Frida Berrigan

Is Bush Leading Us to Nuclear War?

Frida Berrigan, William D. Hartung — 2007-05-31T05:41:00Z

While the United States demands that other countries end their nuclear programs, the Bush administration is busy planning a new generation of nuclear weapons known as "Complex 2030."

Only days before the fifth anniversary of September 11, President George W. Bush addressed military officers in Washington to warn that nuclear-armed terrorists could "blackmail the free world and spread their ideologies of hate and raise a moral threat to America."

This alarmist vision was accompanied by the White House's release of "A National Strategy for Combating Terrorism," which painted a picture of a "troubling potential WMD terrorism nexus emanating from Tehran." The administration is building the case for war against Iran — a job made easier by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent announcement that Iran can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale — despite the fact that many Iran-watchers and nuclear experts consider their claims of enrichment capacity to be an overblown boast. (...)

- / In These Times, AlterNet

Raptors, Robots, and Rods from God

Frida Berrigan — 2007-01-10T00:52:00Z

We are not winning the war on terrorism (and would not be even if we knew what victory looked like) or the war in Iraq. Our track record in Afghanistan, as well as in the allied "war" on drugs, is hardly better. Yet the Pentagon is hard at work, spending your money, planning and preparing for future conflicts of every imaginable sort. From wars in space to sci-fi battlescapes without soldiers, scenarios are being scripted and weaponry prepared, largely out of public view, which ensures not future victories, but limitless spending that Americans can ill-afford now or twenty years from now.

Even though today the Armed Forces can't recruit enough soldiers or adequately equip those already in uniform, the Pentagon is committing itself to massive corporate contracts for new high-tech weapons systems slated to come on-line years, even decades, from now, guaranteed only to enrich their makers. (...)

- / TomDispatch

Who's Arming Israel?

Frida Berrigan, William D. Hartung — 2006-07-27T18:20:00Z

Much has been made in the U.S. media of the Syrian- and Iranian-origin weaponry used by Hezbollah in the escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon. There has been no parallel discussion of the origin of Israel's weaponry, the vast bulk of which is from the United States.

The United States is the primary source of Israel's far superior arsenal. For more than 30 years, Israel had been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance and since 1985 Jerusalem has received about $3 billion in military and economic aid each year from Washington. U.S. aid accounts for more than 20% of Israel's total defense budget.

Over the past decade, the United States has transferred more than $17 billion in military aid to this country of just under 7 million people.

Israel is one of the United States' largest arms importers. Between 1996 and 2005 (the last year for which full data is available), Israel took delivery of $10.19 billion in U.S. weaponry and military equipment, including more than $8.58 billion through the Foreign Military Sales program, and another $1.61 billion in Direct Commercial Sales

During the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005, Israel received $10.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing-the Pentagon's biggest military aid program-and $6.3 billion in U.S. arms deliveries. The aid figure is larger than the arms transfer figure because it includes financing for major arms agreements for which the equipment has yet to be fully delivered. The most prominent of these deals is a $4.5 billion sale of 102 Lockheed Martin F-16s to Israel. (...)

- / Foreign Policy In Focus

Bush's Atomic Two-Step

Frida Berrigan, William D. Hartung — 2006-06-09T19:13:00Z

The game of nuclear diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran continues, with the ball squarely in the Iran's court. Last week, the United States abruptly shifted tactics and began to engage directly with European-led negotiation efforts aimed at convincing Iran to limit or end its nuclear activity. This week U.S. and European officials revealed that the U.S. has even offered Iran nuclear technology. In what is being viewed as an upset for administration hawks, the U.S. promised that Iran will be allowed to continue its enrichment program, as long as it agrees to first suspend all activity, so that it can “prove”-presumably through IAEA inspections-that its intentions are entirely civilian. (...) - / TomPaine.com

Smart Defense

Frida Berrigan — 2006-05-18T23:42:00Z

One cannot turn the pages of the daily newspaper without reading about the new and baffling security challenges posed by global terrorism. From four native Britons attacking London's mass transit system to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's schizophrenic nuclear brinksmanship, the problems are complex. Unfortunately, those in charge of our defense are still trying to use the costly, ineffectual and inefficient tools of previous eras to solve them-namely, overwhelming military force. In doing so they're ignoring currently underfunded security alternatives such as non-proliferation programs, diplomacy, public health initiatives and foreign aid to unstable regions.

