Outrage as Iraq views UK arms

observer.co.uk ^ | October 13, 2002 | Jason Burke, chief reporter

[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.

[Beenliedto]

I'm in the business, son.

That explains it!!

If you're old enough to call me son, you're senile!!!

[COB1]

"Apples and Oranges, guy."

It's not "apples and oranges", GUY!
Don't you think the whole world had the same hope that Hitler would just go away?
Well, we waited too long to find out, and sure enough he didn't.
Sadaam Hussein won't go away, either.

[John Lenin]

You come across like a 12 year old kid, go back to dummy underground you will fit right in over there.

[COB1]

"If you're old enough to call me son, you're senile!!!"

Well, that debating point just blew me away, son.
You're just too smart for me.
I'll have to bow to your ultimate knowledge of world affairs.

Now go see if your momma will let you play some computer games before your nap time.

[Beenliedto]

COBI, Hitler was the commander of one of the finest military machines the world has ever seen. He had air superiority, superior tanks, knowledge of the territory, was just across the channel from Britian, a channel which, BTW, is swum by mere mortals on a regular basis.

He had the German industrial might, a homogeneous population which was even more conformist than this one, and a bevy of scientists and technicians.

I repeat my statement: It's apples and oranges.

go back to drilling.

[Beenliedto]

You come across like a 12 year old kid, go back to dummy underground you will fit right in over there.

Nah, been here too long. I like arguing with you neo-cons.

[EternalVigilance]

Fact: Saddam Hussein hates the United States.

Fact: Saddam Hussein possesses biological and chemical agents that, if deployed in American cities, would result in a multitude of Americans dying a painful and horrible death. He has demonstrated a willingness to use these weapons in the past, and the systematic rape, torture and murder of his own citizens demonstrate vividly that he has no regard whatsoever for any human life but his own.

Fact: Saddam Hussein has contact with Al Qaeda and other Islamist terror organizations around the globe.

Fact: Hussein could equip those terrorists with those weapons today...perhaps he already has.

You may be willing to ignore it and hope it goes away, but the President of the United States is not willing to take that risk. Thank God.

[EternalVigilance]

Wait, I forgot that I was talking to someone that doesn't allow facts to cloud his delusions.

Ignore that last post.

[Beenliedto]

Sounds like the second show.

[COB1]

In case you haven't noticed, the world has changed since the '40's.
One tatical nuclear bomb today is worth tons of tanks and thousands of men, no matter how well they're trained or equipped.
Chemical and biological weapons of today can make the dictator of the smallest underdeveloped country a threat to the whole world.
If we underestimate Sadaam Hussein's goals and abilities, we do so at our own peril.

[Beenliedto]

Wait, I forgot that I was talking to someone that doesn't allow facts to cloud his delusions.

You assume that your utterences are fact.

[Beenliedto]

In case you haven't noticed, the world has changed since the '40's.

Yes, I've been here the whole time.

And, you know, I sort of like the CIA analysis....

The one where it's suggested that backing SD into a corner might INCREASE the possibility that he'd launch such an attack.

Our mind's obviously made up, however. We're going to war, like it or not.

We will see what we will see.

[EternalVigilance]

And, you know, I sort of like the CIA analysis....

As have most all of the other lefties in this country.

[FreeReign]

That for the most part, our elected officials are no more interested in protecting and defending the Constitution then they are in not getting re-elected.

Getting re-elected is a Constitutional procedure and thus an important part of what elected officials do to defend the Constitution.

It is up to the people to decide what official canidates best protect unalienable rights.

[EternalVigilance]

Your screen name is interesting. Are you one of Bubba's ex-girlfriends?

[COB1]

"The one where it's suggested that backing SD into a corner might INCREASE the possibility that he'd launch such an attack."

And if you will refer to your history books you will see that that fear was expressed by dozens of countries before Hitler invaded Poland.
It didn't make any difference to Hitler, and it won't make any difference to Hussein.

[FreeReign]

"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,'

Understatement of the year.

It's absurd that we are gearing up to fight a war against people we simultaneously rub shoulds with at an arms bazaar because____________?

Explain the absurdity using logic.

[Beenliedto]

Your screen name is interesting. Are you one of Bubba's ex-girlfriends?

Forgive me for answering a question with a question, but...

Why do you feel the need to attack me personally?....

And no, the screen name came out of the Contract with America debacle, and later the impeachment and trial of William Jefferson Clinton, of which our elected representatives made such a mockery.

[EternalVigilance]

I feel the need to oppose you and the person who posted this thread so vociferously because I feel that the message herein is insidiously dangerous to my country and my children.

It is unadulterated propaganda of the left; and does nothing but serve our enemies.

When you spot a cancer, you to after it aggressively.

[Beenliedto]

That for the most part, our elected officials are no more interested in protecting and defending the Constitution then they are in not getting re-elected seeing to it that government gets smaller every year.

There, perhaps that explains my viewpoint better.