Raytheon out of Wales

Welsh Assembly laying welcome mat for Cluster Munition Bomb ...As it turns out, though, Raytheon’s actual record concerning cluster munitions may prove to be less damning than its critics claim. Raytheon’s spokesman ...

Now then.... there are a few errors in this report so...listen

The intention was to go to Llanwit Major to raise awareness of the opposition to the Privatised Military Academy in face of an ongoing well funded propaganda exercise by MOD/Metrix/John Smith MP and No politicans prepared to speak out.
Campaigners where in different locations in Llanwit Major on that day in extremely bad weather and were faced with intimidation and surveillance from a disproportionate police presence. The campaign against the privatisation of all UK military training to arms dealers has been almost entirely been an e-campaign. There have been sucessful protests at the OU offices in Cardiff, the Senedd and in Cardiff City Centre hampered by the massive police surveillance and control.

The allegation that we haven't responded to contact from the college is NOT true. In fact I wrote and sent booklets and had no reply. I would be very happy to speak/meet them any time so please email no2militaryacademy@inbox.com

The 'ire' of Llanwit Major was from ONE shop owner who has business from MOD and therefore is expressing self interest. War profiteers ire is to be expected.

Facts about Raytheon -
Raytheon is the fifth biggest arms manufacturer in the world and are directly implicated in war crimes: In 2003, a Raytheon device hit the Shu'ale market in Baghdad in 2003, killing at least 62 civilians. In 2006 a Raytheon device hit Qana in Lebanon in 2006, killing at least 28 civilians, including 16 children. By welcoming Raytheon, our politicians are complicit with war crimes.

Bush to Nasrallah: An Offer Hezbollah cannot refuse? Part III: the ...The People's Voice - Nashville,TN,USA('Birdie' was the nickname for the M-43 Raytheon manufactured cluster bomb which was widely used by Israel against civilians in 1978, 1982, and to a lesser ...
Bush to Nasrallah: An Offer Hezbollah cannot refuse?Atlantic Free Press - Groningen,Netherlands

Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site JSOW (Joint Stand Off Weapon), and cluster munitions to these: “JSOW integrates the BLU-97 combined effects bomblets and the BLU-108 sensor fused weapon submunitions for area targets or armoured vehicles”. These are considered as cluster weapons.
The small explosive devices or bomblets are certainly key components in a cluster weapon. These consist of components such as the explosives themselves, the surrounding canister and a detonation mechanism or fuse which make the explosive charge detonate. The canister which contains bomblets is, as a rule, specially designed for this purpose and must therefore be regarded as a key component in a cluster bomb. This also consists of several sub-components. All canisters will have a mechanism or a fuse which makes the canister open and drop the smaller explosive devices. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0623-01.htm

Hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or maimed by outdated, defective U.S. cluster weapons that lack a safety feature other countries have added, according to observers, news reports and officials. Bruce Mueller, a former Army lieutenant colonel who made managed the fuse program for defense contractor Raytheon. Cluster munitions have a high dud factor and are used also for that purpose to lay a minefield as Israel did during the last hours of the brief 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. The streets were littered with cluster munitions - this saw some of the most extensive use yet of cluster munitions, mostly by Israel, in highly populated areas. Some dated back to 1976.

Civilian casualties caused by these weapons, both during the war and after, have refocused global attention on the weapons' most frequent users and producers, including in recent or ongoing conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. Later this month, around 90 countries are expected to sign the Ban on Cluster Munitions Treaty at a conference in Dublin, Ireland. The likely signatories include some of Europe's biggest traditional users and stockpilers of the weapons, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom? - the most frequent user that has entered the process. Read more here

Katie Harrison's very comprehensive daily updates on the proceedings of the Dublin Conference on the WILPF website There is a cluster munition survivor's blog a CMC/ Handicap International 'Ban Bus' blog,

Watch this programme on Cluster bombs (video) http://www.hd.net/drr306.html%20Dan Rather Reports Bombs Left Behind
Long after a cease fire in the Iraeli-Lebanese conflict, thousands of unexploded bombs--cluster munitions--still cover the battlefields and are wounding many unintended victims--civilians.

Raytheon and cluster munitions report on the connections between the banks and the producers from Netwerk Vlaanderen. here

A military academy is NOT the best option for the local economy - privatising military training is a dangerous option - Who are Raytheon and other to be answerable to? Who will monitor what is going on?

And likely to fail as other privatisations have been e.g. railways and COST the British tax payer more.

The union PCS who represent the curerent trainers oppose the plan.
Young people in S Wales are more likely to pressed in to military service to fight for illegal wars.

