Gordon brown cluster bombs and Private Eye

Recently Gordon Brown has made a big fuss about ridding the world of cluster bombs and he even promised to dispose of Britain's stocks. Private Eye points out that this doesn't quite fit with what the MoD are proposing for defence training. The company that make these bombs is Raytheon who are part of the Metrix consortium who won the bid to deliver defence training to the armed forces. The Instructional Officers (civil servants) who currently undertake this training will be privatised and expected to move to St Athan in South Wales.

Ireland dumps Raytheon!

Ireland does the right thing…By mary
The new policy is likely to be adopted in the lead-up to a major international diplomatic conference on cluster munitions scheduled for Croke Park on May 19th-30th. The Government has taken a strong stance in favour of a total ban on ...Stop Cluster Bombs - http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz/

Ireland dumps Raytheon on cluster munitions!

Ireland's pension fund to exclude munitions-report Reuters UK - "I saw at first hand on my visit to Lebanon last year the havoc that cluster bombs can cause," Ahern told the paper. "These small bomblets can look like ...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's National Pensions Reserve Fund plans to withdraw 27 million euros (21 million pounds) of investment from six firms involved in the production of cluster munitions, Irish media reported on Wednesday.
The NPRF, charged with securing funds for pension and welfare costs of an ageing population after 2025, followed the example of Norway's pension fund, known as the "oil fund", which aims to be a world leader in ethical investment.
The NPRF plans to stop investing in five U.S. companies: Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems and L-3 Communications, and France's Thales, the Irish Times quoted a spokesman as saying.
The fund's proposal follows a list of firms excluded by Norway's $387 billion (193 billion pound) fund, after pressure from Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, who is campaigning for a ban on cluster munitions, the Irish Times said.
"I saw at first hand on my visit to Lebanon last year the havoc that cluster bombs can cause," Ahern told the paper.
"These small bomblets can look like decorations or toys and, as a result, children are very vulnerable to them."

And so to remind you of the death toll in Iraq...
What is the real death toll in Iraq? The Americans learned one lesson from Vietnam: don't count the civilian dead. As a result, no one knows how many Iraqis have been killed in the five years since the invasion. Estimates put the toll at between 100,000 and one million. 19 Mar 2008 The British polling firm Opinion Research Business (ORB) asked 1,720 Iraqi adults last summer if they had lost family members by violence since 2003; 16% had lost one, and 5% two. Using the 2005 census total of 4,050,597 households in Iraq, this suggests 1,220,580 deaths since the invasion.

Boycott investments in Raytheon!

The campaign agaisnt the St Athan Military Academy accuses the Welsh Assembly Government of hypocrisy over cluster bombs. Politicans profess their opposition to cluster bombs but invite Raytheon to Wales - spend money encouraging Raytheon to Wales - invest in Raytheon!

Rhodri Morgan "we have worked very hard to get this project for Wales. the reference to cluster bombs and Raytheon by campaigners is a simple guilt by association argumnet with absolutely no supporting evidence. They should be ashamed of themselves for using such a smear as a substitute for intelligent argument."

Greens accuse government of hypocrisy over cluster bombs
Earthtimes, UK - 14 Feb 2008 Wellington - New Zealand was accused Thursday of hypocrisy in hosting an international conference aimed at banning cluster bombs while a government pension ...He said the state pension fund in Norway, where the drive for an international treaty prohibiting the use of the weapons began a year ago, had boycotted investments in US companies Lockheed and Raytheon which manufacture them.

Time to stop loving the money from the bomb
Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand -14 feb
The Green Party is calling on the New Zealand Super Fund to urgently withdraw from its ever-increasing investments in cluster bomb manufacturers before the ...

Wellington Conference to Address Cluster Munitions Threat
Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand - 11 Feb 2008
Next week in Wellington the New Zealand Government is hosting an international conference on a treaty to prevent humanitarian disasters created by cluster ...

Big guns come to Wales to sell military training camp!

