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L'elenco delle società statunitense che hanno fornito armamenti e materiali all'Iraq
Subject: L'elenco delle società statunitense che hanno fornito armamenti e
materiali all'Iraq
>
> Il sito americano Znet, rende noto l'elenco delle aziende e delle
> multinazionali statunitense che negli anni scorsi hanno fornito materiale
> bellico o "pericoloso" all'Iraq che adesso gli Stati Uniti vorrebbero
> bombardare perchè ritenuto in possesso di "materiali pericolosi".
> La lista di queste aziende era contenuta nel dossier "scippato" dagli USA al > Consiglio di Sicurezza delle Nazioni Unite.
>
> U.S. corporations involved...
>
> A - nuclear K - chemical B - biological R - rockets
> (missiles)
>
> 1) Honeywell (R,K)
> 2) Spektra Physics (K)
> 3) Semetex (R)
> 4) TI Coating (A,K)
> 5) UNISYS (A,K)
> 6) Sperry Corp. (R,K)
> 7) Tektronix (R,A)
> 8) Rockwell )(K)
> 9) Leybold Vacuum Systems (A)
> 10) Finnigan-MAT-US (A)
> 11) Hewlett Packard (A.R,K)
> 12) Dupont (A)
> 13) Eastman Kodak (R)
> 14) American Type Culture Collection (B)
> 15) Alcolac International (C)
> 16) Consarc (A)
> 17) Carl Zeis -U.Ss (K)
> 18) Cerberus (LTD) (A)
> 19) Electronic Assiciates (R)
> 20) International Computer Systems
> 21) Bechtel (K)
> 22) EZ Logic Data Systems,Inc. (R)
> 23) Canberra Industries Inc. (A)
> 24) Axel Electronics Inc. (A)
>
> Additionally to these 24 companies based in the US, are nearly 50
> subsidiaries of foreign enterprises whose arms co-operation with Iraq
> seems to have been operated from the US. In addition, Ministries for
> defense, energy, trade, and agriculture, as well as the foremost U.S.
> nuclear weapons laboratories at Lawrence Livermore. Los Alamos, and
> Sandia, are designated as suppliers for the Iraqi arms programs for A,
> B, and C-weapons as well as for rockets.
>
> Here is the report from this morning's Independent, in London...
>
> Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam
> By Tony Paterson
> The Independent (UK)
>
> Baghdad's uncensored report to UN names Western companies alleged to
> have developed its weapons of mass destruction.
>
> Wednesday, 18 December, 2002
>
> Iraq's 11,000-page report to the UN Security Council lists 150 foreign
> companies, including some from America, Britain, Germany and France,
> that supported Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme, a
> German newspaper said yesterday.
>
> Berlin's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper said it had seen a copy of
> the original Iraqi dossier which was vetted for sensitive information by
> US officials before being handed to the five permanent Security Council
> members two weeks ago. An edited version was passed to the remaining 10
> members of the Security Council last night.
>
> British officials said the list of companies appeared to be accurate.
> Eighty German firms and 24 US companies are reported to have supplied
> Iraq with equipment and know-how for its weapons programmes from 1975
> onwards and in some cases support for Baghdad's conventional arms
> programme had continued until last year.
>
> It is not known who leaked the report, but it could have come from Iraq.
> Baghdad is keen to embarrass the US and its allies by showing the close
> involvement of US, German, British and French firms in helping Iraq
> develop its weapons of mass destruction when the country was a bulwark
> against the much feared spread of Iranian revolutionary fervour to the
> Arab world.
>
> The list contained the names of long-established German firms such as
> Siemens as well as US multi-nationals. With government approval, Siemens
> exported machines used to eliminate kidney stones which have a "dual
> use" high precision switch used to detonate nuclear bombs. Ten French
> companies were also named along with a number of Swiss and Chinese
> firms. The newspaper said a number of British companies were cited, but
> did not name them.
>
> "From about 1975 onwards, these companies are shown to have supplied
> entire complexes, building elements, basic materials and technical
> know-how for Saddam Hussein's programme to develop nuclear, chemical and
> biological weapons of mass destruction," the newspaper said. "They also
> supplied rockets and complete conventional weapons systems," it added.
>
> The five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States,
> Britain, Russia, France and China -- have repeatedly opposed revealing
> the extent of foreign companies' involvement, although a mass of
> relevant information was collected by UN weapons inspectors who visited
> the country between 1991 and 1998. The UN claims that publishing the
> extent of the companies' involvement in Iraq would jeopardise necessary
> co-operation with such firms.
