busy lobbying the US Congress and the American public
for more subsidies, fewer restrictions on what can be sold and
to whom, and exemptions from public accountability and long standing
agreements.
The weapons industry storyline will include
appeals to 9-11 and patriotism, free markets, job creation and
level-playing fields, and global democracy--US style. But the
reality behind the phony proclamations is, of course, profits
and free-rides. American taxpayers spend upwards of $10 billion
a year in subsidies to the US weapons industry. American jobs
are, in fact, exported along with the technology to countries
like Turkey and Israel through off-sets which means that the
importing country can build the systems themselves. US technology
and know-how gets given away at no charge or at discounted rates
through the Excess Defense Articles program. US foreign policy
is regularly altered and human rights ignored to meet the needs
of US weapons manufacturers. More chilling though is the observation
of a weapons industry executive who mused, "There will come
a day when we will have no allegiance to a nation-state. We will
be viewed as neutral suppliers to all combatants." That
day has arrived.
The American public would do well to
take note of the weapons industry's activities in 2003 because
as FAS reports,"US-origin weapons find their way into conflicts
the world over...Of the active conflicts in 1999, the United
States supplied arms or military technology to parties in more
than 92% of them --39 out of 42. In over one-third of these conflicts--18
out of 42--the United States provided from 10% to 90% of the
arms imported by one side of the dispute...In Fiscal Year 1999,
the United States delivered roughly $6.8 billion in armaments
to nations which violate the basic standards of human rights...The
costs to the families and communities afflicted by this violence
are immeasurable. But to most arms dealers, the profit accumulated
outweighs the lives lost. In the period from 1998-2001, over
68% of world arms deliveries were sold or given to developing
nations, where lingering conflicts or societal violence [continues]...The
United States military has had to face troops previously trained
by its own military or supplied with U.S. weaponry in Panama,
Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, and now in Afghanistan. Due to the advanced
capabilities these militaries have acquired from past US training
and sales, the US had to invest much more money and manpower
in these conflicts than would have otherwise been needed."
Just recently, US weapons industry members
were showing the flag and their fine products in October 2002
in Jordan at the annual SOFEX Conference and Exhibition. AM General,
American Molds & Hickling Engineering, Environmental Tectonics,
Harris Corporation, SAIC, JPS, Kollsman, Pratt & Whitney,
Raytheon and Sikorsky had products on display. Official delegations
to that event included Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria and other
nations that the Bush Regime wants to destroy. Yet, there they
were-- those patriotic Americans from the US weapons industry,
selling the same American-made components and weapons that young
US service men & women will likely use in the conflicts that
are certain to come in 2003 (http://www.sofex.com.jo/htm/index.html).
And the Center for Defense Information reports that "Some
countries receiving U.S. weapons and/or training continue to
recruit children for their official armed forces. Thus, United
States is supplying arms and military aid to countries where
children are used as soldiers."
Hide Behind
National Security
High on the US weapons industry 2003
to-do list is to gain full implementation of the 17 Defense Trade
Security Initiatives that will allow, among other things, the
weapons industry to be exempt from many provisions of the International
Traffic in Arms Regulations for both foreign military sales and
defense services. In short, removing US government oversight
of arms sales. They also are seeking to fight the World Trade
Organization's ruling that the US Extra Territorial Income Exclusion
Act of 2000 is an illegal subsidy to corporations by the US government.
That Act allows the weapons industry to claim a tax credit on
portions of its foreign weapons sales.
2003 will also see an intense lobbying
effort in the US Congress to gain approval of measures that would
prevent public disclosure of information relating to security
incidents and business-sensitive data. That's code for a movement
in the US weapons industry to broaden the classfications of Secret
or Top Secret to include everything from timesheets and accounting
records to reports of faulty test data and missing equipment.
Revealing classified information, even if the information clearly
shows the weapons maker can't meet the government's requirement,
can mean jail time and stiff fines. Classifying every document
is a convenient way to keep employees quiet and make it tough
for lawyers to get in and defend those who still have some measure
of ethics. It's a surprise to the uninitiated to learn that the
weapons makers in the "private" sector hold 98 percent
of all US government classified information. It is normally the
corporation or insitution Facility Security Officer (FSO) that
determines what gets classifed and what doesn't. The US government
typically provides classification guidelines in its contract
award that the FSO must ensure are followed; but, ultimately,
it's up to the business to make sure the correct classification
is made.
