Clean up University Arms Investments! OU shame!

University Arms Investments - National Action Day Feb 27 Join me on Wednesday at the OU office in Cardiff to highlight and protest at the deep involvement of the OU in the Metrix consortium --which includes Raytheon, Serco and Qinetiq - maga arms makers and dealers in the privaitising of MILITARY training!
OU CARDIFF is at
18 Custom House Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AP http://www3.open.ac.uk/near-you/wales/p4.asp

The Ethical Investment Campaign and Campaign Against the Arms Trade have joined forces to call a National Action Day on the issues of universities' dirty investments.
Across the UK, student activist groups at Universities -- will be joining forces to highlight the shocking involvement of universities in the arms trade. Protests, street thatre and direct action stunts will be the order of the day as we hope to bring university -- and media -- attention to the fact that the wayuniversities invest their money directly supports the arms trade.
If you've been thinking of getting involved this is a fantasticway to begin. As a united national day of action, you'll be working with efforts across the UK, and able to join in on the national media attention we hope to attract.

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.

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

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.

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/

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.

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