31/10/2007

QinetiQ, the War Profiteer Welsh Politicians Love to Love

QinetiQ, the War Profiteer Welsh Politicians Love to Love

October 2007 by Stuart Tannock

In Spring 2007, Sir John Chisholm, Chairman of QinetiQ, came to Cardiff University’s School of Engineering to give an invited lecture, in which he laid out his vision of “How to Build World Leaders in South Wales

Chisholm had good grounds for feeling entitled to give such a talk. For since being created through privatisation in 2001, QinetiQ, now Britain’s third-largest arms company, has quietly become one of the Welsh Assembly Government’s most favored business partners.

QinetiQ helps Wales manage and market its new UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) centre at Parc Aberporth – a facility the government has said is a “key part” of its plans “for the regeneration of Cardigan and West Wales.” Welsh Assembly Members and Ministers, in welcoming QinetiQ to Parc Aberporth, have spoken glowingly of its “vast expertise” and “international reputation.”

Since 2003, QinetiQ has entered into a series of research partnerships and “sister agreements” with Wales’s premier university, Cardiff University. One of these (the Data and Information Fusion Defence Technology Centre) was recently celebrated by the First Minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan, as represent

In January 2007, the QinetiQ-led Metrix Consortium won what might be the largest investment in Welsh history, a £16 billion contract to build a private military training academy at St Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan

Rhodri Morgan described this success as a “red-letter day” for all of Wales, and vowed the St Athan Academy would “turn Oxford and Cambridge green with envy when it opens for business next decade"

This cozy embrace of QinetiQ by Welsh political and educational leaders over the past few years is puzzling, to say the least, given the country’s supposed commitment to principles of social justice and fairness, good governance, sustainable development and responsible international citizenship

QinetiQ is a company that has been mired in ethical controversy since its very beginning, for claims of taxpayer rip-offs, profit-gouging, sweetheart contracts and conflicts of interest, and for the past two years, it has been under investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO).

While the final NAO report has yet to be released, an early draft slammed the company for the “excessive profits” earned by its senior management and top investors: in just four years, the US investment company Carlyle earned over £300 million on an initial £42 million stake in QinetiQ, while Chairman Sir John Chisholm turned his £129,000 QinetiQ investment into a £22 million personal fortune.

“Greed of the Highest Order and the Worst Privatisation Since Rail,” Guardian columnist George Monbiot complains.

Welsh politicians, however, act as if they could not care less.

QinetiQ has also become one of Britain’s most blatant war profiteers. Sir John Chisholm likes to claim that “harnessing innovation” is the path to growth and wealth; but in QinetiQ’s case, harnessing war is more to the point. When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, hundreds of thousands of Britons and Welsh took to the streets to protest the violation of international law, the unjust nature of this war of choice, and the threat to world peace and stability. QinetiQ, however, saw in this latest rise of US military aggression a golden business opportunity and a killing to be made.

QinetiQ brought in the Carlyle Group, a US private equity firm with close ties to the family of George W. Bush, appointed former CIA head George Tenet to its board of directors (the man whose false claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction directly enabled the US attack on Iraq), formed a North American corporate division, and went on a buying spree, quickly acquiring half a dozen mid-sized US defence and security firms.As a result, QinetiQ’s US defence-related business rose to 36% of its total sales, and QinetiQ management aims to push this share even higher.

This was all a far cry from QinetiQ’s original business strategy in 2001, when the British public was told that the newly-formed defence technology company would focus primarily on expanding into the civilian, non-military sector.

What does QinetiQ bring to Wales? Parc Aberporth is turning the West of the country into a hub for arms companies from around the world – BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, EADS, Thales, Honeywell, Finmeccanica and Israel’s Elbit Systems, among others, have all come to Wales’s UAV facility to develop and/or demonstrate their Unmanned Aerial Vehicle technologies. UAVs can have civilian applications; but it is the military side of the business that is booming, with the UAV market being dominated and driven globally by the US War on Terror. UAVs have been one of the few clear “winners” of the war on Iraq. “It is difficult to overstate how enamoured the US military has become of unmanned aircraft,” writes Nathan Hodge in the Financial Times.

At the 2007 Parc Aberborth UAV Exhibition, a Russian company is reported to have “stolen the show” with its unveiling of a new pack of “swarming” UAVs.

Swarming is attracting great interest from military planners in the US and elsewhere. “Imagine unmanned aerial vehicles blotting out the sky, obliterating anything that moves, and injecting terror into every observer’s heart,” writes a United States Air Force research director, in an evident state of rapture: “Impossible? Maybe not.”

At Cardiff University, researchers now work with Qinetiq to develop data fusion technologies in cockpit displays that better enable fighter pilots to pick out bombing targets. The battlefield is a “highly dynamic environment” with a “proliferation of information sources,” the researchers explain, meaning that fighter pilots are often “‘swamped with data and starved of information.’”

One set of information we can be assured Cardiff researchers are not trying to provide fighter pilots with in their cockpits, however, are the real world sights and sounds of what the bombs they drop actually do to flesh and blood human beings.

Wales’s highest institute of research and learning has apparently turned its back completely on the legacy of Welsh National Party founder Saunders Lewis, who back in 1936 warned of the terror and inhumanity of modern military air power. “The main target of the bombing aeroplanes,” Lewis wrote, “will be the destruction of cities, to burn them and to poison them, to turn the civilisation of centuries to ashes; to rain down, from the safety of the air, the most cruel death on women and children and unarmed men…. These fleets of aeroplanes will be so numerous and powerful that the risk to bombers themselves will be but small…. They will be trained in cold blood; in a short time the art will become a habit.”

Most recently, QinetiQ has brought Wales the planned St Athan Defence Training Academy. The St Athan Academy expands the presence in Wales of Raytheon (maker of cluster bombs, bunker buster bombs, nuclear weapons, depleted uranium weapons and other weapons of mass destruction), who is a member of the QinetiQ-led Metrix Consortium that will be building and running the Academy. It also thrusts Wales to the forefront of the global arms trade, since the business model at the heart of the St Athan Academy is to maximise profits by providing training not just to the British Armed Forces, but to militaries from all over the world – a Welsh version of the infamous US School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Summer 2007 witnessed a landmark event in the history of war. For the first time anywhere, armed robots were deployed on the streets of Iraq. Three one-metre-high SWORDS robots, each carrying M249 machine guns (capable of firing 750 rounds per minute) were sent into action by the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. SWORDS robots are designed for “high risk combat missions” and can be sent “into a crowded neighborhood infested with snipers to seek targets and take them out before a foot patrol follows.”

