War as a "trade fair" for arms sales

Quakers are one of a handful of historic Christian peace churches.  To read more about the Quaker Peace Testimony please go here.  From the blog, Ecumenics and Quakers, comes this interesting article about war as a marketing exercise for weaponry.

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This week declassified secret documents reveal that at the time of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq the British government saw its participation in the war against Saddam precisely as an “unparalleled opportunity” to increase its weapons sales:

“In a letter marked “secret”, written on 19 August 1990, days after Saddam Hussein’s forces had invaded Kuwait, Clark [Alan Clark, then defence procurement minister, to the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher] wrote a private memo to Thatcher in which he described the expected response from the US and its allies as “unparalleled opportunity” for the Defence Export Services Organisation (now known as the DSO).

“Clark explained: “Whatever deployment policies we adopt I must emphasise that this is an unparalleled opportunity for DESO; a vast demonstration range with live ammunition and ‘real’ trials.”…” The government’s efforts reaped dividends. The war provided a significant fillip for arms sales to the region and helped nurture a strong relationship that continues to this day.”…” Over 10 years, the report ranks Britain as the second biggest arms dealer in the world behind the US.” The Guardian.

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Please read more here

And here are some up and coming events

...and please remember:

 while all these weapons are being purchased

there are still poor people who are homeless;

there are still aged people struggling on the pension;

there are still Australians out of work;

penalty rates are being ripped off workers;

slave labour is being employed; and

wealthy people and corporations are paying little or no tax

as they off-shore the wealth of Australia.