The whole project is unethical..what happened to a vision for an ethical foreign policy?

The only winners are the arms dealers Raytheon and friends. They profit - We pay!

More info

Raytheon Cluster Bomb Protest ! on Flickr - Photo Sharing! A protestor holds a placard during a Ban Cluster Bombs Protest outside Raytheon in Derry on Wednesday afternoon calling for a ban on the use of Cluster ...
Sign the petition here

Weapons firm’s role in St Athan academy condemned (UK) see here

Cluster Bombs, Landmines, Nuclear Weapons and Depleted Uranium Weapons
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML

The assortment of Raytheon weapons also includes cluster munitions. ......

News

US subverts the cluster bomb ban Boston Globe, US Its efforts in Dublin are really about undermining the treaty itself. US allegations that the cluster ban treaty would undermine NATO are another ......US "bullying" hurts cluster bomb ban work-activists ReutersTime to stand up for what we believe Globe and Mail Campaigners call on US to stop bullying negotiators on cluster ...

Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions

Only five days to go until the start of the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions. There is a great programme of public events during the conference. There is organisised petition-signing street action during the conference on behalf of CMC. It will take place on Wednesday, 21 May in Dublin City Centre.

Protest March and Festival ‘Make It Happen' Join the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) in a protest march calling for an international ban on cluster bombs. Sunday, 25 May 2008, assemble at 12.00noon at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin. The march will be followed by a festival of music and poetry featuring performaces from Jinx Lennon, The Shannon Colleens, Aortal, The 7 Deadly Skins and Scream Blue Murmur. Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: ‘No Exceptions. No Delays. No Excuses.'

You can also find further details on http://www.stopclusterbombs.ie/ Email: sscotthayward@amnesty.ie

Norway may ditch Israel electric Bonds

Why can we not have an ethical Wales?

Welsh politicians, even Plaid Cymru is prepared to welcome Raytheon, Serco to St Athan Wales and they have both been rejected by the Norwegian fund because of their connections to Cluster bombs and nuclear weapon. John Smith MP is one of the most obsequious lackey of the Arms Companies even prepared to use our children and schools to promote them.

Norway may ditch Israel Electric bonds
Jerusalem Post - Israel
The government has banned the 2.08 trillion-krone fund from investing in companies involved in nuclear weapons or cluster munitions, and companies that it ...

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund's ethical council is considering whether to recommend the fund sell its 107 million kroner ($20 million) of bonds in Israel Electric Corp. because of an alleged participation in a blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Kristin Halvorsten wants an ethics council to investigate Israel Electric over its role in cutting back electricity supplies to Gazans.

"Information that the Israeli government is using this company to cut electricity supplies to Gaza, and thereby worsening the situation for civilians there, has made Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen ask the ethics council to investigate the company," ministry spokeswoman Kaja Haldorsen said by e-mail Thursday. Israel Electric wasn't immediately available for comment.

The government has banned the 2.08 trillion-krone fund from investing in companies involved in nuclear weapons or cluster munitions, and companies that it says are guilty of human rights or environmental abuses. An ethics council investigates companies alleged to be breaking the investment guidelines.

Israel Electric is a state-owned monopoly power supplier.

Norway, the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude oil, places most of its petroleum revenue in the fund. The pension plan is the world's second-largest so-called sovereign wealth fund after the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. It is forecast to double in size to more than 4 trillion kroner by 2014.

The Church of Norway asked the government in January 2006 to review its investments and possibly withdraw from companies that "are active in the construction of the wall and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank."

The ethics council concluded that there were no grounds for excluding companies active in Israel "or in areas under Israeli occupation," Finance Ministry senior advisor Aslak Skancke wrote at the time. "However, the possibility is not ruled out that information may be revealed in the future leading to closer examination and possible recommendations."

Companies that have been dropped previously by the fund include Poongsan Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp, Raytheon Co., European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to the Finance Ministry.

The Norwegian fund was established 11 years ago and is one of the world's oldest sovereign wealth funds. Yngve Slyngstad took over as head last month, succeeding Knut Kjaer, who managed the fund since its inception.