While ethicists fretted about the moral problems associated with the rise of robot armies on the battlefield, the US military enthusiastically placed immediate orders for 80 more SWORDS machines, promising to buoy their manufacturer’s profits handsomely.

Who makes these robot soldiers? A US subsidiary of QinetiQ, the Welsh Assemby Government’s new best friend.



Cardiff University Press Release (2007) “Harnessing Innovation to Build World Leaders in South Wales,” March 22.

QinetiQ Press Release (2006) “QinetiQ Helps Deliver National UAV Centre,” June 9; Welsh Assembly Government Press Release (2005) “Unmanned Flights Make Wales World Centre of Excellence,” September 7.

Tivy-Side Advertiser (2006) “And the Answer is QinetiQ,” March 7.

Cardiff University Press Release (2005) “Cardiff-QinetiQ Partnership-Sister Agreement,” September 5.

General Dynamics UK Press Release (2007) “Leading Conference Shows Technology of the Future,” September 3.

BBC News (2007) “Military Base Brings 5,000 Jobs,” January 17.

Rhodri Morgan (2007) “Statement on the Defence Training Review,” January 17; Rhodri Morgan (2007) “How Yes Vote Has Improved Wales For Us All,” South Wales Echo, September 17.

See, for example, Welsh Assembly Government (2003) Wales: A Better Country.

Kit Bingham (2006) “Love on the Defensive as QinetiQ Readies for Take-Off,” Financial News, January 29; Edward Heathcoat Amory (2006) “Lord Crony and an Orgy of Greed,” Daily Mail, February 15.

Sylvia Pfeifer (2007) “Audit Office Slams ‘Excessive’ Profits for QinetiQ Chiefs,” Daily Telegraph, March 17.

George Monbiot (2006) “Greed of the Highest Order and the Worst Privatisation Since Rail,” Guardian, February 14.

Sir John Chisholm (2007) “Harnessing Innovation to Build World Leaders in South Wales,” speech given at Cardiff University School of Engineering, March 26.

QinetiQ Press Release (2005) “QinetiQ Continues US Growth Strategy with Further Acquisitions,” August 3; Terence O’Hara (2006) “Carlyle Shows It’s Still Tops in Defense,” Washington Post, February 13; Hans Kundnani (2006) “Former CIA Chief Joins QinetiQ,” Guardian, October 24;

Associated Press (2007) “QinetiQ’s Annual Profit Rises 19 Percent on North American Expansion,” May 31; Flight International (2006) “QinetiQ Targets USA,” June 13.

Geoff Gibbs (2001) “QinetiQ Energy is Aimed at Civilian Projects,” July 6.

Professional Engineering (2007) “Defence – War Winners,” June 27; Nathan Hodges (2005) “Wars Fuel a Big New Wave of Sky Spies,” Financial Times, June 13.

Aerospace International (2007) “Russians Steal UAV Show,” August 1.

Bruce Clough (2002) “UAV Swarming? So What Are Those Swarms, What Are the Implications, and How Do We Handle Them?,” Air Force Research Lab Conference Paper.

Phillip Morgan, Samuel Waldron, John Patrick & Dylan Jones (2006) “Designing Data Fusion Displays for Situation Awareness: Phase 1 Results,” Cardiff University Data and Information Fusion Defence Technology Centre Poster.

Saunders Lewis, quoted in The Khaki Dragon: Mapping Military Wales (Cynefin y Werin, no date).

Cynefin y Werin (2007) St Athan Defence Training Academy and the Future of Wales.

Stew Magnuson (2007) “Gun-Toting Ground Robots See Action in Iraqi Streets,” National Defense, September Issue.

Pete Warren (2006) “Launching a New Kind of Warfare: Robot Vehicles Are Increasingly Taking a Role on the Battlefield,” Guardian, October 26.

28/10/2007

Support Derry Anti War Protesters (The Raytheon 9)






Support Derry Anti War Protesters (The Raytheon 9)

Show Support and sign their petition - at least they fight back hard in Derry - show them the Welsh can do it to!

Nine activists who took part in an occupation of the American arms corporation Raytheon's offices in Derry have been charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful assembly. The bail terms imposed on them effectively remove their right to take part in political activity.

Raytheon is the fifth biggest arms manufacturer in the world. It manufactured the 100 GBU-28 bunker buster bombs urgently flown by the United States to Israel at the height of the destruction of Lebanon by the Israel Defence Force. Among the many services Raytheon has performed for Israel is supplying electronic equipment for the apartheid wall being built on Palestinian land. The National Lawyers Guild of the US has accused Raytheon of being 'implicated in the commission of war crime'.


Latest ....

On the September 14th court appearance of the Raytheon 9, the trial date was finally been set for 12th November 2007. However, it is generally thought that this date will not see the actual start of the trial. This is because the prosecution have asked for the trial to be moved out of Derry. It wants the judge to rule that a fair trial would not be possible in Derry because i) there have been protestors outside the court every time they appeared and ii) the local press has reported about the protest action. DAWC lawyers argued that i) we are part of a far broader movement and therefore there will be protests anywhere they appear and ii) our action has also been reported in the regional press. The judge heard arguments from both sides and reserved judgement. There are also likely to be further court cases about Raytheon’s refusal to provide the documents requested by the defence team as part of the ‘discovery’ process.

The charges of criminal damage to the building to the amount of £22,000 and to Raytheon computer equipment and office furniture (no amount stated) have been restored, as expected, and it was confirmed that no more than nine of the protesters are being charged.

27/10/2007

British Mercenary company Erinys sued over death of US Soldier

Soldier's father sues British company over wreck in Iraq
Dallas Morning News, TX - 18 hours agoBy KELLEY SHANNON / AP The family of an American soldier killed in Iraq when a private security vehicle collided with his 5-ton truck is suing the security ...

British security co. sued over death of US soldier
Reuters - 26 Oct 2007 By Luke Baker LONDON (Reuters) -
A British private security company - Erinys - is being sued in the United States over the death of a US soldier hit by one of its ...

They shoot civilians too..raking taxis with bullets

Private Guards Fire on Taxi; 3 Civilians Hurt, Police SayWashington Post, United States - 18 Oct 2007A US military spokesman in Baghdad said the guards were employed by Erinys International. The British firm provides security for the US Army Corps of ..

BAGHDAD, Oct. 18 -- Two men and a woman were wounded Thursday in a quiet Kurdish village in northern Iraq when guards from a British security company raked a crowded taxi with automatic weapons fire, local police said. It was the third shooting of Iraqi civilians by a private security firm in the past month.

