October 16, 2002
As Bush Marshals America for War Against the Axis of Evil, American and British Arms Companies are Showing Them Our Weapons
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
Is BuzzFlash making this up? Just go to http://www.sofex.com.jo and try and prove us wrong.
Yes, as Bush continues to use fear as a political tool, he's allowing American arms merchants to hawk their wares at a weapons of war "trade show" in Amman, Jordan, as we write this editorial.
And who might be among the delegations attending this military weapons bazaar? Get ready for this: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and delegations from more than 40 other countries. According to one of our readers, 10 U.S. firms and 14 from the United Kingdom are, as you read this, polishing and shining their weapons of war for an eager audience of Bush's axis of evil terrorist states. For a full list of countries kicking the tires of the latest in weaponry (from October 14th - 17th) go to: http://www.sofex.com.jo/htm/delegations.html
Who are the British and American merchants of war trying to make a buck in hard times by demonstrating their wares to the axis of evil nations (minus North Korea)? The full list of the exhibitors is available at: http://www.sofex.com.jo/htm/exlist.html
One of our favorite exhibitors is an American company, Environmental Tectonics, demonstrating -- and we assume selling -- "Simulators /Military Automation Pilot Training." The UK division of Lockheed Martin is listed as being there, and Raytheon and Pratt Whitney from the US of A.
Want to see a "photo album" of some of the weapons available at past SOFEX exhibitions? Go to this URL: http://www.sofex.com.jo/htm/album.html
BuzzFlash can only hope that the UK and American arms merchants aren't actually SELLING their weapons of war to the military delegations from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria, although with this administration, you never know. There are a lot of Bush/Cheney contributors -- not to mention Halliburton and the Carlyle Group -- who stand to make a big chunk of change off of the permanent war. So why shouldn't the companies exhibiting at SOFEX get in on the action?
After all, it was the U.S., under Reagan/Bush I, who armed Al Qaeda and who helped arm Saddam Hussein -- with both dual use military weapons and biological agents to make biological weapons.
If the military-industrial complex companies can't sell to the so-called "terrorist" nations, they can, as one wag noted in a recent Guardian article, show them what we are about to drop on them. After all, we have an embargo placed on Iraq, although Cheney was able to evade it when he headed Halliburton by trading through a foreign subsidiary.
Okay, we'll give even the Bush Administration the benefit of the doubt. Our companies require special permits to sell arms to countries that harbor terrorists, don't they?
So what's a little business among enemies?
A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL
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Also see: http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,810929,00.html
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