Academy briefing Feb 11 2008 by Peter Collins, South Wales Echo
ic Wales - During a visit to South Wales, Major General Tim Inshaw and Brigadier Geoff Nield, visited the Civic Offices, in Barry, to meet council cabinet members, .....

DEFENCE chiefs have met Vale of Glamorgan council leaders to brief them on the £11bn plans for the Defence Training Academy at St Athan.

During a visit to South Wales, Major General Tim Inshaw and Brigadier Geoff Nield, visited the Civic Offices, in Barry, to meet council cabinet members, including council leader Margaret Alexander, and officers.

Perhaps they would like to share their plans with the rest of us. How much tax payers money is being spent here for private companies to profit? Private companies who are majking huge fortunes out of War, weapons, cluster bombs....companies like Raytheon, Qinetiq, Serco?

Companies that ethical investors won't touch?

Download Corporate Mercenaries [pdf]:

raytheon cluster bomb engines

Raytheon Completes Second Successful Engine Test of Joint Standoff ...
FOXBusiness - USA
5, 2008, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Joint Standoff Weapon ExtendedRange missile moved one step closer to powered flight testing when Raytheon ...

JSOW is a joint Navy and Air Force program. It is a family of low-cost air-to-ground weapons that employs an integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System that guides the weapon to the target. The JSOW uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying various payloads. Its long standoff range allows delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses.

The AGM-154A, or JSOW-A variant, dispenses BLU-97 combined-effect bomblets for use against soft and area targets. The program completed production mid- 2007 and is integrated on the F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-2 and B-52 aircraft. JSOW A-1 has a BLU-111 warhead (insensitive MK-82) and is primarily for the international market. Turkey ordered 50 in 2006.

More than 400 JSOW-As have been used in combat operations, including Iraqi Freedom. The AGM-154C, or JSOW-C variant, incorporates an imaging infrared seeker for high precision and a multistage warhead, which has both a blast- fragmentation and hard-target penetration effect.

Raytheon & Cluster bomb JSOW

Raytheon Continuing Investment In JSOW-ER Effort

Trading Markets (press release), CA -
Raytheon is touting JSOW-ER, also known as Block IV, as a weapon that can deliver a range of 300 nautical miles for $350000 or less. ...

Read it up for your self on Raytheons own sales blurb. Must be a good profit here then but no ethics.

Product Data Sheet

JSOW-ER

About 90,000 dollars a pop! The JSOW is just over 13 feet in length and weighs between 1000-1500 pounds. Extra flexibility has been engineered into the AGM-154 by its modular design, which allows se... More»veral different submunitions, unitary warheads, or non-lethal payloads to be carried. The JSOW will be delivered in three variants, each of which uses a common air vehicle, or truck, while substituting various payloads.Less« Cost ?

Raytheon - cluster munitions?

Rhodri Morgan frst minister is one of the few people in Wales who love Raytheon!

The mysterious case of the disappearing cluster bombs
(News/Arms Industry) ...t Industries, MBDA, Rhienmetall, RUAG, SAAB, Denel, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Textron) to discreetly flog you the whole thing. A journalist from The Independ...

US insists cluster bombs not bad if used right
(News/Arms Industry)

Robert Evans, January 16, 2008, Reuters GENEVA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Cluster bombs, which nearly 100 countries are seeking to ban, should not be considered bad as long as states involved in con

Protest against Crooks, War Profiteers,Liars on St Athan Military Academy

no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

Press Release: For Immediate Release

One year on the half of the St Athan project not yet dumped is blasted - Skeptical Citizens question ethics and job numbers!

Jan 17th 2008 There will be a demonstration at the Senedd 13:00 to oppose the St Athan White Elephant. The red choir will be there to add its support in harmony with other concerned citizens. PCS members will join in the protest. ‘Cluster bombs’ will be scattered by the grim reaper to highlight the role of arms company Raytheon.