Contractors Fire on Vehicle in Iraq The Associated Press - 18 Oct 2007Thursday's shooting happened when a vehicle approached the security guards working for Erinys Iraq Ltd., a British security company, at high speeds about 15 ...

From Mercenaries to Peacemakers? Scandals Confront Military Security Industryby David Phinney, Special to CorpWatchNovember 29th, 2005

Economist.com Mercenaries
Erinys, another British firm, was founded by Alastair Morrisson, an ex-SAS officer who emerged ... Erinys now commands a 14000-strong armed force in Iraq. ...www.sandline.com/hotlinks/Economist-Baghdad.html -

Private military companies (PMCs)—mercenaries, in oldspeak—manning the occupation administration's front lines are now the third-largest contributor to the war effort after the United States and Britain. British ones are popular, largely because of the reputation of the Special Air Service (SAS) regiment whose ex-employees run and man many of the companies. They maintain they have twice as many men on the ground as their American counterparts. According to David Claridge, managing director of Janusian, a London-based security firm, Iraq has boosted British military companies' revenues from £200m ($320m) before the war to over £1 billion, making security by far Britain's most lucrative post-war export to Iraq.
It's a lucrative business. A four-man ex-SAS team in Baghdad can cost $5,000 a day. Buoyed by their earnings, the comrades-in-arms live in the plushest villas in the plushest quarters of Baghdad. Their crew-cut occupants compare personal automatics, restock the bars and refill the floodlit pools of the former Baathist chiefs.

Established companies have expanded; new ones have sprung up. Control Risks, a consultancy, now provides armed escorts. It has 500 men guarding British civil servants. Global Risk Strategies was a two-man team until the invasion of Afghanistan. Now it has over 1,000 guards in Iraq—more than many of the countries taking part in the occupation—manning the barricades of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Last year it also won a $27m contract to distribute Iraq's new dinar. Erinys, another British firm, was founded by Alastair Morrisson, an ex-SAS officer who emerged from semi-retirement to win a contract with Jordanian and Iraqi partners to protect Iraq's oil installations. CPA officials say the contract is worth over $100m. Erinys now commands a 14,000-strong armed force in Iraq.
And....
It was reported in November 2006 that traces of Polonium 210 were detected at Erinys's Grosvenor Street premises in London, following the death by poisoning of former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko.[3]

High schools to teach defence force skills

NEWS.com.au - Australia
Raytheon, one of the country's leading defence businesses, praised the announcement. "Raytheon welcomes the Prime Minister's strong new plan for skilling ...
See all stories on this topic

26/10/2007

ARMS COMPANIES IN RETREAT AS LIVERPOOL VOTES TO DITCH SHARES

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE (CAAT)Contact Symon Hill - 020 7281 0297 or 07990 673 232
In a major demonstration of growing opposition to the arms trade, Liverpool City Council has voted unanimously in favour of pulling its pension fund out of arms investments. The Council has written to the Merseyside Pension Fund to call for a clean investment policy that rules out arms companies. This is the first time that a council in the UK has passed such a resolution.

The resolution was proposed by Liberal Democrat Councillor Richard Oglethorpe. It insists that "investment in the arms trade is not compatible with good corporate, social and ethical governance". The Leader of the Council, Warren Bradley, is now writing to the Leaders of the four other Councils covered by the Merseyside Pension Fund to encourage them to express them the same view to the Fund. Two of the Councils - Knowsley and Sefton - are expected to consider similar resolutions shortly.

Liverpool resident and chairperson of Merseyside Stop the War Coalition, Mark Holt, who campaigned for the Council to adopt this policy, said:

"People in Liverpool were appalled to discover that the Merseyside Pension Fund invests in arms companies such as BAE, Rolls-Royce and Boeing. Now Liverpool has given a lead to every other council in the country. Now we can hold our head up as next year's Capital of Culture. We've shown that we're also the Capital of Conscience!"

CAAT spokesperson Symon Hill said:

"Congratulations to Liverpool! We're delighted that they have taken such a major step. It's vital that other councils in Merseyside back this proposal and pull Merseyside Pension Fund out of arms companies. Public opinion in the UK has turned sharply against the arms trade in the last year, and I am confident that Liverpool will be the first of many."

Liverpool's decision is the latest in a series of setbacks for arms companies, caused by the strength of public opinion over the last year. Following a high-profile campaign by CAAT and other groups, the Prime Minister announced in July that he would close down the controversial Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), a publicly funded unit that finds sales for private arms companies. In June, the multinational company Reed Elsevier, organiser of the biennial DSEi arms fair in London, decided to pull out of the arms trade by the end of 2007.

Ends

25/10/2007

PCS welcomes MOD U TURN on training privatisation

PCS: Union welcomes MoD U-turn on training privatisation
Thursday, 25 Oct 2007 16:22

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) welcomed today’s announcement by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to halt the privatisation of approximately 4,000 staff who train the armed forces in driving armoured vehicles, lorries and jeeps as well as languages. The union hailed the decision to keep one half of defence training in the public sector as a victory for common sense which would ensure world class training for the armed forces whilst providing value for money for the taxpayer. PCS called on the MoD to see sense and halt the privatisation of the other half of defence training which includes technical and mechanical training.

The union warned that pushing ahead with remaining half of defence training would represent poor value for money and lead to a loss of knowledge and experience as staff would refuse to relocate to the new training base in South Wales.

The main sites that will be remaining in the public sector are: Worthy Down and Marchwood in Winchester, Southwark Park in Portsmouth, Leconfield n Hull, , Aldershot, Beaconsfield and Chicksands in Cambridgeshire. PCS members are currently voting on further national strike action across the civil service as part of the union’s campaign against job cuts, below inflation pay and privatisation. The campaign has already seen two strongly supported national one day strikes this year. The ballot closes on 31 October 2007 and the result is expected to be announced shortly after.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “Thanks to the well argued case put by PCS, the MoD have rightly recognised that keeping the linguistics and driver training of armed forces in the public sector, not only represents value for money but ensures the continuity in world class training. They now have to see sense and recognise that privatising the remainder of defence training will result in poor value for money and a poorer quality of training for our armed forces as experienced staff refuse to relocate.

The union can take heart from this announcement and will be making a renewed effort to convince the MoD that the remaining privatisation is unnecessary and damaging.” ENDS Notes to editors:

For further information, interviews and comment please contact Alex Flynn PCS national press officer on 020 7801 2820 or 07833 978216.

PCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union is the union representing civil and public servants in central government. It has over 315,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich. Alex Flynn National Press Officer Public and Commercial Services Union 160 Falcon Rd London SW11 2LN Direct line: 020 7801 2747 Mobile: 07833 978 216 Fax: 020 7924 1847

24/10/2007

Cardiff Control BAE public meeting 7th Nov

As part of our November Control BAE speaking tour, speakers from CAAT and The Corner House are coming to a venue near you for a public meeting about our legal challenge and campaign to get the Saudi-BAE corruption inquiry reopened. We are writing to invite you to attend and to ask you to invite others to come along too.

WHEN? 7pm, Wednesday 7th NovemberWHERE? Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3AP (map)
WHY? The speaking tour is part of CAAT's Control BAE month of action and aims to raise awareness of the campaign and build a wider grassroots movement of people calling for an end to UK arms exports and the corruption which reportedly surrounds them.

Please help us to get people along to this important meeting. Attached are a leaflet and a poster publicising the event. Please forward this email on to friends, colleagues and other groups you are involved in, or contact kathrin@caat.org.uk for free paper copies of the leaflet and/or poster to distribute locally.

We hope you can come to what promises to be an exciting and informative public meeting and a chance to meet other campaigners in your area.

Many thanks,

anne for

Beccie and Kathrin
Campaign Against Arms Trade
---------------
The Control BAE campaign is calling for the Serious Fraud Office investigation into corruption allegations surrounding BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia to be reopened. The UK Government stopped the inquiry last December, following intense lobbying by BAE.

23/10/2007

Privatisation of Qinetiq audit office missing report

Privatisation of qinetiq - audit office missing report
Radio silence from the NAOThe National Audit Office has not been short of publicity with revelations that MPs have ordered a review of how it is run after it emerged that the man in charge of the public spending watchdog had spent almost £350,000 on foreign trips in just three years. The Public Accounts Committee said last week its inquiry would focus particularly on the role of Sir John Bourn, the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Among other things, the study will look at whether the NAO should be overseen by a separate advisory board staffed with new non-executives. Now it seems that the PAC is also taking an interest in a piece of unfinished business: the NAO's report into the privatisation of Qinetiq, the Government's defence research group.Launched in January 2006, there are still no signs of the report despite drafts having been in circulation since March. It was initially expected to be published by the end of last year and more recently this summer. So far, there has been nothing but radio silence. Now it appears that the NAO is coming under pressure from the PAC to release its report. Two civil servants have been summoned to appear in front of the PAC in December.

The inquiry is looking at whether the Government short-changed taxpayers over Qinetiq. Its privatisation was controversial from the start, ever since the Government first sold a stake in the business to Carlyle, the US private equity group. A draft of the NAO's report, details of which were obtained by this paper in March, criticised the Ministry of Defence, accusing it of allowing the management to reap "excessive" rewards.It was all strong stuff, which is why it makes it easy to suspect that ministers are trying to have some of the more juicy parts taken out. The longer this saga continues, the more likely it is that when taxpayers finally get to read the report it will make far less interesting reading than the draft.

Watchdog is accused of being too cosy with the defence industry
Daily Mail - This could put him in an embarrassing position because the NAO is due to release a potentially explosive report into former MoD subsidiary QinetiQ, ...See all stories on this topic

BAE boffins receive a writ for blowing up Qinetiq's defence ...Guardian Unlimited - UKQinetiq, the defence research firm rumoured to be the inspiration for Q, the inventive gadget master in the James Bond films, is suing BAE Systems for ...See all stories on this topic

Trade secrets case against Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp

Trans World Opposes Stay For Raytheon, Lockheed
Trans World Technologies Inc. is fighting a petition to stay discovery relating to antitrust charges in a trade secrets case against defense contractors Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., saying the request is "an invitation for ...
IP Law360 - http://ip.law360.com/

22/10/2007

Israel Military Industries in conjuction with their US partner Raytheon

Why GPS Will Probably Never Be Switched Off
By Tom Fuller
Plus there’s this: Israel Military Industries (in conjunction with their US partner Raytheon) has completed development of Pure Heart, a GPS/laser guided morter munition that extends the effective range of a 120mm mortar to an ...Blindside - http://www.blindside.org.uk

21/10/2007

QinetiQ PPP & cluster bombs

QinetiQ was created in 2001 as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) takeover of part of the MoD's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). It describes itself as a 'defence and security technology company'. It develops and tests new weapons and 'future concepts' in defence technology including ballistic missile defence. 80% of Qinetiq sales are military and the MoD is its largest customer3. It is also involved in developing a whole new class of weapons using nanotechnology.

In December 2002 one third of the company was sold to the Carlyle Group, one of the largest venture capital companies in the world and among America's largest military contractors. The group is chaired by Frank Carlucci, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defence. George Bush Sr. was a senior advisor until 2003. Also on the board are James Baker III, a lawyer who has been advising and campaigning for Republican leaders since 1975 and fellow Republican adviser Richard G Darman. Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major is on the board in Europe.4 The Carlyle Group is one of several American companies who have provided mercenary soldiers and military and police training to other countries around the world, including some with questionable human rights records.

QinetiQ manages DERA's 42 installations in the UK including at least 12 in Scotland.

Various Scottish bases were used for the attack on Iraq.
Cluster bombs were tested at West Freugh in Wigtownshire, owned by QinetiQ.
The aircraft carrier Ark Royal, whilst at Loch Long near Faslane, was targeted by activists in January 2003 before its departure to Iraq.2
For detailed information about MoD and privatised military establishments in Scotland, read Scottish CND's excellent little book 'Fortress Scotland', available for £2.

Quinteq in our schools

QinetiQ is also involved in promoting science and engineering in schools, with the one of the largest Year in Industry schemes. The company is also active in the Royal Academy of Engineering programmes including the Year in Industry and Engineering Education Schemes.

QinetiQ US businesses

QinetiQ has acquired a number of US based businesses that complement its core capabilities.

These include:
Westar Aerospace & Defense Group Inc,
Foster-Miller Inc and
Apogen Technologies Inc.
These businesses have subsequently made further acquisitions to date that include
Planning Systems Inc,
SimAuthor Inc and
Ocean Systems Engineering Corp.

Apogen Technologies won a task order worth $34 million to perform information technology work as subcontractor to SAIC Inc. related to immigration and customs enforcement for the Department of Homeland Security.
Apogen http://www.qinetiq.com/home/united_states/apogen.html
is a subsidiary of McLean-based QinetiQ North America. The company has more than 700 employees providing IT support to the Department of Homeland Security at more than 100 locations across the U.S.

Palace Barracks Memorial Garden

Deceased Iraq War 2003 - 7

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment

Returning home in a box...Gunner Stephen Wright ..what a waste..

