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.
Okay, a case can be made that Kuwait was stealing oil from Iraq, but war was not the answer. I'm disappointed that you haven't said that yourself.
His invasion only tookplace after our ambassador had assured him that the US would not react... Saddam was set up.
This is simply not true. Expressing hopes for peace (or whatever was said, I don't recall) does not equate with approval of invasion. It is a well-known factoid that no such assurance took place.
Viet Nam did not become a "big time" was until the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which in fact did not take place.. it was an out-and-out lie prepetrated by LBJ.
True enough. Which lie, I remind those readers of the Democrat persuasion, was told by a Democratic President and embraced whole-heartedly by the Democratic Party, because it meant many, many jobs for democratic factory workers.
Yes, Vietnam may well have stayed "small-time" for a few years more, until North Vietnam and Ho Chi Min grew tired of killing only a few S. Vietnamese at a time. Thank you, I had forgotten about the terrorism practised by Ho Chi Min against the South.
For those that oppose the war, yes, that is exactly right. China wants to continue selling arms to Iraq, Iraq wants to produce the capability of taking over the Middle East and therefore control most of the world's oil, and Russia and France have economic interests in violation of the sanctions.
Just another case of good old English sportsmanship, eh what? ;^)
Where in God's name did THAT come from?
Put words in someone else's mouth, please.
A fairly well-known figure from history sprang to mind at that comment. His name was Pontius Pilate.
But all the handwashing in the world won't remove the stains from the hands of the appeasers and the pacifists every time the Islamists are allowed to strike because of inaction by so-called political leaders. More of the Clinton legacy chickens coming home to roost.
We have a duty on this earth to protect the innocent. Thank God there are people in power at this stage of our history who understand that fact.
I was against that one as well.
We were lied to in order to get un into it. And we lost almost 60,000 American lives trying to get out of it.
You guys are just itching for a fight, and nothing good is going to come of it.
I guess you don't understand that war is the result of failed policy. It falls on the back of our young american men and women to shed blood for the mistakes of our leaders..
War is the health of the state.
Yep. They attacked us, killing men, women and children...noncombatants all. And for that they need to be made to pay. If you don't like it, tough. Something good will come of it though...a whole bunch of Jihadists are going to be taking dirt naps.
I guess you don't understand that war is the result of failed policy. It falls on the back of our young american men and women to shed blood for the mistakes of our leaders.
Failure to prosecute this war would be a failed policy...just as it was a failed policy to prosecure war against Hitler before he became strong. Hundreds of thousands of American young people have volunteered to make sure that that isn't what occurs this time.
War is the health of the state.
In America, the people are the state. To succumb to the Islamists would be unhealthy for the American people in the extreme.
Oh, boy.
Yes, and they just keep doing a better job of that as time passes.
You just do not get it.
Get what? That you can't make a cogent argument against going to war? That you seem to want to ignore that we are faced with an implacable and evil foe who wants to kill every Jew and every American they can get their nail and rat-poisoned bombs next to?
I get all of that very well.
Thank God you are in the minority.
That there is no cogent argument for going to war, just a bunch of propoganda and half truths.
That government is notcapable of protecting us, or of even controlling our borders. Just look at what's been going on in the Washington area this past week.
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. Just look at what happened to the Contract with America and the Senate "trial" of William Jefferson Clonton.
That the American people and the State are not one and the same, Thank you God!
Understatement of the year.
In a pigs eye. This war is about a decade of un-requited revenge. Most of the claims made about Iraq are absolutely false.
I don't know Al Quata is but you're mistaken according to out own government.
Claim: Iraq is an international sponsor of terrorism.Reality: According to the latest edition of the State Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism, Iraq sponsors several minor Palestinian groups, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). None of these carries out attacks against the United States. As a matter of fact, the MEK (an Iranian organization located in Iraq) has enjoyed broad Congressional support over the years. According to last year's Patterns of Global Terrorism, Iraq has not been involved in terrorist activity against the West since 1993 – the alleged attempt against former President Bush.
Ron Paul - Iraq: Claim VS Reality
You obviously don't know the difference between 'propoganda' (sic) and facts. The fact is that we were attacked, we continue to be attacked, and the threat of future attacks is real and present. We are going to put a stop to it.
That government is notcapable of protecting us, or of even controlling our borders. Just look at what's been going on in the Washington area this past week.
Incapability of government to protect us and our borders is the fault of namby-pamby liberal politicians...the same ilk who would propagate the lying rhetoric that launched this thread.
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. Just look at what happened to the Contract with America and the Senate "trial" of William Jefferson Clonton.
So, since politicians have failed, you want them to continue to fail by not fulfilling their duty to protect our security?? Brilliant reasoning.
That the American people and the State are not one and the same, Thank you God!
Guess you never heard of the sovereignty of the American people or self-government...sad.
Put this in breaking news. I've never before heard the claim that it was Iraq that launched the attacks.
So why are you not saying that today when it is the US on much less justification is banging war drums?
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