US military aid to Colombia serves to enrich defense companies: WikiLeaks founder
Sunday, 20 March 2011 16:36
Adriaan Alsema
United States military aid to Colombia serves more to enrich private defense companies than to help the Andean nation, said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an interview published Sunday.
In a video-interview with Colombian weekly Semana, Assange alleged that these interests of large corporations are more important than a desire to help Colombia develop.
"What it's about is that there are several powerful companies and lobbies in Washington such as Lockheed Martin, say Raytheon, Northrop Grumman; military intelligence contractors who lobby Congress and their contacts within the Pentagon and the CIA to engage in special programs in Colombia with provisos written to make sure that the money actually cycles back to the United States," the WikiLeaks founder said.
"It's about transferring money from U.S. tax payers i.e. predominantly from middle class people back to company share holders and senior executives; people who are already rich. For example, by appearing to give the Colombian government aid to buy helicopters, but then attaching provisos so that the helicopters must be of a particular type that only a U.S. weapons manufacturer can provide. That's what's really going on in Colombia as far as military subsidy and what the United States calls the war on drugs is concerned," Assange added.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15021-us-military-aid-to-colombia-serves-to-enrich-defense-companies-wikileaks-founder.html