Thursday 17 Jan marks the anniversary of the announcement that the Metrix consortium had successfully bid for the contract to build a privately run military academy in South Wales.

The announcement was celebrated by Wales First Minister Rhodri Morgan with a champagne-popping photo-opportunity outside the Senedd in Cardiff.

The proposed military training academy at St Athan will be built and run by an international consortium including major multinational arms companies. It will train not only British service personnel, but those from any regime or private company that can fork out the cash.

Anne Greagsby campaigning against the Academy said “What the government didn’t tell the people of Wales was that this project would make the Welsh Assembly Government a business partner of Raytheon - one of the world’s largest producers and dealers of weapons of mass destruction.

Raytheon is a core member of the Metrix Consortium. Today we learn 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.

PCS met with Jill Evans recently and highlighted the blatant distortion being disseminated by a number of Welsh MPs as to the number of new jobs being created in South Wales as part of the St Athan deal. Members explained that the thousands of new high skill jobs promised by welsh MPs were an illusion because existing civil servants were already employed in them.

The St Athan project does not offer the Wales that people want – a nation that addresses honestly the issues of global warming and the environment, champions equity and human rights, teaches our children that violence solves nothing. A nation that does not invest in the arms trade, encourages valuable, long term employment and delivers decent public services.

The champagne sprayed by Assembly Ministers Morgan, Hutt and Davies to welcome the signing of the contract to build the academy, on January 17th year ago has turned sour.

ENDS

Notes to editors

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

More information on our blogs

http://metrixconsortium.blogspot.com/

http://stathanmilitaryacademypoliticians.blogspot.com/

Contacts

Anne Greagsby mobile 07817513610

Temple of peace 02920 821058

no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

Website: http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk

CND Cymru campaign for nuclear disarmament  

yr ymgyrch dros ddiarfogi niwclear

 press release

 January 16th 2008

 From Jill Gough t:01495 773 180 m: 07704 67 57 87 heddwch@cndcymru.org

 Campaign Against St Athan Military Academy

 Protest at Y Senedd, Cardiff Bay

 Thursday January 17th1pm

Protestors will gather at the steps of the Welsh Assembly building at lunch

time tomorrow to mark the first anniversary of the WAG 'celebration' and

announcement of plans to build a military academy at St Athan.

On January 17th 2007, Assembly Ministers Rhodri Morgan, Andrew Davies and Jane Hutt welcomed the signing of the public private finance initiative contract to build the academy, by spraying champagne over the steps of the Senedd. A year on, opposers of the project will be pointing out where their enthusiasm was misguided.

CND Cymru Chair Jill Evans MEP said today:

"This demonstration is a reflection of the opposition to the privatisation of military training and to making Wales the base for that training for Britain and other countries. Coming in the wake of the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq, the celebrations a year ago rang hollow to many people in Wales. We in the peace movement want Wales to continue to be recognised internationally for its traditions of peace and reconciliation and not for its contribution to war. We want a full and open debate about the implications of this development for Wales."

 While our elected representatives have so far welcomed the project,

campaigners are suggesting to them that it would be sign of strength, not weakness for them to 'think again' and will be asking them:

Do you really want to put Wales at the forefront of the global arms trade?The developer of the St Athan Academy, the Metrix Consortium, aims for the academy to be a centre of military training for armies from all over the world -not just the British military.

Do you really want Wales to promote the privatisation of war?

We are well aware of the disaster that comes with the privatisation of

warfare, we only need to point to the Blackwater affair. St Athan Academy would represent the largest privatisation of the military in British history.

Do you really want Wales to become a business partner with one of the

world's largest manufacturers of weapons of mass destruction?

A core member of the Metrix Consortium is Raytheon, a company that produces and sells bombs and missiles to any country with the money to pay. Cluster bombs, depleted uranium weapons, thermobaric bombs, bunker buster bombs - all these and more are Raytheon products.