UK Troops Killed in Iraq

Casualty count



20/10/2007

DYNCORP to replace Blackwater assassins

Dyncorp
Bush rehires DynCorp's child rapists to replace Blackwater's assassins: Blackwater likely to be phased out of diplomatic duty 20 Oct 2007 Troubled military contractor Blackwater USA is likely to be eased out of its role of guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq in the aftermath of a shooting last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, U.S. officials said Friday. While no decisions have been finalized, Blackwater's role in Baghdad is likely to be taken over by one of two other contractors who provide security for the State Department in Iraq, the officials said. They are Triple Canopy and DynCorp International. [See: DynCorp Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.]


Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency Annual Report and .....
that the Metrix Consortium was the provisional Preferred. Partner for Package 2. .... contract...
www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc0607/hc06/0624/0624.pdf ....
HQ Administration
The past twelve months have seen responsibility for the dayto day maintenance of the Wethersfield site pass to the control of Defence Estates, with the demise of the old Property Management systems and the launch of Regional Prime Contracting (RPC). The HQ site forms part of the RPC (East)contract which was let in March 2006 to Babcock Dyncorp, for a period of seven years. The changeover has not been withoutits teething problems and provided staff with challenges as the new procedures bedded in.

Director of Personnel and Professional Development Assistant Chief Constable Robert Chidley
Defence Training Review

The Defence Training Review is the largest Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement ever initiated in the UK. Its purpose is to rationalise the delivery of military and police training in order to reduce the costs of training delivery and site maintenance within MOD and free up a large number of efence estate sites for disposal. Due to its size the project issplit into two packages with MDPGA training (provided largelyat the Wethersfield HQ site in Essex) in Package 2. The Agency is fully represented in the governance structure at all levels of the project up to and including the Programme ManagementBoard. In January 2007, the Defence Secretary announced that the Metrix Consortium was the provisional Preferred Partner for Package 2. Under the consortium’s proposed plan, training is likely to remain at Wethersfield.

Saudi BAE Corruption meeting

As part of our November Control BAE speaking tour, speakers from CAAT and The Corner House are coming to a venue near you for a public meeting about our legal challenge and campaign to get the Saudi-BAE corruption inquiry reopened. We are writing to invite you to attend and to ask you to invite others to come along too.

WHEN? 7pm, Wednesday 7th November

WHERE? Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3AP (map)

WHY? The speaking tour is part of CAAT's Control BAE month of action and aims to raise awareness of the campaign and build a wider grassroots movement of people calling for an end to UK arms exports and the corruption which reportedly surrounds them.

Please help us to get people along to this important meeting. Attached are a leaflet and a poster publicising the event. Please forward this email on to friends, colleagues and other groups you are involved in, or contact kathrin@caat.org.uk for free paper copies of the leaflet and/or poster to distribute locally.

We hope you can come to what promises to be an exciting and informative public meeting and a chance to meet other campaigners in your area.

Campaign Against Arms Trade

British Private security guards shoot three Iraqi civilians

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) —

Guards from a British security firm fired on a taxi in Iraq on Thursday wounding three civilians, police said, in a shooting that will put new pressure on the government to rein in private contractors.
A woman journalist was among the casualties when the guards opened fire after the taxi approached their convoy near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said.
"I saw a convoy of three cars pass a taxi and one of the guards took his weapon and opened fire on the taxi," said police officer Hussain Rashid.
"I tried myself to stop the convoy but they didn't pay attention to me. They stopped about 300 metres (yards) from the scene, then they moved," he added.
The US Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that an incident involving one of its security teams, belonging to British company Erinys, had occurred at 10:45 am (0745 GMT) but it only mentioned one injury.

Blackwater wanted Iraqi Military Planes

What happens when you privatise military training and operations....happening here next!

Blackwater Wanted Iraqi Military Planes 19 Oct 2007

Blackwater USA tried to take at least two Iraqi military aircraft out of Iraq two years ago and refused to give the planes back when Iraqi officials sought to reclaim them, according to a congressional committee investigating the mercenaries. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wants the company to provide all documents related to the attempted shipment and to explain where the aircraft are now.

19/10/2007

Clintons Blood Money....top 5 arms makers Raytheon, Lockheed Martin..

Defense Industry (hearts) HillaryBy tonyroma

An examination of contributions of $500 or more shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave Democratic presidential candidates $103900, ...Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.), who raised $32,000.
Drudge Retort: Tonyroma's blog - http://www.drudge.com/user/tonyroma

Defense Industry Embraces Democrats, Hillary By Far The FavoriteBy The Huffington Post News Team(webmaster@huffingtonpost.com) An examination of contributions of $500 or more, using the Huffington Post's Fundrace website, shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave ...Politics on HuffingtonPost.com -

10/10/2007

Serco,a company involved in nuclear weapons

Weapons Conference Delagates Cannot Escape Resistance!
By Anonymous

Sponsors of last year's conference included L3 Communications - the sixth largest defense company in the United States, providing survelliance equipment and aircraft maintenance; Serco, a company involved in nuclear weapons; ...Aotearoa IMC - Features - http://indymedia.org.nz/

New Zealand's annual weapons conference opened this morning at the Duxton Hotel in Wellington. Despite the NZDIA trying to keep all details of the location secret, delegates of the annual New Zealand Defence Industry 'Weapons Conference' were met by resistance when they arrived at the Duxton Hotel this morning.

Sponsors of last year's conference included L3 Communications - the sixth largest defense company in the United States, providing survellianceequipment and aircraft maintenance; Serco, a company involved in nuclear weapons; Safe Air Ltd, who've worked on Indonesian war planes; and KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary which provides logistical support to the US army in Iraq.

08/10/2007

QinetiQ better visibility for helicopters - kill for longer

QinetiQ successfully demonstrates "Day Night All Environment ...Epicos.com - Switzerland QinetiQ has developed and successfully flight trialled a Day Night All Environment (DNAE) visibility solution that provides helicopter pilots with ...See all stories on this topic

Raytheon air to missile

Raytheon wins missile contract worth $7.8 million
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has won a $7.8 million contract modification to supply air-to-air missile rocket motors to the US Air Force, ...See all stories on this topic

Mercenary World comimng to Wales soon

Blackwater Crushed Car With Three Kids, Old Man to Avoid TrafficBy Gotta Laff
This is what Bush Co has created. And to repeat what Clive Stafford Smith said, "The immoral has become so mundane." Read more

Laing O'Rourke

BAA operations chief quits after six weeks

The departure comes only weeks after BAA announced that Tony Douglas, chief executive of Heathrow airport, had left the group to join Laing O?Rourke, ...Airport - airport.blamfluie.com/archive.html

06/10/2007

Kalyx (which runs Harmondsworth) parent company Serco

Private companies such as Kalyx (which runs Harmondsworth) & Serco

Kalyx - A business with global connections
http://www.kalyxservices.com/kalyx.htm

We provide a full range of services to Home Office Departments - National Offender Management Services, the Immigration Service and the National Probation Service. With our partners we design, build, finance and operate custodial, immigration and post-release establishments.

