Brenda Gourley - Blood on her hands

Vice Chancellor of the OU Brenda Gourley loves Metrix - Raytheon arms dealers...

Metrix - The consortium includes a subsidiary of the US company Raytheon(‘customer success is our mission’) which makes cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions, supplies electronic guidance equipment for the British nuclear weapons system Trident and is a favoured US government supplier of arms to Israel.

The St Athan military academy will train armed forces from anywhere willing to pay for the privilege.

Brenda Gourley OU Vice Chancellor "More recently, we are proud to have contributed to Wales’ latest success, one of the biggest ever investments it has attracted. Earlier this year the UK Government announced their decision to site a new defence training academy at St Athan here in the Vale of Glamorgan. As a long-term partner in the successful Metrix consortium, we are already hard at work with our partners to turn the MoD’s vision into the reality of a military training centre of excellence. The initiative is expected to create around 5,000 jobs and bring around £58m to the economy annually -
a massive boost for Wales and a perfect example of what partnership working can deliver."
What would Jenny Lee have supported this? NO NO NO...

Jennie Lee played a key role in the formation of the Open University
She was a left-winger, and this brought her sometimes into opposition with even her own husband, left-wing Welsh Labour MP Aneurin Bevan with whom she usually agreed politically. Lee was critical of Bevan for his support of the UK acquiring a nuclear deterrent, something she did not support.

Note now half the package has been abandoned and the number of jobs that Metrix claims that will be created is now 3,ooo according to John Smith MP who has spent his time primarily promoting the academy but much less if you take away the transfered in jobs - training forces jobs that required specialist knowledge -then you are left with the low pay jobs ..cleaning, working in the self contained mega barracks shops and cafes, laundry, .......

Rob Humphries Director of the OU in Cardiff is also happy to work with Metrix

More info
No to St Athan Military Academy on Facebook
http://www.no2militaryacademy.com/
Metrix McMercenaries
or http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/
http://www.no2metrix.com/2008/02/ou-partnership-with-arms-dealers.html
Facebook No2 O.U. workng with arms companies

Food for thought
Using Public Procurement to Stimulate Innovation
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLProfessor Caroline Gipps • Professor Brenda Gourley • Olivia Grant • Sir Anthony ..... in particular from the insights offered by the Raytheon Corporation. ...www.cihe-uk.com/docs/PUBS/0711Publicpro.pdf -

Fit to study? The consequences of war

Iraq veterans are denied help for combat trauma
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 3 feb 2008
Despite ministerial pledges to improve support for British soldiers suffering mental health problems, veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder ...

Iraq veterans are denied help for combat trauma
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 3rd feb
Hundreds of veterans, including many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being denied vital help by the government to cope with the psychological ...

The debate comes as the University of Manchester undertakes a study into how many Iraq war and Afghanistan veterans have killed themselves. It expects to publish the results this spring. Official figures show that at least 23 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans had committed suicide from 2003 to the end of 2006. Numbers for reservists are not known. Two members of the Territorial Army who had fought in Iraq, Private Dave Forshaw and Private Peter Mahoney, are known to have killed themselves.

There are fears that the number of suicides could eclipse the 33 British troops killed in the Iraq war itself. Falklands veterans' groups estimate that 300 men committed suicide due to the 1982 conflict compared with the 258 killed in action.

In the US, the suicide rate among soldiers has reached its highest level since records began almost 30 years ago. Last year, 121 active members of the army took their own lives, up 20 per cent on the previous year

Military Suicides Are Unacceptable Casualties of An Unjustifiable War
Common Dreams (press release), ME - 1 Feb 2008
Our sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters wouldn't have killed themselves without the sadness and trauma stemming from this unjust war.

Record Number of Army Suicides
OpEdNews, PA - 31 Jan 2008 by Aaron Glantz Page 1 of 1 page(s) At least 121 members of the US Army committed suicide last year. A new Army study found more than a quarter of those ...

Soldier Suicides Soaring in Iraq Jackson Free Press, MS -
Actually, research tells us that returning soldiers have greater risks for suicide, depression, anxiety, intimate partner violence, and so forth. ...

My fear is for our young soldiers after the battle
Guardian Unlimited, UK -
... while we were facing the daily suicide bomb threat in Iraq. It is all about prioritising in a way that the average UK manager does not have to consider. ...

For the front-line infantry there is now a one-in-four chance of death or serious injury, a 'hit rate' rarely seen since Iwo Jima or D-Day.

Qinetiq 394 university projects

Arms Trade Report criticises York for taking on 59 Military Projects
By Jonathan Fransman Nouse.co.uk - http://www.nouse.co.uk

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

See alson http://ouandarmsdealers.blogspot.com/