name: Yuram Abdullah Weiler

Merchants for the Angel of Death

07 May, 2008

“You are on test in this world and have to render account for it.  Certainly this world is a dirty watering place and a muddy source of drinking.” – Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib[i]

 

Indeed we are on test.  And perhaps the dirtiest watering place is the pool of dollars in the U.S. defense budget.  How will we Americans render account for the money that we allow our government to spend on defense?  Defense is the key word here, not war, but defense.    Before 1947, the U.S. had a Department of War, but the United Nations Charter outlawed war[ii] and only “rogue” states would operate outside the law, so it was renamed the Department of the Army and in 1949 was placed under the newly formed and euphemistically named Department of Defense (DOD.)[iii]  But it’s really still the Department of War, because “defense” that includes pre-emptive strikes and invasions for regime change is really just a euphemism for war.  Similarly, “justice” has become a euphemism for firing missiles at civilians from helicopters.[iv]

 

And how much does the U.S. spend on war?  According to U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) figures, U.S. DOD weapons acquisitions have grown under Bush from $790 billion in 2000 to $1.6 trillion in 2007 in fiscal year 2008 dollars.[v]  The 2009 budget calls for $515 billion,[vi] which amounts to 3.7% of the U.S. gross domestic product and over 4% when supplemental spending requests for current wars are included.[vii]  But these seemingly innocuous percentages mask the grim reality that the U.S. spends roughly the same amount on weapons as the rest of the world combined, based on an estimated world arms budget of some $1.1 trillion.[viii]  And who comes to drink from this muddy source of U.S. defense dollars?

 

In 2007, U.S. “defense” companies accounted for 66% of the weapons sales recorded by the world’s top 100 bomb builders.  The top 10 U.S. firms of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, United Technologies, KBR, SAIC and General Electric accounted for 51%.  The United Kingdom, whose top 8 munitions makers are BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, QinetiQ, GKN, VT, Cobham, Babcock International and Ultra Electronic Holdings, came in second to the U.S. in the arms revenue race with over 11%.  Weapons merchants in the top 100 from countries other than the U.S. and U.K. accounted for less than 23% of revenues.[ix]

 

While all these companies produce weapons of varying degrees of mass destruction used around the world to kill people, Bethesda Maryland-based Lockheed Martin stands at the top of the list with revenues of over $36 billion.  The dollar amount exceeds the combined arm sales revenues of all companies on the list from Russia, Japan, Israel, Germany, Sweden, India, Singapore, Spain, Finland, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea, Canada, Norway and Turkey.   This sum even exceeds the combined revenues of the top 8 British weapons firms listed above.

 

Lockheed Martin employs 140,000 people worldwide and is the largest weapons technology and services provider to the U.S. government. Aircraft marketed by Lockheed Martin includes the F-16 Fighting Falcon (4,398 delivered to date), F-22 Raptor (114 delivered to date)[x] and F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) that will be produced in 3 models, one each for the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps.  Missiles include the Patriot (PAC-3) kinetic energy missile, the Army Tactical Missile System (ATMS) and the Hellfire II missile (AGM-114.)  Consider the manufacturer’s glowing description of the missile’s capacity to kill and maim:

 

“The precision-strike semiactive laser (SAL)-guided HELLFIRE® II missile system defeats advanced armor and urban point targets in the presence of severe electro-optical countermeasures, with minimal collateral damage.  HELLFIRE II is a highly successful, combat-proven weapon system for precision kill of high-value armor, air defense, ships, waterborne, and fixed targets.”[xi]

 

The deadly Hellfire missiles can be fired from launchers mounted on Boeing’s AH-64D Apache helicopter, as Gaza residents know by first-hand experience when Israel unleashes them on the civilian population.[xii]^{, [xiii]}  According to a report by the New York based National Lawyer’s Guild,

 

“The U.S.-made assault helicopters are the most deadly and fear-inspiring weapons used. They are used extensively to attack civilian neighborhoods and to implement assassinations. The huge number and extensive use of Apache attack helicopters is, at a minimum, a symbol of U.S. foreign policy creating a warlike atmosphere.”[xiv]

 

Lockheed Martin also markets the Paveway II Laser Guided bomb, which is a system that converts ordinary bombs into “smart” ones for a “precision kill” with less “collateral damage.”  It comes in 3 configurations; the GBU-16 for 1000 lb. bombs, GBU-10 for 2000 lb. bombs and the GBU-12 for 500 lb. bombs.  The merchant proudly proclaims, “Laser Guided Bombs have been used extensively and successfully in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war against terrorism.”[xv]  I wonder if the Iraqis would rate the 8,583 of these bombs that the U.S. dropped on them during “shock and awe” as successful?[xvi]

 

In 2007, the top 10 weapons firms spent over  $82 million on lobbying to ensure their continued success.  While General Electric out spent all others by far, if we adjust the dollar amounts by percentage of “defense” revenue, once again, Lockheed Martin is in first place with over $10 million spent on lobbying.[xvii]   To date in 2008, 42 reports filed by 39 different lobbying firms listing Lockheed Martin as the client appear in the Lobbying Disclosure Act database[xviii], with two additional reports filed by Lockheed Martin lobbying on behalf of itself. A report filed by PMA Group is typical, listing a $40,000 fee earned for lobbying about procurements under Department of Defense Appropriations Act and the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2009.[xix]  In addition, Lockheed Martin is a major political contributor having donated some $15 million since 1990, with roughly 60% to Republicans and 40% to Democrats.[xx]

 

And the lobbying and political contributions have paid off, as Lockheed Martin was awarded the largest defense contract in history for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.   The contract, awarded in 2001 and estimated to be worth $200 billion, has deliveries scheduled to begin in 2010 and continue past 2030.[xxi] In a recent report, the GAO estimated that the acquisition and maintenance costs for the 2,458 aircraft would exceed $1 trillion and that operational costs would exceed those of the F-16 it is designed to replace.[xxii]  Funding requirements for the JSF program will average $11 billion for the next twenty years, with expected cost overruns.   No doubt from a capitalist point of view, Lockheed Martin President and CEO Robert J. Stevens has earned every penny of his estimated $9.5 million compensation package.[xxiii]  From a humanitarian point of view, one must ask, couldn’t the staggering sums involved here be better spent? 

 

With U.S. military personnel stationed in over 150 countries[xxiv] and DOD employees in over 163,[xxv] one must also ask, who, where or what is the perceived threat against which the U.S. spends so much for defense?  Is it Iran -- with an estimated defense budget of $4.3 billion, about 1/10 of close U.S. ally Great Britain’s which, in turn is less than 1/10 of what the U.S. spends -- that poses the greatest threat to world peace?[xxvi]  Is it Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah or perhaps Hamas?  No, it is the country whose ruling regime spends these obscenely outrageous sums on weapons of mass destruction that poses the greatest threat to world peace, much more so than any other country or so-called terrorist organization.[xxvii] 

 

The size of the American arsenal, the sums lavished on lobbying, and the greed of the munitions manufacturers assure us of a policy of perpetual war from the Washington regime.  War has simply become too profitable for these arms dealers and world peace too threatening for them to allow any serious discussion of it.  Truly, these companies are merchants for the Angel of Death, with the U.S. war profiteers his closest companions and Lockheed Martin his most trusted assistant.  If an opportunity arises to talk with the CEO of one of these companies about their weapons systems, please ask,

 

“Do you feel when the Angel of Death enters a house, or do you see him when he takes the life out of anyone?” – Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib [xxviii]

 

Yuram Abdullah Weiler

2008-05-07

Posted by yuram 16:02 | Iraq , Palestine , United States | Comment(0) | Permalink