We are part of a very large, stable and growing international family, whose primary aim is to improve the quality of daily life of all those we serve.
Our parent company, Sodexho Alliance SA, is the world's leading provider of food and management services. With more than 313,000 employees in 76 countries, the Group reported consolidated sales in excess of £9 billion last year.
It provides services to Corrections Departments in eight countries on three continents, from food services to design, construction, finance, multi-service and total management including security. Sodexho is committed to the well-being of offenders both during and after custody.

Serco can't even run a playscheme well so are they the people to run a Military Academy?

Councillor's shocking admission over leisure centres Lancashire Evening Post - Preston,England,UKIt comes after concerns were raised over a new booking system and a damning government report into a playscheme run by Serco Leisure, the firm which runs ..

[DOC] The Shame of Wales File Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTMLThe St Athan Defence Academy, if final contracts are all signed as expected, ... Nord Anglia, Raytheon, Serco, Sodexho and the Open University. ...www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/fileserve.php?mediaid=131 - Similar pages - Note this

nomurderacademyatstathan
These people will be present at St Athan??? providing or receiving training? ... SERCO Nuke Academy Academy HQ will be in West Cumbria Whitehaven
News ...www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/ - 146k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

nomurderacademyatstathans: Military Recruitmant Lies
SERCO currently manages a large chunk of the UK nuclear 'safety' industry, ... The scale of the facility to be constructed at St. Athan will therefore depend ...www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/2007/09/military-recruitmant-lies.html - 74k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

House of Commons - Welsh Affairs - Fourth Report -

[PDF] Future of RAF St Athan

TSJOnline.com - Service shake-up
Service shake-up U.K. military, consortium lead massive training transformation
As Metrix U.K. CEO Mike Hayle Service shake-up, the work at St. Athan is for a future ... The Open University, Raytheon Professional Services, Serco and Sodexho. ...www.tsjonline.com/story.php?F=2865482 - 21k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Serco Leisure is a trading division of Serco Limited, a part of Serco Group plc. Serco Leisure manages and operates leisure facilities in partnership with local authorities or through bespoke leisure trust arrangements across the UK and Channel Islands. Serco Leisure works with its clients to provide cost effective and added value solutions to the leisure industry and value for money leisure facilities to local communities. SportFocus currently provides our websites and directory listings for Serco Leisure managed facilities and work is ongoing to expand and develop these utilising new technologies.To view one example of the centres websites click the link below.Website

Raytheon used destroyer deal, patriot antmissile..

Raytheon Australia signs 1.2 bln usd destroyer deal
CNNMoney.com - USA
Raytheon Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Company.

Australia said it has signed the Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD) Phase III contract procurement of the 'Australianized' combat system, and is valued at 1.2 bln usd to Raytheon.

Raytheon Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Company.

NetScout to buy California firm
Boston Globe - United States
Raytheon Co.'s Andover facility has been awarded a $75 million Army contract for upgrading the Patriot antimissile system. Work is expected to be completed ...
See all stories on this topic

QinetiQ campaign donations to defense subcommittee

Defense Subcommittee Bigwigs Receive Nearly 100K in Campaign Cash
By Anupama
Neither Prologic nor Progeny Systems responded to our phone calls and e-mail, but Sophie Barrett, a spokesperson for QinetiQ, PSI's parent company, explained the donations in an email: "Broad industry support for Northern Virginia's ...
Real Time Investigations with... - http://realtime.sunlightprojects.org

Three members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee have received an average of $102,600 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of the companies they’ve favored with earmarks in the first six months of 2007. The rest of the members of the subcommittee have netted collectively $180,000—an average of about $12,800 per member—from the beneficiaries of their earmarks

Raytheon sales up

Notes on the Defense Industry and Stocks
Seeking Alpha - New York,NY,USA
Raytheon (RTN) said it expects more sales to Middle East and Asia countries in the next three years due to a stronger petrodollar and the perception of a ...

Raytheon Gains $100 Million In Patriot, Hawk Contracts From Saudi ...
Trading Markets (press release) - Los Angeles,CA,USA
One pact involves a multi-year deal for Raytheon to continue providing technical, training and logistics support from this year through 2009 for Saudi ...

One pact involves a multi-year deal for Raytheon to continue providing technical, training and logistics support from this year through 2009 for Saudi Patriot and Hawk air defense systems.

The other is a contract extension to provide local support services this year.

Patriot is a combat-proven air and missile defense system capable of simultaneously engaging and destroying threat aircraft, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and tactical ballistic missiles.

Complementing the Patriot system, the Hawk system provides robust low-to- medium altitude air defense against a wide range of air-breathing threats including cruise missiles.

Defense Daily International, Vol. 8, No. 39

Raytheon profiled by Dept. of Labor
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson, AZ,USA
The US Department of Labor will profile Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems as part of its Web-based "faces of disability employment policy" series as ...
See all stories on this topic

The U.S. Department of Labor will profile Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems as part of its Web-based "faces of disability employment policy" series as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The month-long series, at www.dol.gov/odep, "showcases individuals who have personally benefited from agency-sponsored programs aimed at eliminating the chronic underemployment" of people with disabilities. Raytheon is Southern Arizona's biggest employer, with more than 11,000 employees in the Tucson area.

After helping to increase the numbers of people who are disabled...world wide ...what can you say?

'Defense Contractor' Raytheon Laser Arrays

US Air Force asks Raytheon for laser arrays

Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - 10:57 AM EDT Thursday, September 13, 2007

A unit of defense firm Raytheon has won a U.S. Air Force deal to help improve laser-based systems.

Raytheon Co.'s operations in Marlborough has won a contract modification for $15.9 million from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to build an array of individual laser 'sub-apertures' that could act as either transmitters or receivers of laser energy, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

More importantly, they will be able to be steered individually or scaled together to create a larger aperture laser. Applications could include laser weapons, laser targeting/sensing, laser communications, and laser countermeasure, according to officials.

Already $4.17 million has been obligated under the contract, which was awarded out of Wright-Patterson AFB. in Ohio.

Raytheon is a government defense contractor that supplies hardware and technical services to the military, space, information technology and aircraft industries. The company reported annual net sales of $20.3 billion in 2006 and employs 80,000 people worldwide.

