Raytheon vigil, Derry

derry | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Thursday October 09, 2003 18:51 by FEIC - Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign am.hegarty at ntlworld dot com

Foyle Ethical Investment Coalition (FEIC) monthly vigil against missile manufacturers Raytheon.

TIME TO TELL JOHN HUME THAT RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGY
IS KILLING PEOPLE IN IRAQ

5.00 pm Saturday 11th October,
Raytheon, "Ulster Science and Technology Park",Buncrana Road, Derry.

John Hume played a key role in bringing arms manufacturers Raytheon to Derry over three years ago. At the time he said "I very strongly welcome the decision of Raytheon to locate a major software plant in my home city of Derry. It will be warmly welcomed by all of our citizens”. In a recent interview with the Belfast Telegraph, John Hume continued to defend the presence in Derry of Raytheon, the world’s biggest missile manufacturer. "What Raytheon are doing in Derry is technological…. Raytheon are not in Derry making military weaponry and I am glad to have the employment for the people." This is perhaps his crassest defence of the arms industry yet.


It’s true that every single one of Raytheon’s weapons is ‘technological’ – including the Raytheon weapons responsible for the two ‘massacres in the markets’ in the recent war on Iraq, including the missile that maimed ‘little Ali’ who came to symbolize the suffering of Iraqi children and including Raytheon’s JSOW cluster bombs that continue to kill and maim Iraqi civilians. Raytheon have recently been awarded a $55 million contract by the US government to make more of these JSOW weapons, on the back of their ‘success’ in Iraq. Raytheon weapons killed more civilians in single incidents in Iraq than died in the Omagh bomb. Raytheon weapons killed more civilians in Afghanistan in a month than died in the 30 years of the ‘Troubles’ in the north of Ireland. All this killing was ‘technological’ but it doesn’t make it right. It’s time to make that very clear to those who claim it as a defence for what Raytheon are doing in Derry. Join the FEIC vigil this Saturday and tell John Hume, Raytheon and the arms trade that we won’t spill our sweat in order to spill somebody else’s blood.



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RAYTHEON FACTOIDS OF THE MONTH (Out of their own mouths...):


"JSOW performed superbly in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was the weapon of choice for time-sensitive targets. Rapidly replacing those that were expended is high priority for the Navy," said Capt. Dave Dunaway, the Naval Air Systems Command's JSOW program manager. "We are very pleased to be making a weapon system which is so highly regarded by the war fighter for its ease of use and capability to do the job," said Jon Jones, Raytheon's Strike Weapons vice president. "We have energized the JSOW team to add this supplemental amount on top of our normal production runs in order to refill the Navy inventory with this critical weapon as soon as possible."



--Raytheon Press Release, September 16, 2003
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TECHNOLOGY + ARMS TRADE = MURDER

JOIN THE VIGIL THIS SATURDAY !