Since the "death penalty" for
a weapons maker is to have its facility clearance pulled by the
agency granting it, the tendancy is to be overly broad in classifying
information. For example, over 11 years ago the US government
terminated its contract with General Dynamics and Boeing (Boeing
owns the original partner McDonnell Douglas) for failure to perform
its obligation to build the US Navy an A-12 aircraft similar
in design to the US Air Force F-117. The US government demanded
$1 billion in repayment--now up to $2.3 billion and still on
appeal--and, of course, the two companies sued the US government.
In the discovery process that followed roughly 80 percent of
the weapons makers' documents turned out to be financial records
such as timesheets and annual reports that were stamped Secret
or Top Secret. Slowing that litigation process was the cumbersome
requirement that staff on both sides of the lawsuit had to receive
US government security clearances to the Top Secret level and,
in some cases, beyond that designation. The clearance process
can take up to a year and there's no guarantee of approval.
Damn Human
Rights! Arm 'Em All!
The US weapons industry is an equal opportunity
death merchant. It supplies weapons to totalitarian and democratic
regimes of all flavors, all over the world. Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe is a customer as is King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, custodian
of the Two Holy Mosques and Head of State of Saudi Arabia. Tony
Blair of the United Kingdom is an eager customer as is Hugo Chavez
of Venezuela. China, Cambodia, Kazakstan and Laos receive military
assistance. Need weapons to quell that pesky domestic rebellion?
The US weapons industry is there for you. For years it supplied
weapons and gear to Indonesia to assist it in the killing of
at least 100,000 East Timorese. Protestors all over the US have
been subjected to weaponry and tactics developed by the US weapons
industry and the US military. Need landmines? Human Rights Watch
estimates that the US has stockpiled 11.2 million landmines for
use in conflict. The Bush Regime has indicated it will use them
in Iraq if necessary.
The power of the US weapons industry
to influence foreign policy is perhaps best represented by its
successful effort to expand NATO. According to William Hartung
of the World Policy Institute, with the blessing of the Clinton
Administration, "In 1994 several major US military manufacturers
set up offices in the region to promote their products, and in
1996, defense giant Lockheed Martin organized a series of "defense
planning seminars" for officials in Poland, Hungary and
the Czech Republic, a soft-sell, relationship-building approach
intended to demonstrate the benefits of buying American. In 1997
in the months leading up to public referendums, the Czech, Hungarian,
and Polish governments, as well as U.S. arms manufacturers, launched
aggressive media campaigns to win public support. On Hungarian
television, a popular sitcom suddenly had a new character, a
military commander who spouted the virtues of NATO, while school
libraries gave away slick pro-NATO CD-ROM games supplied by McDonnell
Douglas [now owned by Boeing]. While lulled by propaganda, lured
by the illusion of imminent EU membership, and lavished with
new subsidized military hardware, the people of Poland, Hungary,
and the Czech Republic, were given little concrete explanation
of the potential costs or obligations of NATO membership. Majorities
in both Hungary and the Czech Republic, however, correctly discerned
that increased government spending on the military would come
at the expense of education and health..."
One price of NATO membership is a requirement
to set-aside 20 percent of their total defense budget for procuring
US weaponry. The per capita income for Latvia is $3,013. According
to William Hartung of World Policy Institute, "the U.S.
share of a full-blown NATO expansion initiative -- including
military exercises and troop deployments, modernizing military
bases and communications networks, and rearming the nations of
East and Central Europe -- could reach $250 billion between now
and the year 2010." That $250 billion for NATO expansion
excludes funds yet to be spent on US Homeland Security, National
Missile Defense, the War In Afghanistan, the War on Drugs, the
War in Iraq, and, perhaps, World War III. Can the Latvians and
other new entrants afford the increase in defense spending? Can
Americans afford it and the mad designs of the US weapons industry
and their friends in government? Can the world afford it?
The outlook is grim. Few in the US Congress
will stand in the way of the US weapons industry and its supporters
in the Pentagon and White House, including former members of
Congress, which is just another way of saying that they'll get
what they're looking for in 2003, particularly since they helped
get many of them into office. It's unclear whether mass demonstrations
and voting will make any difference in limiting the political
power of the weapons manufacturers. Meanwhile, in the board rooms
of the US weapons industry, the sun is shining, freedom is defended,
democracy lives, and it's going to be a record profit-taking
year in 2003.
John Stanton
is a Virginia-based writer specializing in national security
matters. He can be reached at cioran123@yahoo.com
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