“When all you have in your toolbox is hammers, all your problems look like nails.” It's an adage attributed to Mark Twain. He could have been writing about current U.S. budget priorities-a preponderance of hammers-and the way in which decision-makers in Washington seem to approach foreign policy problems as nails to be pounded. (...)

- / TomPaine.com

Privatizing the Apocalypse

Frida Berrigan — 2006-03-30T21:23:00Z

Started as the super-secret "Project Y" in 1943, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has long been the keystone institution of the American nuclear-weapons producing complex. It was the birthplace of Fat Man and Little Boy, the two nuclear bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Last year, the University of California, which has managed the lab for the Department of Energy since its inception, decided to put Los Alamos on the auction block. In December 2005, construction giant Bechtel won a $553 million yearly management contract to run the sprawling complex, which employs more than 13,000 people and has an estimated $2.2 billion annual budget.

"Privatization" has been in the news ever since George W. Bush became president. His administration has radically reduced the size of government, turning over to private companies critical governmental functions involving prisons, schools, water, welfare, Medicare, and utilities as well as war-fighting, and is always pushing for more of the same. Outside of Washington, the pitfalls of privatization are on permanent display in Iraq, where companies like Halliburton have reaped billions in contracts. Performing jobs once carried out by members of the military — from base building and mail delivery to food service — they have bilked the government while undermining the safety of American forces by providing substandard services and products. Halliburton has been joined by a cottage industry of military-support companies responsible for everything from transportation to interrogation. On the war front, private companies are ubiquitous, increasingly indispensable, and largely unregulated — a lethal combination. (...)

- / TomDispatch

The Long War's Pricetag

Frida Berrigan — 2006-03-30T21:20:00Z

“We will stay in the fight until the fight is won,” pledged President George W. Bush from the podium at Cleveland's Renaissance Hotel on March 20. “I'm going to say it again: If I didn't believe we could succeed [in Iraq], I wouldn't be there,” Bush shrilled at his White House press conference the next day. And then he said it again the next day in West Virginia, “If I didn't think we'd succeed, I'd pull our troops out.”

We have heard a lot from President Bush in the last week, as the “educator in chief” (as he called himself in Wheeling, West Virginia) embarked on another desperate round of PR to explain three years of war to the America people. Despite hours of talking-the text of his three speeches and Q-and-A fills more than 50 pages (10 point, single spaced)-the president failed to say what Americans want to hear. A March 17 Gallup poll found that 60 percent of Americans believe the war in Iraq is not worth the costs. But the costs continue to mount. (...)

- / TomPaine.com

White Phosphorous Lies

Frida Berrigan — 2005-11-24T03:13:00Z

Did the Pentagon use chemical weapons indiscriminately in Fallujah?

Just when it seemed the Iraq war couldn't get worse, the United States admitted on November 16 that forces in Fallujah did use white phosphorus (WP) as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. However, the Pentagon continues to deny that soldiers used WP-a “spontaneously flammable” and “extremely toxic inorganic substance,” according to the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine-against civilians.

This admission, a reversal of the military's previous denials that the substance was used as a weapon at all, came after protests at the U.S. embassy in Rome that were sparked by the airing of Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, a documentary by Sigfrido Ranucci and Maurizio Torrealta, on Italian television. (...)

- / In These Times

Free Trade, Free Guns

Frida Berrigan — 2005-11-15T04:58:09Z

President George W. Bush's foiled trip to Mar del Plata to attend the Summit of the Americas put Latin America in the spotlight. Bush was hoping to push his controversial free trade agenda, but the trade talks failed and the president was met with violent and widespread protest. Before the spotlight of media attention leaves Latin America, it is essential to underline that Bush's free trade policy has gone hand in hand with rising U.S. military aid, training and arms sales to the region.

U.S. military aid, training and arms sales to the region have all increased sharply since the beginning of the war on terrorism and threaten to exacerbate conflict, empty national coffers and sidetrack development programs.

In 2000, U.S. military aid through Foreign Military Financing totaled $4.7 billion to more than 100 nations, with an almost microscopic fraction-0.07 percent-going to countries in Latin America. By 2006, overall spending on Foreign Military Financing actually decreased to $4.5 billion. But Latin America's share of that total has increased by more than 3,400 percent to $122 million. (...)