Do you really want Wales to become a business partner with a company that the National Audit Office has criticized for 'unethical business practices'?

Another member of the Metrix Consortium is Qinetiq, a company that has been mired in ethical controversy since its very beginning, and has been accused of taxpayer rip-offs, profit-gouging, 'sweetheart contracts' and conflicts of interest. The National Audit Office has condemned the company for the "excessive profits" earned by senior managers and investors.

Do you really want Wales to sell its own youth on the business of war?

Since 2003, more than ten young Welshmen have lost their lives in the

illegal and unjust war in Iraq. Why are Welsh politicians embracing the St

Athan Academy, a project designed explicitly to do a better job of selling more of our youth on military work instead of speaking out against this utterly unnecessary and immoral loss of Welsh life?

Do you really want Wales to embrace an industry that is inherently

destructive of sustainable development?

If a cigarette company were to claim it was in a healthy line of business  because the factory where it made cigarettes was a clean work environment,we would laugh - the relevant issue is what the cigarettes made in thefactory do to people in the rest of the world. The Metrix Consortium claims it is environmentally friendly because the Academy will practice energy conservation, recycling and waste reduction. Yet this will be an institution in the business of training armies to wage wars all over the planet. The Rio Declaration from the 1992 Earth Summit explicitly states that "warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development" (Principle 24). "All major wars of the 20th century," the US Center for Defense Information notes, "have had a hidden casualty: the environment. Unexploded weapons,polluted rivers, contaminated soil, and damaged landscapes have all harmed human health, local economies, and ecosystems." Would this be something for

Wales to be proud of?

Do you really want to commit the future of Wales to the culture and economy of militarism?

Should Wales seek to become a country tied closely to the business of making war, the global arms trade, the production of weapons of mass destruction or one committed to sustainable development, responsible international citizenship, and the creation of green and ethical jobs?

Jill Gough National Secretary of CND Cymru commented:

"Many people in Wales are in a serious mind to examine other sustainable non-violent avenues in dealing with social and international conflict,ideological and environmental dangers. We owe it to our children and our

children's children to build the foundations of a safer, tolerant, just and healthy world in the best way we know how."

ENDS

*       Interviews are available: please contact Jill Gough CND Cymru 01495

773 180 m:07704 67 57 87 HYPERLINK

"mailto:heddwch@cndcymru.org"heddwch@cndcymru.org or Ray Davies (CND Cymru

Vice Chair - and who will be singing with Côr Cochion tomorrow) 
for no2militaryacademy campaign contact Anne Greagsby co-ordinator:

02920 626 287 m: 078175 13610 HYPERLINK

"mailto:annegre@aol.com"annegre@aol.com or no2militrayacademy@inbox.com

 *       More about the campaign to stop St Athan : HYPERLINK

"http://www.cynefinywerin.org"www.cynefinywerin.org

 *       For Bilingual interviews with Jill Evans please contact David

Bradley 

 *       Protestors will gather at the Senedd for 1pm tomorrow. Cor Cochion

will be singing. 

*       PICTURE EDITORS note: large banners will be a feature of the protest

Norways ethical pension fund dumps SERCO -

The Norwegian state pension fund has sold off its holdings in three munitions companies, including a South Korean firm that makes cluster weapons, over ethical concerns, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

A year ago Norway hosted a confernece aimed at banning cluster weapons world wide.

In addition to dropping Hanwha Corporation of South Korea the Finance Ministry said it has divested its stakes in Serco Group of Britain and US-based GenCorp over their involvement in making nuclear weapons.

....The Norwegian government's pension fund -- worth more than $377 billion and managed by the central Bank of Norway -- also cited Hanwha Corp. of South Korea and Serco Group plc of Britain for their weapons-related operations. The fund found that Hanwha was involved in making cluster munitions and that GenCorp and Serco had a role in producing nuclear arms.
Norway is Evaluating the Ethical Guidelines for the Pension Fund Global

- Socially responsible investments used to be a marginal issue for most investors. I believe we are now seeing the beginning of responsible investment becoming mainstream in the investor community, says the Norwegian Minister of Finance Mrs Kristin Halvorsen in her opening address at the conference “Investing for the Future” which takes place in Oslo January 16-17.