>
> German involvement outstripped that of all the other countries put
> together, the paper said. During the period to 1991, the German
> authoritiespermitted weapons co-operation with Iraq and in some cases
> "actively encouraged" it, according to the newspaper which cited German
> assistance allegedly given to Iraq for the development of poison gas
> used in the 1988 massacre of Kurds in northern Iraq. It said that after
> the massacre America reduced its military co-operation with Iraq but
> German firms continued their activities until the Gulf War.
>
> Die Tageszeitung quoted sources close to the US Vice President, Dick
> Cheney, as saying the Bush administration was hoping to prove a German
> company was continuing to co-operate with the Iraqi regime over the
> supply of equipment allegedly useful in the construction of weapons of
> mass destruction.
>
> American weapons experts have recently voiced concern that the German
> Government has permitted Siemens to sell Baghdad at least eight
> sophisticated medical machines which contain devices that are vital for
> nuclear weapons. The machines, known as "lithotripters", use ultrasound
> to destroy kidney stones in patients. However, each machine contains an
> electronic switch that can be used as a detonator in an atomic bomb,
> according to US experts. Iraq was reported to have requested an extra
> 120 switches as "spare parts" during the initial transaction.
>
> The delivery of the machines was approved by the European Commission and
> the UN because sanctions against Iraq do not apply to medical equipment.
> Siemens and the German Government have insisted that the machines, which
> are being used in northern Iraq under a World Health Organisation
> programme, cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.
>
> --------
>
> Also, here is a brief interview for your pleasure/edification with Milan
> Rai, in ZNet's usual manner, regarding his new book, published by
> Verso...
>
> Interviewing Milan Rai
> War Plan Iraq
> http://versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/r-titles/rai_m_iraq.shtml >
> 1) Can you tell ZNet, please, what your new book is about? What is it
> trying to communicate?
>
> War Plan Iraq tries to explain and document how the US has been hostile
> to both UN weapons inspectors and to real regime change in Iraq. It also
> sets out reasons why a war on Iraq would be immoral and illegal,
> including the likely catastrophic effects on the civilian population.
> The book is intended to give anti-war activists the ammunition they need
> to win the argument and persuade the uncommitted.
>
> Recent history demonstrates that the US has tried to achieve 'regime
> stabilisation and only leadership change' in Iraq (by denying support to
> the uprisings in 1991, for example), and has prioritised these goals
> over the disarmament/inspection process in Iraq (by collapsing the UN
> weapons inspection process in December 1998, for example).
>
> The idea of the book was that it should be possible to give it to
> someone who is solidly pro-war and for them not to be able to
> immediately reject it, but be forced to engage with the depth of
> documentation and the sober presentation.
>
> Very important to the book are anti-war observations by relatives of
> September 11th victims <www.peacefultomorrows.org, and images and
> photographs of young Iraqis by artist Emily Johns and professional
> photographer Kim Weston-Arnold, as well as an important chapter
> addressing 9/11 by Noam Chomsky.
>
> (2) Can you tell ZNet something about writing the book? Where does the
> content come from? What went into making the book what it is?
>
> The bulk of the book draws on four years of full-time
> anti-sanctions/anti-war campaigning as joint coordinator of Voices in
> the Wilderness UK, and fourteen years of writing and activism on these
> topics with ARROW (Active Resistance to the Roots of War). Quite a bit
> of the content comes from reading the British newspapers closely over
> the course of the last year. The idea of the images and photographs is
> to humanise the Iraqi people, who I have met, and found enormously
> hospitable on my four sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq over the
> past four years.
>
> (3) What are your hopes for War Plan Iraq? What do you hope it will
> contribute or achieve, politically? Given the effort and aspirations you
> have for the book, what will you deem to be a success? What would leave
> you happy about the whole undertaking? What would leave you wondering if
> it was worth all the time and effort?
>
> What do I hope for War Plan Iraq? I hope that it will be a useful tool
> for the international anti-war movement (it is being translated into
> Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Brazilian Portuguese,
> Japanese, and Korean) and that it will help to swing/shore up domestic
> opinion in the US and the UK against war.
>
> I hope that it will encourage and empower anti-war activists and
> persuade the uncommitted to raise their voices against war.
>
> I already feel that the book was worth all the effort, because it has
> already helped a lot of people to resist propaganda and to win arguments
> and to deepen their understanding of the depths of cynicism and
> brutality with which we are faced.
>
> I can't say that I am happy with the book and its effects, because I
> wish that there was some way that cultural efforts (books) and political
> efforts (organising civil disobedience and so on) could be sure of
> preventing mass destruction in Iraq. I'm glad people have found the book
> useful, including people like George Monbiot and Tariq Ali and Martin
> Thomas (our version of Michael Moore) and left-wing Labour MPs.
>
> In some tiny way the book is increasing the chances of survival of
> children in Iraq, that is its purpose and I have to be content with
> that.
>
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>
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