arms trade

On the 14th of December the Attorney General announced that the Serious Fraud Office was dropping its investigation into bribery allegations involving BAE Systems in Saudi Arabia. A wide range of individuals and bodies have since voiced serious concerns, including MPs, the OECD, Institutional Investors and 130 non-governmental organisations. Campaign Against Arms Trade and the Corner House in the UK have informed the government of their intention to judicially review the decision.

For more information:

On February 1st, a group of peace activists gathered in the undersized Hennepin County Courtroom in Edina, MN to once again face charges of "criminal trespass" for entering the property of Alliant Techsystems, a local war profiteer and notorious manufacturer and seller of indiscriminate and illegal weapons such as cluster bombs, depleted uranium munitions, land mines, as well as rocket motors for delivery of nuclear bombs via missiles.

There are many corporations profiteering in DRC; the mining industry is one of the most involved in the destabilization of the country.Following there is a list of some of these corporations, and from all of them we will highlight one: The Forrest Group

The Forrest Group has the longest history of exploiting the Congo, gaining its first mining concessions before the Congo declared independence from the Belgians. The group, which includes the Ohio-based OM Group, has numerous concessions in Katanga (Shaba).

Congo remains in the grip of civil war. The reason is clear. A flood of small arms and light weapons undermines the 17,000 United Nations troops' mandate to protect civilians.

The conference started on Friday 29th of September at the University of St. Thomas, St Paul Minesota, with the screening of the film “Iraq for Sale” directed by Robert Greenwals with the attendance of about 150 people. The film is mostly about “Private Security Firms”, CACI, Titan, Black Water, Etc.

A case study on a nonviolent campaign against war profiteers

The Honeywell Corporation was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Honeywell produced cluster bombs (bomblets), small steel ball bearings embedded in a steel shell. When this antipersonnel weapon explodes, the steel ball bearings shoot out 2, 200 feet per second. Honeywell also made other weapons and civilian products.

War profiteers depend mainly on government contracts. Imagine what Lockheed Martin would be without their Pentagon contracts! At the same time governments need an excuse for spending such huge sums of money e.g. "war against terror", "national security", "peace forces", etc. Since war profiteers depend on government contracts they need to be in the position to influence them. Through the years they have positioned themselves to have an immense political power within governments, and they enjoy privileged access to decision-makers that the general public can only dream of.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) – are publicly backed government or semi-government agencies which give financial guarantees to companies operating abroad – they are the single largest source of taxpayer support for private sector companies seeking to off-load on to the public the financial risks of their business projects in the South and Eastern Europe.

The world's #1 military contractor, responsible for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, F-16, F/A-22 fighter jet, and Javelin missiles. They've also made millions through insider trading, falsifying accounts, and bribing officials.

The Pentagon has taken an important first step by canceling the contract for Halliburton 's military logistics contract in Iraq and putting it up for open bid. Halliburton has only itself to blame for shoddy management, over-charging and thumbing its nose at military investigators.

We are happy to present our 2nd edition of War Profiteers' News.

In this edition, we highlight the cancellation of Halliburton's exclusive Iraq deal. At the same time we present what is happening in Cabinda where WRI affiliate Union Pacifiste from France is supporting a local campaign for the respect of human rights in Cabinda and against the pollution of the mouth of the Congo River. In this issue, we also inform about Caterpillar's shareholders meeting in Chicago, where the issue of the use of their equipment for demolishing Palestinians homes was again raised.