Tal Barak in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

Landmine Action on Raytheon & cluster bombs

I would note below the decision of the Norwegian Pension Fund (possible the largest investment fund in the world) to exclude Raytheon from investment on the basis of their involvement with cluster munition manufacture:

Online ref: http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/fin/Selected-topics/andre/Ethical-Guidelines-for-the-Government-Pension-Fund---Global-/Recommendations-and-Letters-from-the-Advisory-Council-on-Ethics/Recommendation-on-Exclusion-of-Cluster-Weapons-from-the-Government-Petroleum-Fund.html?id=419583

Specifically they say:

"Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site (Joint Stand Off Weapon), and cluster munitions to these: “JSOW integrates the BLU-97 combined effects bomblets and the BLU-108 sensor fused weapon submunitions for area targets or armoured vehicles”. These are considered as cluster weapons. This information is confirmed by Jane’s Information Group. The company has not replied to the communication from Norges Bank.

The Advisory Council recommends that Raytheon Company should be excluded from the Government Petroleum Fund."

The pdf report that they make reference to is attached to this email. I note that it has copyright dated up to 2006. As of today it is still available for download from the Raytheon website - so if the information is "out of date" etc as Raytheon assert, it is coming from them.

Furthermore it is important to note the following:

That although there is no internationally agreed definition of a cluster munition or cluster bomb, most definitions include both the container and the explosive submunitions that are packed within that container. I have attached a report of an experts meeting hosted by the International Committtee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - p.61 has a paper on definitions that illustrates this point.

I note this because Raytheon's assertion that they "have never manufactured cluster bombs" is misleading if this issue of definition is considered. If they have manufactured container munitions for the dispersal of explosive submunitions then they been directly involved in cluster munition manufacture. Their reponse - based on claiming that they have not produced the explosive submunitions - does not square with these technical definitions - including the definition of a 'cluster bomb unit' used by NATO.

Another point of note might be that these weapons produced by Raytheon are still in service. There is something rather distasteful about making money out of the manufacture and sale of these weapons and then claiming no responsibislity as soon as the goods have left the factory and the order is closed. The idea that this is all no in the past and that Raytheon should no longer be considered anything to do with cluster munitions seems unconvincing.

I think you have a strong case against them on this issue and we would be glad to provide any further information or engagement that might be useful.

Campaign against Cluster Bombs -

Campaign against Cluster Bombs in the UK -
Product Recall

http://www.landmineaction.org/campaigns/campaign.asp?PLID=1020

Latest news..M85: An analysis of reliability
28 January 2008 Some governments, including the UK, continue to maintain that M85 submunitions should be excluded from a ban on cluster munitions because they will not cause significant post conflict harm. This report shows these arguments to be false.

Human Rights Watch’s “Dirty Dozen” information sheet provides details of cluster munitions that have been most widely used and have caused the most civilian harm worldwide. The sheet also provides information on the history of use and global policy and practice on cluster munitions. Click here to download full document.

The 4 manufacturers identified in CAAT’s campaign materials are:

• General Dynamics
• Lockheed Martin
• Northrop Grumman
• Raytheon

For a full list of Campaign Against the Arms Trade’s Clean Investment Campaign information Welsh Councils Shareholdings

Ask your MP and AM what action he/she is taking against cluster bombs?

raytheon cluster bomb engines

Raytheon & Cluster bomb JSOW

Raytheon faulty fuses in cluster bombs

News: Officials: Hundreds of Iraqis Killed By Faulty Grenades Battlefield commanders have reported failure rates as high as 40 percent. Washington - Hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or maimed by outdated, defective U.S. cluster weapons that lack a safety feature other countries have added, according to observers, news reports and officials……… Britain, which joined the United States in the fight to oust Saddam Hussein, fired 2,000 artillery cluster weapons in the war. All were equipped with Israeli-made grenades with secondary fuses and a 2 percent dud rate, the British Defense Ministry said…….. "The funding for R and D [research and development] in the Army was minimal, and fusing was the last on the list," said Bruce Mueller, a former Army lieutenant colonel who managed the fuse program for defense contractor Raytheon. "They develop weapons, then they develop munitions, and after they develop munitions, the last thing they worry about is how to fuse them."

Raytheon - JSOW - cluster munitions - video

<------Rhodri Morgan first minster of Wales "The reference to cluster bombs and Raytheon by campaigners is a simple guilt by association argument with absolutely no supporting evidence. They should be ashamed of themselves for using such a smear as a subsitiute for intelligent argument" ------>

Raytheon JSOW

BLU-108/B Submunition

Cluster munitions: the stigma grows

Recommendation of June 16, 2005 on the exclusion of companies that are involved in production of cluster munitions

Recommendation of June 16, 2005 on the exclusion of companies that are involved in production of cluster munitions (pdf)

