Republican News · Thursday 17 April 2003

Blood money

BY AINE Ní BHRIAN

I am very encouraged by this initiative from Raytheon. The company has recognised that the dividend from peace is still flourishing.   - John Hume

Almost four years ago, one of the world's largest arms manufacturers, Raytheon Systems Limited, decided to open a multi-million pound facility in Derry.

The formal announcement had a truly surreal quality to it, with Raytheon Chairman, Daniel P Burnham, stating warmly that Raytheon was "indebted to John Hume for his unwavering encouragement" and that the company was delighted to be able to assist economic development in the North by "promoting peace and prosperity".

NIO Minister George Howarth also praised Hume for "bringing 150 new jobs to Derry" and the SDLP proudly labelled the move a "benefit of the peace process". Even David Trimble seemed in agreement, telling the gathered press over glasses of champagne that he was "delighted" by the move.

There were plenty of handshakes and congratulations all around, and to smooth over any possible public or political resistance, Raytheon was even referred to in the local media as a "US electronics giant".

But the reality of Raytheon's business was, and remains, quite different from what company advocates were trumpeting that day in August of 1999.

While it may be an "electronics giant", Raytheon is better known for its mass production of military weapons. The US company is the third largest arms manufacturer in the world and makes everything from Tomahawk and Patriot missiles to cluster bombs, bunker buster bombs, and landmines. Almost all of these weapons are dependent on complex software for their operation, which Raytheon also manufactures.

There were many against Raytheon's presence in Ireland, and they spoke out about the move to welcome the company's "investment".

Local people actively campaigned against the opening of the Derry plant and went on to form the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign as part of a coordinated effort to raise public awareness and shut down the site.

The Pat Finucane Centre pointed out that Raytheon had a contract with the British MoD at a time when the MoD was "actively supporting moves to sabotage the Bloody Sunday Inquiry" and that the company had no qualms about supplying weapons to countries with appalling human rights records.

The centre added that Raytheon "products" had been used to carry out the genocide of the people of East Timor and that the corporation had refused a 1998 request by Human Rights Watch to halt future production of landmines.

"It is questionable whether the much vaunted peace dividend should include job creation by a company which fuels the arms trade," a spokesperson from the centre stated. "We strongly reaffirm our assertion that economics cannot and should not be divorced from ethical considerations."

Seemingly, Raytheon has no ethical dilemma over what it does. The arms giant boldly announces on its website that it is "a leader in every phase of the Precision Engagement kill chain".

"An early pioneer of defence technology since World War II," reads the site, "today Raytheon is a world leader in systems and solutions to defend the free world."

Big money business

As we move away from conflict here, we should not create jobs dependent on conflict and misery elsewhere in the world   - The Pat Finucane Centre

Defending the "free world" doesn't come cheap. Someone is making huge amounts of money.

More than St£130 billion is spent on arms production worldwide. After the September 11 attacks in the US, Raytheon shares jumped 40%.

In 1999, Raytheon and Shorts Aerospace were awarded a British MoD contract worth a whopping St£800 million, to finance the production and manufacture of the Airborne Standoff Radar Programme (ASTOR).

The missile division of Shorts Aerospace is now owned by the Six County-based Thales Air Defence, part of Thales Group, which employs more than 60,000 people worldwide.

They produce the Starstreak Air Defence missile, which is built for Britain in Belfast. The company calls the weapon "the centerpiece of the British Army air defence capability".

During the first Gulf War, orders for Thales weaponry - such as the Blowpipe, Seacat and Starburst missiles - exceeded even their expectations. The company's MoD and overseas contracts were worth more than St£230 million in 2000/2001, and Thales CEO Terry Stone was quoted as saying: "We are in continuous production, but we are capable of doubling-up shifts. If we need to, we can run 24 hours a day."

Meanwhile, Raytheon was busy wooing the Israeli Air Force. In 2001, the company was awarded a contract to the tune of another $60.5 million for an missile early-warning system.

There were further revelations that Raytheon could soon be making hi-tech "ray-guns" for "crowd-control purposes". A US newspaper reported that the company was experimenting with a laser-type weapon which "cooks" human skin, and that in doing so Raytheon was on the verge of unveiling what would be "one of the biggest breakthroughs in weapons technology since the atomic bomb". It will also be possible to mount the weapon onto aircraft.

The US government was so intrigued by the idea that it had pumped $40 million (St£34 million) into the project over the previous ten years and production of the demonstration model began in 1998.

Worldwide sales and slaughter

Raytheon weapons can be found in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, to name but a few, and their Patriot Air Missile Defense System is in use in Germany, Japan, Kuwait and Greece.

According to the website, since production began on the Patriot in 1980, over 170 Patriot Fire Units and more than 9,000 missiles have been delivered. Tomahawk missiles were used in Kosovo in 1999 and Raytheon claims it is the current "weapon of choice", a claim borne out by the thousands of such missiles that have rained down on Iraq in recent weeks.

"For endgame flexibility and lethality, Tomahawk has two warhead configurations: a 1,000 pound blast/fragmentary unitary warhead and a general purpose submunition dispenser with Combined Effect Bomblets," states the website.

It goes on to say that Raytheon's Tomahawk missles "played a crucial role in several 'theater' operations - Desert Storm in 1991, Iraq in 1993, Operation Desert Fox in 1998, and Operation Allied Force in 1999". The company states that in total, approximately 1,000 missiles have been used in these operations and that an upgraded model of the Tomahawk is due out in 2004.

