CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROGRAMS FOUND guess where?
ILLEGAL SUPPORT FOR THE PROGRAMS FROM shrub campaign CORPORATE DONOR
There exist a number of laws that U.S. corporations are legally bound by, such as the U.S. Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control Acts. United States law stipulates, inter alia, that any defense articles and defense services to any country shall be furnished "solely for internal security, [or] for legitimate self-defense" (22U.S.C. 2302 and 2754). Israel's excessive and disproportionate use of force to suppress the Palestinian people and its recent offensive against Palestinian cities with U.S.-supplied weaponry clearly exceeds the bounds of what could be considered legitimate self-defense and therefore is in violation of U.S. law. Corporations would be ill-advised to continue ignoring this fact in the hope that those persons who are being damaged by their business decisions will not take legal action in the future. Legal ghosts have haunted many firms, especially in Europe, many years after their neglect of humanitarian law.
Furthermore, according to U.S. law, "no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" (22U.S.C. 2304). The U.S. State Department has repeatedly documented in its annual reports that Israel engages in "torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or the security of people."
U.S. military-related corporations support Israeli occupation by way of an institutionalized mechanism provided for by Congress. Congress has stipulated that 75% of U.S. foreign military aid to Israel, which amounts to over $2 billion annually, must be spent buying U.S. products and services. Firms like Lockheed, Boeing, United Technologies, Raytheon, ExxonMobil, Northrop, Pgsus, General Dynamics, and Oshkosh, among others, are directly contributing to the tools that Israel uses to violate international and humanitarian law. The following are some specific cases:
U.S. weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, which provides the fighter jets that have been used by Israel to bomb Palestinian cities that have been under military closure for 18 months, proudly announced on September 5, 2001 from Fort Worth, Texas that Israel had decided to purchase 52 more Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets. The contract value was reported as approximately $1.3 billion for only the aircraft.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, sells Israel U.S. armaments used to destroy Palestinian cities and perform political assassinations of Palestinian civilians from the sky. "Our company's relationship of more than 40 years with Israel is a source of pride," said Sikorsky President Dean Borgman in a February 1, 2001 press release, while announcing his firm was awarded a $211.8 million contract for 24 additional Black Hawk helicopters to serve the Israeli Air Force.
Other less visible military suppliers are those like Federal Laboratories in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, which provides CS tear gas to the Israeli military. During the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in 1988, Federal Laboratories witnessed civil disobedience actions at their plant gate in Saltsburg and a lawsuit in U.S. courts after Israel misused their lethal tear gas by firing it into closed areas, resulting in the killing of many Palestinians. Federal Laboratories stopped exporting the gas for six months in 1988 and sent a fact-finding team to Israel before resuming sales.
fpif.org
US company fined for exporting chemical weapon components to Israel and Saudi Arabia
A US-based company has agreed to pay a $171,500 civil penalty for violating export administration regulations by selling unlicensed centrifugal pumps to Israel, Saudi Arabia China and Taiwan, reported the US Department of Commerce.
According to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation exported or re-exported centrifugal pumps to various end-users without obtaining the required export licenses. Sundstrand is a manufacturer of centrifugal pumps used for general, industrial, and chemical process application. These pumps are controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, as well as for anti-terrorism reasons.
BIS also alleged that Sundstrand made false statements on Shipper's Export Declarations (SEDs), stating that no export license was required, when in fact a license was required. Additionally, BIS alleged that Sundstrand failed to file SEDs as required, and failed to provide certain required information on those SEDs that Sundstrand did file. Sundstrand voluntarily disclosed these violations to BIS and cooperated throughout the investigation.
Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of the United Technologies Corporation, is a developer of aerospace and industrial products. Headquartered in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, US, the company designs and manufactures aerospace systems for commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft. Industrial products serve industries ranging from hydrocarbon, chemical and food processing to construction and mining.
menareport.com
At its peak in 1996, the Superfund program had about $3 billion in its coffers to pay for cleanups. Without the industry tax to replenish it, the fund is now nearly empty. By 2003, it will have shrunk to just $28 million and by 2004, the fund will be depleted. Although the Environmental Protection Agency can generally get polluting companies to pay for the cleanup about 70 percent of the time, the industry tax covered the "orphaned" sites—the ones where the company is bankrupt or no longer exists. Now, money for those cleanups will have to come from general tax revenues.
That lets polluting industries off the hook, says Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). This summer, Boxer introduced a "polluter pays" bill that would reinstate the industry tax on oil and chemical companies, and another tax on a wide range of companies that use and dispose of hazardous waste. Boxer said her bill will "help ensure that the cleanups continue, but not at the expense of…the American taxpayer."
The nine companies in the Superfund Settlements Project insist that it's not fair to single them out for a tax.
"What we're talking about here are the orphan sites, and it really ought to be a general societal responsibility to clean them up," Michael Steinberg, one of the project's representatives, told the Buffalo News. "Why point to any one industry to do it?"
The nine companies that make up the coalition are a Who's Who list of corporate heavyweights: DuPont, Honeywell, General Electric, General Motors, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Solutia, United Technologies, IBM, and Waste Management Inc. So far in the 2002 election cycle, the companies have given nearly $3 million in individual, PAC and soft money donations, 64 percent to Republicans. The companies also spent more than $28 million on lobbying in 2001. General Electric, the coalition's biggest contributor, has given $1.2 million and spent more than $15 million on lobbying in 2001.
The nine companies gave Bush more than $136,000 during the 2000 presidential election. The oil and gas industry as a whole contributed $1.8 million to the Bush campaign. Chemical manufacturers kicked in another half million dollars.
Sen. Boxer has received more than $78,000 from environmental interests so far during her six-year Senate term, making the environmental community one of her top campaign contributors. Environmental interests have contributed nearly $250,000 so far to federal candidates and committees in the 2002 election cycle, 95 percent to Democrats.
capitaleye.org
big contributions get you insignificant fines.
maybe saddam shoulda made a contribution to shrub's campaign. |
