Making a killing out of war - The ghouls who profit from death

[NNN0LHI]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2007/09/making_a_killing_out_of_war.html

The DSEi arms fair is a reminder of just how many companies continue to profit from conflict and the misery it causes.

We did not need the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan to tell us that war is a catastrophe for those on the receiving end. Fully 80% of the world's poorest countries have suffered a major war in the previous 15 years, and the legacy of conflict casts a long shadow over a country's development prospects. Nine of the 12 states with the worst rates of hunger and malnutrition have experienced recent conflict or civil strife.

Yet Iraq did remind us, graphically, that some people get a lot richer from war. Lest we forget this fact, the Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) arms fair is back in London this week to showcase the corporate side of conflict. Never having been inside an event which boasts that it "enables countries to showcase their warships right alongside the exhibition venue", I went along to the fair's opening day to see which are the companies profiting from 21st century warfare.

From recent reports in the media, you might think the defence industry's time was up. BAE Systems, Europe's largest arms company, is under investigation for alleged corruption by the US department of justice, while the Serious Fraud Office's infamous decision to drop the UK investigation into BAE is now itself facing a legal challenge. Reed Elsevier, which has run DSEi since 1999, announced in June that it was pulling out of all future arms fairs due to public pressure. Then Gordon Brown decreed that Deso, the UK government's arms promotion agency and a key DSEi sponsor, is to be closed down. Could the tide be turning against the arms trade?

Once inside the fair, however, reports of the industry's demise seem greatly exaggerated. This year's DSEi has attracted over 1,350 exhibitors from 37 different countries, 400 of them participating for the first time. Major international players such as BAE, Thales, QinetiQ, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman all have large, high-tech displays, while hundreds of smaller companies offer specialised products from night optics to razor wire. More familiar high street names are present too, with Saab, Rolls-Royce and Land Rover all there to remind car owners that their next purchase could come with machine guns fitted as standard.

With governments such as our own determined to pursue military adventures around the world, the arms trade remains big business. And despite a supposedly softer focus on "force protection" rather than offensive weaponry at this year's DSEi, there is no mistaking the fact that the industry's end product is death. If cabinets full of guns, grenades and armour-piercing ordnance do not make this sufficiently clear, marketing is there to fill in the gaps. Lockheed Martin is promoting its bid to upgrade the British army's Warrior armoured vehicle by talking up its "greatly enhanced lethality", while one of the Pakistani companies present is selling a new automatic firing system on its "increased kill probability".

[GliderGuider]

1. Making a Killing

I'd like to complement your post with a recommendation for a book.

Making a Killing
How and Why Corporations Use Armed Force to Do Business
Written by Madelaine Drohan
http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679312017

In Making a Killing, Madelaine Drohan looks at the shocking number of companies that have linked up with mercenaries, warlords, armies and private militias in order to make a profit. In a world where multinationals often rival national governments in size and clout, the implications of such partnerships are ominous. What leads respectable corporations down the path to violence? Drohan answers this question by examining the actions of several companies operating in Africa, such as Ranger Oil West Africa, which used the mercenary group Executive Outcomes to take on rebels in Angola’s long-running civil war; and Talisman Energy, whose security was provided by Sudanese army units conducting a scorched-earth policy in the oil fields.

Drohan traces the modern roots of corporate armed force, beginning with Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company, which at the turn of the century built its own army. Also included is the stranger-than-fiction tale of ex-MI5 spymaster Sir Percy Sillitoe, who was hired by the De Beers diamond king to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring smuggled diamonds in order to develop the hydrogen bomb. These accounts read like adventure stories in the tradition of Rudyard Kipling and Ian Fleming, but they are essential reading for anyone interested in the effects of unfettered multinational influence. Making a Killing provides a road map for corporations, policy makers and investors struggling to come to terms with their roles in today’s increasingly globalized world.

[Rageneau]

2. Smedley Butler had the right idea -- don't hire defense companies -- DRAFT them!

General Butler finally realized that war (foreign policy) is a racket designed to enrich the few at the top of the food chain at the expense of everyone else. He suggested that -- if we need industry to manufacture war machinery -- that those industries be DRAFTED -- just as young soldiers are drafted, and, further, that such companies only get paid the very minimim for their services -- just as our soldiers are paid in small amounts to assume the greatest possible risks.

In such a case, the people who make the tanks would be just as anxious to end the war as the people being rolled over by those tanks -- because there'd be no profit in making tanks.

Butler saw that America's "need" for war would immediately subside if defense contractors were unable to make any profit from it.

IOW, take away the 'racket' aspect of war, and you'll soon end unnecessary wars.

[EFerrari]

3. So creepy. An arms fair.

It reminds me of the bus ride from the airport to the Mall, where you see those huge signs on business parks and so many of them are in the war profiteer business. That's creepy, too.

[bryant69]

4. Hey you pull my name up that list?

Just our of curiosity. I think I've covered my tracks pretty well, but you never know.

Bryant
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