(Ministry of Finance, 16.01.2008)

Companies Excluded from the Investment Universe

...Defence and Space Company) EADS Finance BV General Dynamics Corporation L3 Communications Holdings Inc. Lockheed Martin Corp. Raytheon Co. Thales SA. The press release from the Ministry of Finance The recommendation from the Advisory Council on Ethics <>(Ministry of Finance, 03.02.2007)

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..

(Ministry of Finance, 02.09.2005)
Norway excludes 3 arms producers from oil fund [Reuters] Norway's global pension fund drops three weapon producers over ethics concerns [Calibre Macro World]Norwegian Government: One producer of cluster munitions and two producers of nuclear weapons excluded from the Government Pension Fund - Global [Calibre Macro World]

PM Brown 'response' to cluster bombs

The Prime Minister's Office has 'responded' to the petition asking the Prime Minister to "Ban the use and manufacture of Clusterbombs. This is incomprehensible meaningless jargon not a proper response to a very serious matter. UK at the forefront of States dealing with the problems caused by cluster munitions not to eliminate their use or condemn those countries who use them nor to shun companies connected to their manufacture or use in any way such as RAYTHEON who the government keep awarding contracts to..like the training academy at St Athan - Raytheon 100,000 cluster bombs dropped on Lebanon?

See Raytheon cluster bomb demonstration in Derry photos.

Raytheon and Cluster Bombshttp://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/index.php?docid=287

Government's response

The Government recognises that certain cluster munitions can cause unacceptable harm to civilians. That is exactly why the UK has consistently been at the forefront of States urging all key users and producers of cluster munitions to address the problems caused by such munitions. The Government led the way internationally by taking two types of cluster munitions out of service. And now, the Government is working also for an international ban on the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions which cause unacceptable harm to civilians - our aim is to a achieve a new legally binding instrument.

The Government also takes very seriously its responsibility for taking action against other instruments that cause unaccpetable civilian deaths. So, as small arms kill every 90 seconds, Britain is calling for a legally binding Arms Trade Treaty and is willing to extend its export laws to control extra-territorial brokering and trafficking of small arms, and potentially other weapons

view it here: http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page14156.asp

Petition information - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Clusterbombs/

Raytheon Video - what it does

uk government accused of reclassifying cluster bomb to beat weapon ban!

Agencies accuse UK government of reclassifying cluster bomb in order to beat the weapon’s ban

18 September 2007 | Oxfam, Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, Saferworld | Related document

Just noticed this ...

---

The UK, the world’s third largest user of lethal cluster bombs over the last ten years, has renamed one of its two remaining cluster munitions in an effort to beat an expected worldwide ban next year said humanitarian organisations Oxfam, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action today.

The move would mean that the Hydra CRV-7 rocket system, which can deliver 171 “M73” bomblets from a helicopter-mounted rocket pod, would remain part of British arsenals.

As recently as 23 November 2006, the government listed the CRV-7 as a cluster munition. But on 16 July this year, just months after it said it would back a worldwide cluster bomb ban, the Government said the CRV-7 was no longer a cluster bomb.

“Ten years after it championed a treaty banning landmines the UK has a chance to do the same with cluster bombs – but instead it is spinning a cluster bomb con,” said Simon Conway, Director of Landmine Action. “This is a deeply cynical move. The UK Government needs to announce an immediate end to the use of these indiscriminate killers.”

US forces used the rocket-delivered M73 ‘bomblets’ in Iraq in 2003. Human Rights Watch reported contamination of unexploded M73 bomblets left behind after the strikes.