Raytheon Company produces, according to its own web-site, 3 JSOW (Joint Stand Off Weapon), and cluster munitions to these: “JSOW integrates the BLU-97 combined effects bomblets and the BLU-108 sensor fused weapon submunitions for area targets or armoured vehicles”. These are considered as cluster weapons. This information is confirmed by Jane’s Information Group. The company has not replied to the communication from Norges Bank. The Advisory Council recommends that Raytheon Company should be excluded from the Government Petroleum Fund

Javelin contain flechettes -----> -----> ---->

The French word flechette means "little arrow" or dart projectile of steel that is sharp and pointed with a vaned tail for stable flight. means "little arrow" or dart projectile of steel that is sharp and pointed with a vaned tail for stable flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette

Landmine action Weapons firm’s role in St Athan academy condemned (UK) 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. http://www.landmine.de/en.titel/en.search.output/index.html?entry=en.news.0f39d5c459040000

News: Financial minefield of moral decisions…..a report by Belgian non-government organisation Network Vlaanderen, titled Explosive Investments, exposed ANZ as being part of credit arrangements to cluster munition manufacturers Raytheon and Thales. A credit agreement dated March 24, 2005, showed that ANZ extended $US35 million to Raytheon, maker of the AGM-154 joint standoff weapon. The weapon is an air-delivered bomb with several variants that contain cluster munitions. The AGM-154A contains 145 BLU 97/B submunitions. US forces have used the BLU 97/B submunitions extensively in several conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. It has been shown to leave behind unexploded "duds" that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians, after conflicts have passed.

News: Local authorities investing over £700m in arms trade General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon all produce cluster munitions or their components, according to Human Rights Watch.

News: Officials: Hundreds of Iraqis Killed By Faulty Grenades Battlefield commanders have reported failure rates as high as 40 percent. Washington - Hundreds and possibly thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or maimed by outdated, defective U.S. cluster weapons that lack a safety feature other countries have added, according to observers, news reports and officials……… Britain, which joined the United States in the fight to oust Saddam Hussein, fired 2,000 artillery cluster weapons in the war. All were equipped with Israeli-made grenades with secondary fuses and a 2 percent dud rate, the British Defense Ministry said…….. "The funding for R and D [research and development] in the Army was minimal, and fusing was the last on the list," said Bruce Mueller, a former Army lieutenant colonel who managed the fuse program for defense contractor Raytheon. "They develop weapons, then they develop munitions, and after they develop munitions, the last thing they worry about is how to fuse them."

News: Oil-rich Norway hires philosopher as moral compass
News: W. E. Gutman: Land mines and morals ... fail to the Chief!
News: Norway divests shares in arms manufacturers (NORWAY)
News: Norway divests shares in arms manufacturers (NORWAY)
News: A Further Eight Companies Excluded from the Petroleum Fund
News: ING disinvests (partly) from controversial weapons

Raytheon JSOW $245,000 each

Article from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/871593.stm

Amount of cluster bombs used: http://www.cursor.org/stories/steelrain.html

Also globalsecurity.org is a huge resource for landmine information and cluster bomb info.

Video of cluster bombs

An a-10 dropping four cluster bombs. http://www.minedykker.dk/film/klynge.mpeg

THE DEEP STATE'S CANDIDATE

20 Oct 2007 by Mizgîn Human Rights Watch’s Arms Project revealed in December 1994 that the US government is weighing a Turkish request to buy almost 500 US-made CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions (CEMs), or cluster bombs. ... Rastî - http://rastibini.blogspot.com/

warprotest @ 2007-09-25T21:27:00

AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon [JSOW], made by Raytheon, $245,000 each. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/agm-154-pics.htm

The 'good effects' of bombing a village market in Afghanistan

Taking aim at those who finance Cluster bombs

Lima: Taking Aim at Those Who Finance Cluster Bombs

Six year old Abdullah was injured
during a strike on Basra, Iraq in
2003. Submunitions were scattered
over a residential area - smashing
through the windows of his home
as he slept, the shrapnel cut off his
arm and tore open his abdomen.
In 2003 the US and the UK
dropped hundreds of thousands of
submunitions on residential areas
of Iraq.

ONE THIRD OF ALL RECORDED CLUSTER
MUNITION CASUALTIES ARE CHILDREN

The Cluster bomb feeling documentary on investment of Dutch pension fund in arms industry
Banking Secretsdocumentary on investments of Dutch banks in arms industry and other dodgy projects.