The language commonly utilised in promoting international warfare is more than a little disturbing.

It is unlikely that civilians on the receiving end of Raytheon's products feel they are in any kind of "theater". The blood they shed is very real. In fact, the dehumanising terminology that makes up the vocabulary of arms manufacturers is purposefully designed to manipulate perception, ignore the reality of war, and promote the illusion of a "clean kill".

But there is nothing clean about it.

In February 1991, 500 Iraqi civilians were incinerated when a US Cruise missile struck a civilian bomb shelter in northwest Baghdad. Raytheon missiles were also fired at civilians in Sudan and Afganistan in 1999.

Four years later, nothing much has changed. It was a Raytheon HARM missile that left 62 Iraqi civilians dead when it struck a marketplace in Baghdad within the last few weeks.

Immediately after the incident, US and British forces blamed an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile for the carnage, but reporter Robert Fisk was given fragments of the bomb. They were marked with a code identifying the weapon as having come from a Raytheon plant in Texas.

The cluster bombs currently being used by US forces in Iraq (which, incidentally, have been banned by many countries) are also made by Raytheon. One recently landed on an Iraqi maternity hospital.

Raytheon refused comment in both instances, saying it had been advised to do so by the MoD.

Public anger

As the war on Iraq continues, public awareness and anger about Raytheon's presence in Derry has grown.

Groups like the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign and others, such as the Dublin-based Action from Ireland (AFrI), have held public protests outside the Raytheon plant in Derry and in front of the Guildhall as Derry City Council met inside. They even occupied the GPO in Dublin at Easter 2001, reading out a proclamation warning Irish citizens of the dangers of allowing companies like Raytheon to set up elsewhere in Ireland.

Their warning needs to be heeded. In spite of Dublin government claims that Ireland does not have a significant arms trade, statistics provided by AFrI and Amnesty International indicate a growing sector of mainly US-based arms manufacturers on the island. Several Irish technology firms were benefitting from higher sales to the US and European defence industries as the posibility of war with Iraq increased. They included ParthusCeva, Iona Technologies, and Skillsoft.

In 2002, the Dublin government issued 64 military export licences to firms selling military products made in the 26 Counties. The licences were for the sale of weapons, ammunition, and software and the list of 'clients' included Lebanon, Nigeria, Yugoslavia and Iran.

False assurances

Back in September of 2000, Raytheon executives had assured Derry Mayor Cathal Crumley that the Derry plant's focus would be on commercial products - such as software for air traffic control systems - and that it would not be manufacturing software with any military applications.

John Hume and the SDLP also claim they received firm assurances that no arms-related software would be produced in Derry, but as recently as February of 2001, Raytheon spokesperson Jackie Berger was telling the Boston Globe: "In the future, we may do defence work in Derry. In all likelihood we will. We are, after all, a defence company."

Raytheon's representative in Derry, Henry Winkler, echoed the corporate line, saying: "We are a defence company and if required the Derry plant would work on defence-related matters."

So much for assurances.

Meanwhile, a recent internal memo distributed to new Raytheon employees written by Raytheon CEO Dan Burnham states that "part of your mission as employees is to support and promote Raytheon" and to "define a new growth strategy for Raytheon businesses worldwide".

By January of this year, it emerged that Raytheon had doubled its production of Cruise missiles in anticipation of the upcoming war with Iraq.

ti-workers

As if all this was not enough cause for concern, there have also been allegations that the company's internal policy is as devoid of ethics as its outward one.

In 1988, Raytheon refused to recognise democratically elected unions within several of its plants. As a result, the US Court of Appeals found the company guilty of violating US labour laws and Raytheon was forced to bargain with the elected union.

When the company took over a plant in the Bahamas, salaries were cut and retirement contributions were eliminated. The same went for employees working at two former British Aerospace plants purchased by Raytheon in October of 1994. After sealing the deal, Raytheon went on to announce its plans to lay off all 870 employees. In another instance, just after a new union was formed and its leader elected, Raytheon sacked him.

Unholy alliances

There have also been rumblings of collusion between many intelligence agencies and the US corporations that develop the technology that fuel their spy systems.

Raytheon, and companies such as Boeing, Lockheed, Loral, and TRW, are all involved in the manufacture and operation of spy systems.

None of this makes it sound as if Raytheon is genuinely interested in the peace process in the Six Counties - or anywhere else for that matter. Peace is, quite simply, not good for business.

John Hume spoke out against the war on Iraq in the House of Commons this past February.

The SDLP leader told the assembled representatives: "As we enter this new century, our primary objective should be to make it the first century in the history of the world in which there is no war and no conflict."

How that is to be achieved while simultaneously supporting internationals arms dealers is anyone's guess.

Although Raytheon has been invited to attend a public meeting about its operations in Derry, the company has yet to respond. The invitation was issued by Derry City Council following its most recent monthly meeting - which was picketed by the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign.

In response to reports of the invite, a Raytheon spokesperson stated: "In fact, I am not aware that we have actually received any invitation yet. We do not normally get involved in public debate."

Whether Raytheon continues to ply its trade in the Six Counties is open to speculation, but perhaps the Pat Finucane Centre said it best when a spokesperson remarked poignantly: "As we move away from conflict here, we should not create jobs dependent on conflict and misery elsewhere in the world."