Cluster bomblets are notoriously unreliable and many fail to explode on impact, remaining a lethal hazard to civilians months after the initial attack. Even in test conditions, around 6% of these bombs malfunction, cluster bomb reliability rates are consistently found to be lower in combat conditions than in tests.

"A technical solution is doomed to failure,” said the London Director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Porteous. “Human Rights Watch's investigations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon have all shown that cluster munitions, no matter how sophisticated, do not work as advertised, and instead get used in ways that violate international humanitarian law."

In February 2007 the UK joined 46 other nations in calling for a world wide ban on cluster bombs. This initiative, called the Oslo process, is expected to lead to a treaty banning cluster bombs next year.

But campaigners say the UK needs to get its own house in order first.

“Current UK policy on cluster bombs makes no sense. They say they want an international treaty - but they also want to keep using cluster bombs well known to kill and injure civilians,” said Anna MacDonald, Head of Arms Control for Oxfam.

Britain also insists on keeping its artillery delivered M85 cluster bomblets because they are supposed to self-destruct if they do not explode on impact. Last year in Lebanon, these same weapons failed in large numbers, killing and injuring civilians. A recent Foreign Affairs Select Committee report estimated a failure rate of up to 10%, a figure far in excess of government claims.

“Despite being the third biggest user of cluster bombs in the world over the last ten years, the Government hasn’t made any efforts to asses the harm these weapons cause to civilians. Ministers are prepared to stand in Parliament and claim that careful assessments have been done – but where is the evidence? Their policies simply aren’t based on reality,” said Oliver Sprague, Programme Director, Military, Security and Police for Amnesty International UK.

In July 2007 an opinion poll showed 82% of the British public are in favour of a cluster bomb ban. In December last year Hillary Benn, the then Secretary of State for International Development, said that cluster munitions “represent a threat to aid-workers, peace-keepers, medical services, internally-displaced persons” after the cessation of hostilities.

Landmine Action, Oxfam, Amnesty International UK, Saferworld and Human Rights Watch UK are calling on the UK Government to announce an immediate end to the use of all cluster munitions.

-ends-

Notes for editors

Martin Bell, former BBC correspondent and long standing supporter of the campaign to ban cluster bombs will be supporting calls for the UK Government to introduce an immediate ban on the use of cluster bombs at a photo-call on Tuesday 18 September 2007 at 09.30hrs on the South East side of Lambeth Bridge, London SE1.

Tuesday 18 September 2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.

The next meeting of states in the Oslo Process will take place from 5-7 December 2007 in Vienna, Austria (see UK/Oslo Update and Declaration Text documents for additional information)

The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) coordinates a membership of over 200 non-governmental organisations worldwide including Landmine Action and Human Rights Watch.

For more information or to arrange interviews contact:

Therese Lyras, Campaigns Manager, Landmine Action
+44 (0)20 7820 0222/+(0)7894 512 852, tlyras@landmineaction.org

Raytheon Admit cluster bomb connection!

St Athans: Raytheon admit cluster bomb connection

Read this excellent article .

Weapons firms role in St Athan Academy Comdemned

Weapons firm’s role in St Athan academy condemned ic Wales, United Kingdom - CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Assembly Government for backing a huge military training project, despite the involvement of a weapons company previously ...
anne
the whole story
Nov 9 2007 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Assembly Government for backing a huge military training project, despite the involvement of a weapons company previously linked to cluster bombs.
The St Athan Defence Academy is due to create 5,000 jobs in the Vale of Glamorgan by 2013.
But an anti-military group called the Cluster Munition Coalition says that one of the major companies involved in the academy, Raytheon, has been involved in manufacturing devices that carry cluster munitions.

