Thursday, January 31, 2008

How Raytheon woo kids into the arms industry

TOP MARKS FOR SCHOOL’S VISIT TO RAYTHEON SYSTEMS Eighteen Year 11 ...

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
23 Mar 2007 ... surprise at the variety of jobs available and a number of them showed interest in. working for Raytheon at some future point in their ...
www.raytheon.co.uk/news_room/news/press_release_23032007.pdf - Similar pages - Note this

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Army Training Criticised

OU note... will this training impriove with the involvement of Raytheon, Serco and other coporqate rotters?
Iraqi prisoner abuse inquiry criticises army training
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 19 hours ago
The report was released as the defence secretary, Des Browne, said a review had concluded that "no further criminal lines of enquiry" would be pursed in ...
Army faces 'whitewash' claims The Press Association
Report by British Military Finds No Systematic Abuse of Iraqi ... New York Times
UK soldiers escape prosecution over deaths of Iraqis This is London
all 373 news articles »

Download Corporate Mercenaries [pdf]: War on Want's report on PMSCs - Private Military and Security Companies - Corporate Mercenaries: The threat of private military and security companies…..Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are major arms contractors also selling PMSC services.

Halliburton specialises in energy exploration and construction, but also provides logistical support to the US military.While conflicts such as the Iraq War have brought companies enormous profits, their gain has come at the

expense of the victims of war.


Thursday, January 24, 2008

Qinetiq 394 university projects

QinetiQ - 394 university projects
QuinetiQ is a leading international defence and security technology company. It acts as the leading supplier of defence research to the British government which provides half its turnover. It also provides technological and security solutions to clients from both the civil and public sectors. The government recently sold a majority stake in the firm to a US private equity firm

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Military recruitment targets children!

They Want Influencers for More New Recruits
Source: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), January 16, 2008

"The U.S. Marine Corps is rolling out a new ad campaign this week in an effort to target teachers, coaches, clergy and other groups that tend to have influence on kids' career paths," reports the Wall Street Journal. The Marines "previously aimed its marketing directly at young adults," running ads on Walt Disney's ESPN or News Corporation's FX. But the new spots will run during Fox's "American Idol," which "has a broader audience that includes adults as well as kids." The WPP Group advertising firm JWT designed the Marines' new television spots; the campaign also includes print and online ads. One ad "features a line of Marines standing in formation in front of landmarks across the U.S. such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Independence Hall." The campaign's focus on "influencers" is consistent with the U.S. Army's recruiting efforts, which the Center for Media and Democracy previously reported on. Their slogan "Army strong" was chosen, in part, to appeal to influencers.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Open University collusion with Arms Dealers

The Open university is a key partner in the Metrix Consortium.

What is the Metrix Consortium doing?

Creating a proposed military training academy at St Athan which will be built and run by a consortium which includes major multinational arms companies, and will train not only British service personnel, but those from any regime or private military company that can fork out the ready cash. The whole St Athan project has a bitter cold heart. It addresses a future where international conflict can only be solved by violence, accepts the widespread death and maiming, misery and suffering caused to innocent people by militarism and ignores the permanent environmental damage caused by wars and conflict. It does nothing to deliver the Wales that people in this country want – a Wales that honestly addresses global warming and other environmental problems, champions human rights, teaches our children that violence solves nothing, does not invest in the arms trade, encourages valuable, long term employment and delivers decent public services.

Raytheon is one of the world’s largest producers and dealers of weapons of mass destruction. Raytheon produces cluster bombs, bunker buster bombs, depleted uranium weapons, nuclear missiles, thermobaric weapons, and the Silent Guardian Heat Ray, criticised by Amnesty International and the UN Rapporteur on torture for its “potential to be used for torture and ill treatment” Raytheon is a major arms exporter, selling weapons to countries such as Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia. Raytheon Cluster Bomb Boast In fact, Raytheon itself says that it is a manufacturer of cluster bombs. To this very day, Raytheon continues to advertise its cluster bombs on its corporate website.

UNETHICAL INVESTMENT

Recently we learnt that the Norwegian Government pension fund has dropped a further three companies involved in producing nuclear weapons or cluster munitions in addition to Raytheon, Serco, another Metrix partner, is dropped. I call on the Welsh Assembly government to have a full investigation of Raytheon's role in producing cluster bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. I challenge Rhodri Morgan to tell us why he was so keen to work with Raytheon.”

Other Metrix partners include EDS and QinetiQ. EDS is the company responsible for messing up the Child Support Agency and the Inland Revenue's Tax Credits systems and for the disastrous unworkable MOD new computerised payroll system. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "It is astounding that the MoD is prepared to reward failure by handing over billions more pounds of taxpayers' money to a consortium that has failed to deliver what it said it would.”

QinetiQ, the privatised and research and development wing of the MOD, one of Britain’s most blatant war profiteers, was recently heavily criticised by the National Audit Office.

Already half the St Athan White Elephant (package 2) has been has been dumped by the government as too expensive. Politicians have been promising thousands of jobs – for which there is no firm basis in truth. PCS - the union that represents many MOD staff who also oppose the privatisation of military training - says the predicted number of jobs in package one has fallen from 1500 to 1100.

What did Raytheon actually have to say on the subject?

“Raytheon has never manufactured cluster bombs, but in the past we have been associated with their manufacture because of our contract to produce a missile that can carry different types of munition payloads, determined by the customer. One configuration allowed it to carry cluster bomb payloads, which were not produced by Raytheon. But in any case, Raytheon has completed its contracted production run for this particular missile, and we have no plans to resume production.”

In other words - yes, we made the delivery system for cluster bombs. Of course we knew the delivery system would be used for this purpose. But we’re not making any more at present because the US and Israeli air forces have enough to continue maiming civilians for the foreseeable future.

Norwegian government pension fund & Serco

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/01/07/daily56.html

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1386050.php/State_pension_fund_sells_shares_in_munitions_companies

SERCO http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/gen/company.html?gcode=CA7E1AC425FD42A2A539900C67B6705D

Norwegian government on Raytheon

Recommendation on Exclusion of Cluster Weapons from the Government Petroleum Fund Oslo, 16 June 2005

...Corp, L3 Communications Holdings Inc, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Alliant Techsystems...from the Government Petroleum Fund. Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site, 3 http://www.raytheon.com/products/stellent/groups/public..

PCS DEFENCE INSTRUCTIONAL OFFICERS

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9629850934

EDS http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/2007/12/eds-coporate-incompetance.html