04/10/2007

Nuclear weapons flights

If you think the stink is unbearable over here...By Antares(Antares) And military policy requires minimization of the number of flights made with nuclear weapons aboard. So the weapons should not have been mounted on the missiles, flown to Louisiana, un-mounted and flown to New Mexico. ...MAGICK RIVER - http://magickriver.blogspot.com/

QinetiQ

TSA to test new thermal cameras in rail stationsUSA Today - USAManufacturer QinetiQ North America hopes to see the technology used at military bases, landmark buildings, large events, arenas and possibly stores trying ...See all stories on this topic

Brutal miliary training

Jones delivers Oscar-caliber performance in military drama
Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier - Waterloo,IA,USAThere is a political thread to the story, concerning a bureaucratic reluctance to expose misdeeds and the damage done when military training turns killing ...See all stories on this topic

Afghanistan, the videogameBy "mbf" The game is based on actual events that took place during the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan. 9th Company follows the story of a ragged band of young recruits undergoing brutal training in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley and ...mbf tod@y - http://mbf.blogs.com/mbf/

Raytheon..mercenaries iraq,

SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH Y PRESENTE ! WHEN THE CHICKENS COME ...
By Marjorie(Marjorie)
Private Contractors will be the answer, unless we are able to stop them; already there are 180000 active and armed private contractors in Iraq, and just recently Raytheon was granted a 15 BILLION dollar contract to work with the US ...
Maggie's Madness - http://marjorieanndrake.blogspot.com/ mercenaries iraq

http://marjorieanndrake.blogspot.com/2007/09/school-of-americas-watch-y-presente.html

Nuclear skills academy approved by skills minister David Lammy

PersonnelToday.com - UK
The latest in the set has received £8m funding from engineering contractor Fluor Ltd, service management firm Serco, and engineering firm Washington Group ...
http://marjorieanndrake.blogspot.com/2007/09/school-of-americas-watch-y-presente.html

Blackwater kill people for money

Blackwater: We Kill People For Money [VIDEO]By Manila Ryce

daily show, human rights, video
The Daily Show presents a brief history of Blackwater.


Video: Blackwater: We Kill People For Money [VIDEO]
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/64377/
The Daily Show presents a brief history of Blackwater.
Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:45:01 PDT
Manila Ryce

-

Blackwater kill people for money

Blackwater: We Kill People For Money [VIDEO]By Manila Ryce
daily shw, human rights, videoThe Daily Show presents a brief history of Blackwater.

St Athan military academy meeting

Stop the St Athan Military AcademyNext Meeting at Temple of Peace / Y Deml Heddwch2pm Saturday October 6thCathays Park / Parc CathaysCardiff / CaerdyddCF10 3AP
http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/
For more information see also
http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/
http://www.nomurderacademyatstathans.com/

"St Athan Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4156619706."

Qinetiq

Zephyr - The Solar Champion By Sarah Gingichashvili
During the 54 hour test flight, the Zephyr UAV, built by a team from the UK defense contractor Qinetiq, reached a maximum altitude of more than 18000m. The previous record in the longest duration unmanned flight category was set in 2001 ...TFOT - The Future Of Things - http://www.tfot.info

Abu Ghraib prisoners accuse US companies of torture

Abu Ghraib prisoners accuse US companies of torture 02 Oct 2007 Two US Army subcontractors [Titan and CACI International] accused of torturing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail go to court Wednesday in a case that highlights the murky legal status of private US companies in Iraq. One former Iraqi prisoner now living in Sweden says that under the companies' watch, he was sodomized, nearly strangled with a belt, tied by his genitals to other detainees, and given repeated electric shocks.

03/10/2007

Clintons liquidate ....stock in Raytheon

THE 2008 CAMPAIGN; To Avoid Any Conflict, Clintons Liquidate Millions in Holdings
...The trust also had assets in BP Amoco, $50,001 to $100,000; Chevron, $15,001 to $50,000; and Exxon Mobil, $100,001 to $250,000, as well as common stock in Raytheon and Wal-Mart Stores, $100,001 to $250,000 each.
June 15, 2007 - By PATRICK HEALY; David D. Kirkpatrick and Adam Nagourney contributed reporting. (NYT) - Front Page - News - 1204 words Correction; May 18 article about federal plan to use contractors to help secure borders misstated amount Lockheed Martin made in federal government sales in 2005; more than $31 billion was in sales to governmentMay 20, 2006 Corrections Correction

Correction; May 18 article about federal plan to use contractors to help secure borders misstated amount Lockheed Martin made in federal government sales in 2005; more than $31 billion was in sales to government May 20, 2006
MORE ON RAYTHEON COMPANY AND: CITIZENSHIP, IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES, FINANCES, CORRECTION STORIES, BUDGETS AND BUDGETING, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, LOCKHEED MARTIN, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, UNITED STATES, MEXICO

Serco

UK: Pentagon Warns British Contractors by David Gow, Guardian (London)March 27th, 2004
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11252
Insisting that the selection process was transparent and fair, Mr Nash said UK firms, including Amec, Foster Wheeler and Serco, had so far won $ 1.6bn of orders - although Parsons alone has won a share of $ 4.6bn of work.SERCO

Serco history ..do you remember this story?

Serco - Save the Children UK Silenced on Iraq
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=9230
by Kevin Maguire, Guardian (London)November 28th, 2003
One of Britain's most high-profile charities was ordered to end criticism of military action in Iraq by its powerful US wing to avoid jeopardizing financial support from Washington and corporate donors, a Ginvestigation has discovered.

Internal emails reveal how Save the Children UK came under enormous pressure after it accused coalition forces of breaching the Geneva convention by blocking humanitarian aid.
Senior figures at Save the Children US, based in Westport, Connecticut, demanded the withdrawal of the criticism and an effective veto on any future statements blaming the invasion for the plight of Iraqi civilians suffering malnourishment and shortages of medical supplies.
Uncovered documents expose tensions within an alliance that describes itself as "the world's largest independent global organization for children" but which is heavily reliant on governments and big business for cash.

Save the Children UK, which had an income of 122m in 2002-03, boasts the Queen as patron and Princess Anne as president, plus a phalanx of the great and the good lending their titles and time. The tensions over potential donor influence are not limited to the Iraq crisis. Other internal emails and documents disclose how Save the Children UK was nervous about the reaction of a major donor company, Serco, which makes huge profits from outsourcing, when the charity prepared to criticize the impact of privatization on children.