Raytheon, a leading American arms firm, insists it no longer produces weapons capable of carrying cluster bombs. But campaigners say they remain concerned.
Anne Greagsby, co-ordinator of the campaign to stop the St Athan academy from being built, said, “In 2005 a European Parliament resolution was introduced to ban investments in companies, such as Raytheon, that have produced cluster munitions. In response to this, Norway and Belgium have already endorsed this call. Liverpool City Council has also recently adopted a similar position.
“Yet the Welsh government has ignored all of these concerns, and instead launched a high profile development project with Raytheon.
“Raytheon is a central member of the Metrix Consortium that was awarded the St Athan Defence Training Academy contract in January 2007. The St Athan Defence Academy has been supported by all of the main political parties in Wales and sold to the public on the basis of alleged benefits to the economy.
“The involvement in the project of the world’s largest arms companies has so far not received any attention.”
Ms Greagsby added, “Given the evident public concern over cluster bombs and the arms trade more generally, I am sure that most people would be shocked to hear that the Assembly has laid a welcome mat for such companies, especially after other governments have turned their backs on them.”

In 2005, the Advisory Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund excluded Raytheon from the fund’s investment portfolio, along with other manufacturers associated with cluster munitions. In 2007, Belgium passed a law banning all investments in any companies still producing cluster munitions.
Raytheon is still producing the AGM154 Joint Standoff Weapon, which according to its website,“is a family of low-cost, highly lethal weapons that can engage a wide spectrum of targets – from soft targets to hardened point targets – over a range of threat environments by using highly integrated Global Positioning System and Inertial Measurement System guidance.”

Ms Greagsby said, “It has been reported that a Raytheon device hit the Shu’ale market in Baghdad in 2003, killing at least 62 civilians, and that a Raytheon device hit Qana in Lebanon in 2006, killing at least 28 civilians, including 16 children.”

Veteran former Labour MP Tony Benn has signed a petition opposing plans to build the £14bn defence training academy at RAF St Athan.
The project has also been criticised by CND Cymru.

A spokesman for Raytheon said, “Raytheon does not manufacture cluster bombs or any associated delivery vehicles. Any assertion to the contrary is based on dated information that is no longer valid or correct.
“To clarify, 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. Furthermore, Raytheon has no other products in development that are designed to dispense cluster submunitions.”

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said, “The development at St Athan is vital if our armed forces are to have the best possible training to equip them to deal with any threat to the safety and security of this country and its people.
“The training activities at St Athan are related to engineering and IT skills, which are also useful in civilian life as well.
“Under the Metrix consortium’s proposals, the army, navy and air force will get better training to protect the UK from enemies, both now and in the future.
“Raytheon is one of the partners in the consortium. They have made it clear to the Welsh Assembly Government that they do not manufacture cluster bombs or any missiles capable of delivering the weapons, and they have no plans to do so in future Any claim to the contrary is wrong and based on old information.
“The UK government is committed to banning the production, stockpiling and use of cluster bombs, and has signed a joint declaration with 45 other countries to achieve this aim.”

...........................

The JSOW family uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying a variety of payloads and handling multiple munitions. Its long standoff range of up to 70 nautical miles allows delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses. The AGM-154A (also called JSOW-A) variant dispenses BLU-97 combined-effect bomblets for use against soft and area targets. It is produced for use on the F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft. The AGM-154C (JSOW-C) is currently being produced for Navy F/A-18s and has been selected by Poland for use on its F-16s. The Navy/Raytheon team is developing a Block II configuration of the JSOW weapon system that provides significant cost reductions to all J
http://investor.raytheon.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=84193&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=617664&highlight=

Raytheon makes cluster bombs..now called SUBMUNITIONS

Explosive Investments Financial Institutions and Cluster MunitionsBriefing Paper by Netwerk Vlaanderen February 2007
Explosive investments

Raytheon (USA) produces the AGM154 Joint Standoff weapon (JSOW), an air-delivered bomb with some cluster munition variants. For example the AGM154A, the standard version, contains 145 BLU-97/B sub munitions. Also the Tomahawk cruise missile has amongst its variants a submunition warhead.(5)
(5) Website Raytheon (http://www.raytheon.com/), Viewed in February 2007.

