The Arms Trade is Big Business

Behind the scene of any War, especially those of the 20th century , ARMS MANUFACTURERS have the most insidious connections to POLITICS and NATIONAL decisions. Billions $ of busines result when a country is at War. Arms Manufacturers gain LARGE profits during wartime and weapons buildup periods. Therefore, these industries are motivated to encourage military activity. In so called Free Market system Profitability outweights damage to HUMAN LIFE. The Arms Trade is BIG business..

Bant-Kelani

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http://www.clw.org/atop/inside/inside53.html

Uncle Sam World's Arms Merchant Again
In 2000 U.S. Sells $18.6 Billion Worldwide, $12.6 Billion to Developing Countries

Last year the U.S. controlled half of the developing world's arms market with $12.6 billion in sales, according to an annual report published by the Congressional Research Service. This dominance of the global arms market is not something in which the American public or policy makers should take pride in. The U.S. routinely sells weapons to undemocratic regimes and gross human rights abusers.

The report, Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1993-2000, details U.S. and foreign countries' arms sales to developing countries. Data in the report refutes concerns by the U.S. defense industry that the U.S. is at a competitive disadvantage relative to Western European arms suppliers (see Insider #50, 8/13/01). In 2000, Western European arms sales to developing nations declined to $2.1 billion, only 12.2% of the developing world market in 2000. Not counting France's $1.5 billion frigate sale to Singapore, and Germany's sale of three diesel submarines to South Korea (two weapons the U.S. does not build), Europe's share of the market was almost non-existent in 2000.

In 2000, the value of arms sales worldwide was $36.9 billion, a figure greater than any year since 1993. According to the report, the U.S. held over 50% of the worldwide arms market with over $18 billion in sales. The next closest competitors were Russia with $7.7 billion, and France with sales valued at $4.1 billion. Nor does U.S. dominance show any signs of weakness – the U.S. share of the market in 2000 was up substantially from a 36 percent share in 1999. The U.S. sells major systems like jet fighters, upgrades existing equipment, and sells "a wide variety of spare parts, ammunition, ordnance, training and support services," according to the report.

At a domestic and international level, the U.S. pays a price for its dominance of the global arms market. Domestically, the export of ever more sophisticated weaponry accelerates the development and procurement of advanced weapons in order to maintain U.S. superiority on the battlefield. Internationally, U.S. support of some of the world's most odious regimes - Mobutu Sese Seko, Suharto, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran - contradicts a steady stream of U.S. rhetoric directed to the developing world about the importance of human rights and democratically elected governments. To others, the U.S. often counsels caution when exporting weapons, but these platitudes are hollow when the U.S. rings up over $18 billion in arms sales in one year.

The data shows that there are few restraints on weapons exports. We believe that the U.S. government should work with other exporters to create multilateral agreements that place numerical and technological limitations on arms exports. This is not a race, and the first to finish will not be a winner.