The row over Iraq erupted in April when the London statement said coalition forces had gone back on an earlier agreement to allow a relief plane, packed with emergency food and medical supplies for 40,000 people, to land in northern Iraq.
Rob MacGillivray, the UK wing's emergency program manager, released a statement which stated that the "lack of cooperation from the coalition forces is a breach of the Geneva conventions and its protocols, but more importantly the time now being wasted is costing children their lives".
Within hours of the statement appearing, the US wing was demanding its withdrawal. Emails sent to staff in Britain by Dianne Sherman, associate vice-president for public affairs and communications in Connecticut, headed "Save/UK criticizes US military", expressed dismay and censured the UK operation.
Ms Sherman said the Americans were "really astonished at today's release, which went out without our prior knowledge, that attacks the US military".
Her email went on: "This is undermining all the great work we've done, much of it in collaboration with you. We'll have to see the consequences of how this plays out - including affecting our future funding from the government."
A number of less controversial "joint messages" were proposed by Ms Sherman, none of which criticized any aspect of the invasion or occupation. She instead wanted the UK and US groups to point out that humanitarian organizations were still not permitted access to most of Iraq, that delays harmed children and, on a positive note, that relief work was under way in Umm Qasr, Masul and northern Iraq.
"Safe, secure conditions must be created immediately to allow humanitarians to bring in essential supplies and expertise to the people of Iraq," was her alternative version.
Accounts published by Save the Children US highlight its vulnerability to political pressure from a Republican White House with "government grants and contracts" generating some 60%, nearly 71m, of its 119m operating support and revenue. The proportion is also high in the UK, where 60.1m - 49% - of the organization's income is "grants and gifts in kind from institutional donors", including the government.
Ms Sherman copied her broadside to US executives including Ann van Dusen, the executive vice-president, Rudy von Bernuth, vice-president and managing director of its children in emergencies section, and Andrea Williamson-Hughes, corporate secretary.
When she discovered the London statement had been posted on the UK organization's website, Ms Sherman also demanded the deletion of US press officer Nicole Amoroso's name as a contact, adding in a second email: "I would also strongly suggest that the press release be removed until we have agreed upon language of the release."
A well-placed source in the UK operation said "all hell let loose" over the US intervention, with telephone calls "flying across the Atlantic" and a series of high-level meetings called to discuss the crisis.
The removal of the US press officer's name was agreed to placate Connecticut but the source confirmed the Americans were also assured they would be sent all future UK statements on Iraq before they were issued.
According to the source, the UK wing toned down later statements to avoid offending the US side of the operation. A statement issued in London on April 25, for example, was cleared in advance with the US, the source said.
Headed "The war is not over for the children of Iraq", it made no mention let alone criticism of coalition forces. The looting of some hospitals was highlighted but not the widespread criticism at the time that troops were standing by and doing nothing.
Save the Children US concentrates on fundraising and is said by London insiders to be anxious to curb campaigning by the UK arm.
Ms Sherman was unavailable for comment until next week, her office said.
But in a statement to the Guardian, Save the Children UK said it had not retracted the release at the heart of the row but had removed the name of Ms Amoroso, saying it had been an error not to consult her.
Subsequent statements, it added, reflected the fact that the situation "had moved on" as medical supplies had landed in Jordan to be moved to Baghdad. "We do not agree news releases issued in Save the Children UK's name with Save the Children US or any other member of the International Save the Children Alliance," the London statement said. "Wherever possible we do share Save the Children UK news releases before they are issued with other alliance members working in the same area. If any changes are suggested by other alliance members to Save the Children releases, they are made or not at our discretion."

The tensions over potential donor influence are not limited to the Iraq crisis. Other internal emails and documents disclose how Save the Children UK was nervous about the reaction of a major donor company, Serco, which makes huge profits from outsourcing, when the charity prepared to criticize the impact of privatisation on children.
A number of staff were aghast in the summer of 2002 when a chapter critical of private finance initiatives, written for a report published ahead of the Johannesburg sustainable development summit, was deleted by senior figures in the charity just before it was printed.
There is nothing in the documents to suggest that Serco exerted any pressure, but according to the emails, the charity's staff were anxious not to upset it. One email copied widely in the organization admitted "underlying tensions" existed between the corporate fundraising unit and campaigners arguing that PFIs in basic services did not benefit children.
Another warned that criticism of PFIs by the charity was "naturally making some of our corporate sponsors edgy", and the director general, Mike Aaronson, wanted a full briefing ahead of a meeting with a big private donor.
As the internal debate raged, fundraiser Helen Barnes warned she was in a "tricky position" with Serco, which ran hospitals, prisons and schools for the government. Although about to cease being a corporate member, the firm, she said, "is still keen to support us" as she argued against portraying it as a company operating solely for profit.
"Serco takes its social responsibilities very seriously and invests in the communities in which it operates," Ms Barnes said.

Serco, which is heavily involved in the defense sector, raised a total of 626,500 for the charity, as well as naming its yacht Save the Children in the BT Global Challenge race three years ago. The charity's statement yesterday said: "At no point [in] the relationship did Serco attempt to influence Save the Children UK policy on any issue." It continued: "We were able to edit most of the report to meet the required standard but one chapter required further work before it could be approved for publication. Because time was short we decided to drop this chapter to allow the rest of the report to be published in time for the conference."

02/10/2007

Land Securities Trillium

Civil servants may face ex-boss in courtBelfast Telegraph - the two bidders still left in the Workplace 2010 field are English-based companies Land Securities Trillium and Telereal. Among those involved in the ...See all stories on this topic

Land Securities Trillium lands Royal Mail portfolio (UK)Land Securities Group PLC announces that its property partnership business Land Securities Trillium ('LST') has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of ...

Blackwater mercenaries

Blackwater Covered Up 195 Shootings and MoreBy Steve BenenA State Department report that largely exonerates Blackwater, was apparently written by Blackwater. Read more »

myths government and media use to scare us

Four Myths Government and Media Use to Scare Us About 'Dictators'By Larry Beinhart, AlterNetWar on Iraq: Fog Facts: The Bush White House calls Iran's President Ahmadinejad a "dictator" when he isn't -- part of scaring the public into thinking preemptive war is a good thing.

Strike on Iran

US garners support for strike on Iran 02 Oct 2007 Australia, Britain and Israel have reportedly "expressed interest" in a US campaign to launch surgical bombing raids on Iran targeting Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities. A report in The New Yorker by the journalist Seymour Hersh said the Bush Administration had stopped trying to justify a campaign against Iran on the basis of curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions. It is instead redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle between the US and Iran.
US 'planning surgical Iran strikes' 01 Oct 2007 Australia, Britain and Israel have "expressed interest" in a US campaign to launch "surgical" bombing raids on Iran targetting the Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, according to one of America's leading investigative reporters, Seymour Hersh.