- / TomPaine.com

Hypocritical U.S. Fight for 'Freedom'

Frida Berrigan, William D. Hartung — 2005-06-14T00:05:00Z

Despite President George W. Bush's vow to promote freedom and democracy around the world, U.S. arms sales policy is doing just the opposite.

Most major recipients of U.S. arms sales in the developing world are undemocratic, as defined by our own State Department. And U.S.-supplied weaponry is present in a majority of the world's active conflicts.

The Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations were no strangers to the policy of transferring U.S. arms to dictators, but this trend has intensified dramatically under the administration of George W. Bush.

Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President Bush's pledge to "end tyranny in our world" than the United States' role as the world's leading arms-exporting nation. Although arms sales are often justified on the basis of their purported benefits, from securing access to overseas military facilities to rewarding coalition partners, these alleged benefits often come at a high price. (...)

- / CommonDreams.org, Newsday

George in Georgia

Frida Berrigan — 2005-05-24T03:46:00Z

The president's short, happy visit to the former Soviet state masked the long-term failures of U.S. policy.

During his May visit to Georgia, President George W. Bush shook his hips to traditional music, causing Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to exclaim with delight, "I would never dance like that. He danced much better than I would have."

The remark was emblematic of the happy and historic visit. The small former Soviet state received a much-needed scrubbing before welcoming its first American presidential visitor. The president's motorcade rumbled over newly paved roads en route to Tbilisi and buildings throughout the capital were freshly painted. (...)

- / In These Times

After the Tsunami: Military Aid For Indonesia?

Frida Berrigan — 2005-02-19T03:00:00Z

Although few Americans had heard of Aceh before the tsunami, they poured millions of dollars into Indonesian westernmost province that helped survivors rebuild and recover. More than 100,000 Indonesians, mostly from Aceh, were killed when the wall of water swept over the coastline.

Unfortunately, now that the tsunami has receded from the media spotlight, Washington and Jakarta are using the tragedy to push for restoration of military ties. (...)

- / Foreign Policy In Focus

Peace in Sudan: Good News for People or Oil Companies?

Frida Berrigan — 2005-01-16T02:39:00Z

The new year brought a whisper of good news. In the first week of January, Sudanese rebels and the Khartoum government signed a pact ending one of Africa 's longest wars. Since 1983, more than two million people have died, and another four million have fled their homes in fighting that pitched North against South.

The agreement outlines a six-year process for the two regions to share power and equitably distribute resources. Combatants need to be disarmed and employed, and economic development, long frozen by the war, needs to be restarted. And that's where oil comes in. Sudan is an oil-rich nation with proven reserves of 635 million barrels. The ink is barely dry on the peace agreement, and oil companies are lining up to take advantage of these largely untapped reserves. (...)

- / CommonDreams.org

Meet the New COs

Frida Berrigan — 2004-11-18T03:51:00Z

Jeremy Hinzman joined the military in early 2001. Like many others, he was attracted to the military by "the prospect of being able to ....go to college without incurring debt and be a part of something bigger than myself," he says.

He completed basic training, and in July 2001 moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with his wife, Nga Nguyen. He was a "White Devil": a member of the 82nd Airborne's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

But during basic training, he began to have doubts. (...)

- / Progressive

Mass Destruction in Small Packages

Frida Berrigan — 2004-07-21T21:42:53Z

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the specter of mobile chemical labs, dirty nuclear bombs, anthrax spores, sarin gas, and other weapons of mass destruction has fueled popular fears and inspired countless anti-terrorism initiatives.

While the fear of bombing and attacks is real, here is a surprising fact: The most deadly weapon in the world today is legal, accessible and dirt cheap.

The AK-47, the M-16 and other so-called "small arms" are responsible for the deaths of half a million people each year. About 300,000 people - mostly civilians - are killed in wars, coups d'État and other armed conflicts each year by small arms. Another 200,000 people are killed each year in homicides, suicides, unintentional shootings and shootings by law enforcement officers using these weapons. In addition to those killed, an estimated 1.5 million people are wounded by small arms annually. If we take into account their cumulative impact, small arms are truly weapons of mass destruction. (...)

- / AlterNet