IPS
24 May 07 - A future international treaty to ban cluster munitions should prohibit financial institutions from investing in companies that manufacture the weapons, Thomas Nash, coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), told IPS in the Peruvian capital.
Ángel Páez/IPS, Lima - Nash said the draft treaty being discussed Wednesday through Friday in Lima, Peru refers specifically to a ban on financing for cluster munitions manufacturers.
"Belgium has not only banned the production of cluster bombs, but also adopted a law in March that bans banks and investment funds operating in that country from investing in companies that make these munitions. All countries should follow Belgium’s lead," said Nash in a civil society forum held Tuesday in Lima, ahead of the intergovernmental conference that opened Wednesday.

Cutting off the flow of money to manufacturers of cluster munitions would without a doubt discourage production, said Nash, who added that the international banking community should listen to the world’s clamour.

The government officials meeting in Lima this week are following up on a February agreement reached by 47 countries in Oslo, Norway to finish drafting a global treaty next year aimed at eradicating cluster munitions.

At least 30 additional governments will sign the Oslo agreement in Lima, Nash told IPS. Some of these new adherents, like Argentina, Britain, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, produce cluster bombs. Another manufacturer, Brazil, excused itself from participating in the conference.
Cluster bombs are dropped in a canister that splits open in mid-air, scattering hundreds of soda-can-size bomblets over wide areas. The bombs can be either air-dropped or ground-launched.
Critics say cluster munitions are difficult to target accurately, and between five and 30 percent of the bomblets do not explode on impact, remaining in or on the ground and posing a risk to civilians, sometimes for years to come

According to Handicap International, 400 million people live in affected areas where they are at risk from unexploded cluster bomblets.

The six biggest producers of cluster bombs — Lockheed Martin, EADS, Thales, GenCorp, Textron and Raytheon — received 12.6 billion dollars in financing from 68 financial institutions between 2004 and 2007, according to the report "Explosive Investments: Financial Institutions and Cluster Munitions" by Netwerk Vlaanderen, a Belgian organisation that monitors arms trade funding and promotes sustainable investment.

The U.S.-based Textron, whose CBU-105 bombs were used by the U.S. army in Iraq, received a 1.25 billion dollar credit facility in 2005, arranged by Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, which provided 120 million dollars each. A total of 19 banks — including Bank of America, Britain’s Barclays, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Switzerland’s UBS — are now taking part in the credit arrangement.

In March 2003, U.S. forces dropped cluster bombs in the Iraqi region of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing at least 33 civilians and injuring 109, according to a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

And although the Vietnam war ended more than 30 years ago, cluster bombs continue to cause severe damages to the civilian population in that southeast Asian country.
The CMC reports that 34 countries continue to produce cluster munitions, another 25 have used them in armed conflicts, and 75 have stockpiles that pose a threat to humanity.
Handicap International activist Anne Villeneuve said that 98 percent of victims of cluster munitions are civilians, the great majority of whom are poor, and many of whom are children.

Although Handicap International has compiled information on 13,308 confirmed casualties from cluster submunitions, it estimates that the total number of deaths from these weapons ranges between 55,000 and 100,000.

U.S. activist Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for leading the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which concluded that year with the signing of a global treaty, was in Lima to deliver a message of support from herself and another five Nobel laureates: Guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchú, Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, Northern Irish peace activists Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, and Wangari Maathai, an environmental and political activist from Kenya.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative statement says that "Arms control and disarmament are not esoteric issues that only a few ‘experts’ are capable of handling — generally in negotiations behind closed doors. Any discussion related to weapons must not be based solely on military considerations, but must include the humanitarian perspective as well."

Cluster bombs "have become synonymous with civilian casualties," the Nobel Peace Prize-winners stated.
Williams said cluster bombs are an even bigger problem than land mines, because their effect is more lethal, and argued that institutions that finance the producers are as responsible as the manufacturers themselves for the fatal consequences of the weapons.
"While so many of the world’s arms cause so much human misery, cluster munitions deserve to be singled out as an especially pernicious weapon of ill repute," Williams said.
She added that the United States alone has millions of stockpiled cluster munitions.
Since 1999, the areas where the largest numbers of cluster bombs have been used are Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Lebanon, and in every case, the large majority of victims have been civilians, said Villeneuve.

The Ottawa Treaty or Mine Ban Treaty should have brought a de facto cut-off of investment in factories producing land mines, but that does not seem to be happening, because there are banks that invest in the manufacturers, even if they come from countries that have banned land mines, said Villeneuve.

That is why the cluster munitions treaty must explicitly prohibit investment in companies that manufacture these weapons, she asserted.
Nash said "we have achieved a world practically free of land mines; now we are trying to clean the world of cluster bombs. And that is not an impossible dream." (END/2007)

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 Explosive investments