The Norwegian Parliament considers that cluster weapons are in violation of fundamental humanitarian principles by breaching the principle of distinction between military and civilian targets. Other weapon systems excluded under these ethical guidelines are anti-personnel mines, nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, incendiary weapons and blinding laser weapons.In the summer of 2005 the Fund excluded eight companies from its portfolio because they were considered to manufacture key components for cluster bombs. These companies are: Alliant Techsystems, EADS, EADS Finance, General Dynamics, L3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Thales. Disinvestment from these companies totalled almost NOK 2.2 billion (€ 271.8 million)

KBCKBC is a Belgium-based bank-insurance group with € 196 billion assets under management. In 2004 they worked out a policy on investments in the weapon industry. They decided to stop any investments in anti-personnel mines, chemical weapons, uranium weapons and cluster munitions. KBC argues “these weapons have caused great suffering to innocent civilians”.Their policy is applicable to all their activities including commercial banking, asset management and investment banking. KBC has not only worked out a clear and concrete policy, it has also implemented this policy in a strict and thorough way. In 2006 they updated their black list resulting in a publicly available list of nineteen weapon producers. KBC mentions seventeen of them as producers of cluster munitions: Aerostar, Alliant Techsystems, Aselsan, BAE Systems, EADS, Finmecanicca, Gencorp, General Dynamics, Honeywell, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, Magellan Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Poongsan, Raytheon, Rheinmetall and Thales. Singapore Technologies Engineering and Textron are excluded on the grounds of involvement in anti-personnel mines.

INSYS is contracted by the MoD to support the Royal Air Force's arsenal of RBL755s (INSYS's former incarnation, Hunting Engineering, manufactured the BL755). IMI is reported to be the manufacturer of the L20 Extended Range Cluster Shell used by the Royal Artillery. RAYTHEON is the prime contractor for the Tomahawk cruise missile and the JSOW AGM-154, both of which deliver BLU/97B submunitions (cluster bombs).'The final incriminating piece of evidence tying up RAYTHEON, the Israeli air force's terror campaign in Lebanon and its use of cluster ammunition comes from an Indymedia source:http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/134864/index.php

The Cluster bomb feeling documentary on investment of Dutch pension fund in arms industryBanking Secrets documentary on investments of Dutch banks in arms industry and other dodgy projects.
Cluster bombs – Skeet warhead - The BLU-108 is capable of integration into a number of weapon systems:
BQM-109 Tomahawk, Raytheon Systems
SM-2 Land Attack STANDARD Missile, Raytheon Systems
MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). Lockheed Martin
AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile - Expanded Response (SLAMER), Boeing
AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), Lockheed Martin

More information

(WO/2005/019764) MISSILE SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE SUBMUNITIONS
A multi-staged missile (10) includes a booster (12) and a submunition delivery vehicle (14) that...www.wipo.org/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=2005019764

Cluster bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Some submunition based weapons can disperse non-munition payloads, such as leaflets .....

- Dumb Bombs
Submunitions are classified as either bomblets, grenades, or mines. ... Each of these delivery...

Friends of Lebanon M85 Submunition Cluster Bomb Petition
A petition to ban the manufacture and use of M85 submunition cluster bomb.

Hundreds of millions of people affected by 440 million cluster ...
Ninety-eight percent of cluster submunitions casualties are civilians killed and injured while...

You can ban cluster bombs in 2008! Do something now

In February this year the UK said it would work towards a new treaty- but now the Government is trying to secure loopholes that will allow it to continue using certain cluster bombs. They have even asked Ratheon who makes cluster bombs to teach our young people at St Athan Military Academy and celebrated it!

We need your help to tell the Government that this approach is unacceptable.
What you can do: Sign petitions
• Send an email to Foreign Secretary David Miliband• Sign the Downing Street petition• Collect signatures to Get Them Milibanned
Write to your MP
• Write to your MP with the guidance of this sample letter
Increase awareness in your community
• Come to the Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs on November 5.

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.