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.
Good post. Right to the point.
To do what?? Do you think they are handing out free samples of enriched uranium or something?
Get a clue. If the Iraqis see weapons that will blow them up, what are they going to do about it?
None of this stuff is classified. All of it is embargoed. I'm sure Iraqis have also gone to airshows and seen B-52s or F-16s up close. BFD.
I understand you are a FR newbie so I'll explain the rule: The first one to accuse someone of being Clintonion automatically loses. Now, move along.
If we wanted oil, we could easily buy it for far less that it costs (both financially and politically) to go to war.
It is painfully obvious that the poster is myopic to the point of ignorance.
This war is about money... and it's not just on the surface.
It's the repair of oil fields which will certainly be damaged as the result of any US action in the region.
It's about control of the Iraqi oil reserves, which will result in the US being aboe to control the world flow and price of oil.
It's about defense contractors selling arms to the US and others.
And let us not forget that many of those who are in positions to make decisions stand to be financially rewarded.
Always follow the money.
It's you who needs to call for the orderly---your meds need upping.
You come here and spout Islamist and leftwing tinfoil hat propaganda, and then think everyone who scoffs at your envious class-based poppycock is crazy?
Ah well, I guess those who have lost their grip on reality always figure it's everyone else who has gone mad...
Tell the medic you want to try Thorazine--I hear it works pretty well.
All they can do at the show is look, not buy. Even if Iraq was allowed to buy weapons from the Brits, which they are not, by the time they could take delivery on any order, the war would be over. This is nothing more than window shopping. Big deal.
Information and specifications on everything that is currently being show is available via "Google" search. Nothing being shown is a secret. It has all been available from Janes for a good long time.
None of this will be sold to Iraq legally. With enough money Iraq can buy almost anything on the black market. What part of this is not clear to you???
Stay safe; stay armed.
Wow. You're psychic, then. Were you a Florida ballot recounter, too?
Amazing how you can arm chair and still read the minds of those in control of American lives. Amazing how you know SOOOOOO much more than they.
BTW, do these images come in pictures, or do you hear voices in your head?
Actually, it's not difficult. As I said at the end of my post, all you have to do to understand events is follow the money.
It's always been that way, it's that way now, and it'll always be that way.
If you think differently, you're not watching what's going on, you're just duped by the propoganda.
Oil money
Big Business money
Military Arms Makers money
You're really p*ssing me off.
This war is about men, women and children being brutally attacked and charred beyond recognition by heartless killers.
It is about Americans who were forced to choose between being burned to death and jumping to their certain deaths.
It is about peace-loving Israelis, Americans, Indonesions, and others who just want to enjoy their life in security without having to worry about crazed Islamists killing their children, blowing them up with nail and rat poison infected bombs, or hijacking our planes into our national landmarks.
Whether you have enough presence of mind to realize that you are doing the Jihadists work for them or not, it is the truth.
You should go somewhere else to spout your leftist screed....somewhere where they appreciate it. DU would work.
So, you're saying Bush is lieing, and that we should have no fear of Saddam and his weapons, training Al Quata, and Al Quata Aid. We should just look past that, and see money?
I think perhaps you're confused about one central point here.
The perps of the WTC horror were not Iraqui...
They were Saudi....
You know, Saudi, our good friends in the middle east.
Iraq in all likelihood had absolutly nothing to do with it.
Iraq is a secular Arab state, The WTC perps were (are) Islanic fundamentalists.
Wake up!!
The Pat Buchanan wing of "Conservatism" is hard at it as well. These are people who hate Bush so much, they can't see past that hatred to what is right for America.
Buchanan believes we just need to "contain" Saddam like we have been doing. Secretly, and think he and people like him would like for Saddam to hit us, hard, hoping that will cause us to disengage from the world and turn "armadillo" like Buchanan and his panty-waist cronies want us to do.
To: Glenn..... So you are another one who wants Iraq to have the best weapons to fight our troops. You are in the same class as Klinton.
Excuse me, icantbleaveit, but where exactly in the article does it say anything about the U.K. companies selling weapons to Iraq?
Show us.
All the article states is that the "No War With Iraq" crowd, which you seem to be a member of, is using the arms show as a propaganda tool. Arms sales to Iraq are illegal and no U.K. arms maker will be selling arms to Iraq. If they do, the Britons involved will be facing a loooong stay in one of Her Majesty's prisons .
So, the whole "No War With Iraq" argument in this case boils down to the fact that individuals on opposites sides of a war are "rubbing elbows" at a public venue in a neutral third country.
Gasp!! The horror!!! Who ever heard of such a dastardly thing!!!!
Look, icantbleaveit, enemies have been rubbing elbows in neutral third countries since the dawn of History.
During the American Civil War, Cuba was a center of activity for Confederate blockade running. Outside the old city walls of Havana was a popular tavern called "The Louvre". Confederate blockade runner crews and U.S. Navy crews would routinely gather at that neutral Cuban tavern to drink Cuban rum together and shoot the breeze .
The Confederate blockade runners would try to pick up loose talk about where the U.S. Navy ships would be stationed. The U.S. Navy crews would try to pick up loose talk about when a Confederarate would make a break for the open sea.
Enemies "rub elbows" in public venues in neutral countries. It's part of the intelligence game. It has been going on for thousands of years and will continue to go on until the end of History.
Why would they ask this question? You have lost me now. I would venture a guess that the arms dealers are better armed than the Iraq arms purchasers.
Stay safe; stay armed.
He's a "when did you stop beating your wife" kind of debater. No fact, just unrelated accusations intended to deflect from the issue at hand.
Liberal technique to the T.
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