Profit from war?...shame on you..<s>
Battlefield Is A Showcase for Defense Firms
Arms Exporters Could Thrive On Televised Success in Iraq
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 1, 2003; Page E01
When the war in Iraq winds down, the U.S. defense industry is likely to launch a major new offensive to sell its battlefield-tested weapons to countries around the world.
If the weapons systems perform in Iraq as Pentagon officials envision -- with power and precision -- then significant commercial benefits probably would follow, industry analysts say. Overseas buyers are expected to have their sights primarily on inexpensive, satellite-guided weapons rather than high-priced tanks and jets, because they've already bought about as many of those systems as they can afford.
The new weapons are being featured in nonstop television coverage, providing the kind of publicity that helped fuel a surge in international arms sales after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
"It's the best possible marketing tool -- CNN," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the arms sales monitoring project at the Federation of American Scientists.
After years of development and testing, a weapon proves its value only during "cold, hard combat," said Joel L. Johnson, vice president of international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association. "You don't know how it's going to perform in large numbers until you put it in the hands of those 19- and 20-year-old" soldiers, he said.
Adds defense industry consultant James McAleese: "You should be able to sell [at least] three times more of any weapon system that has been proven in combat than if you haven't seen it in combat."
Foreign sales raise a sensitive issue, according to some observers. The Pentagon runs the risk of arming unstable regimes or nations sharing tense borders, opening itself up to charges that it is increasing volatility in an already insecure world. The United States also puts itself in the position of supplying sophisticated weaponry to a potential future enemy. In the 1980s, for example, the United States authorized the sale of several products to Iraq that could be used in weapons, including poisonous chemicals and deadly viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.
"It's not clear what a postwar Middle East will look like in terms of who our allies are in the long term. Once you export the weapon you have no control of its use," Gabelnick said. "Maybe we're overly pessimistic, but the risk is still there."
If an ally government is overthrown, "you might be faced with a hostile regime outfitted with the best in U.S. military equipment," she added. ..........
washingtonpost.com
World peace through global arms sales ...
jttmab |
