Divest terror

Debra Burlingame, Divest terror, Iran

General Electric Is Doing Business With Iran

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I was on The O’Reilly Factor this past Thursday, along with Christopher Holton of the Center for Security Policy. General Electric is one the Pentagon’s top defense contractors, they make Apache attack helicopters and the engines for our F-16 fighter aircraft. You would think the revenue from that would be enough. But no. Let’s go build power plants, electrical systems, oil and gas projects in Iran for the guys driving the fast boats and the country harboring the insurgent training camps.

Here’s the transcript:

BILL O’REILLY, HOST: Now for the top story tonight, reaction to [charges General Electric is doing business with Iran]. Joining us from New Orleans is Christopher Holton, the vice president of the Center for Security Policy. Here in the studio is Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America. Ms. Burlingame’s brother perished on 9/11. So what say you, madam?

DEBRA BURLINGAME, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: Well, I’d say that GE has a problem. And it’s a problem that I’m glad you’re airing here for the country to know.

They say that they’re only fulfilling old contracts. That’s lawyer talk for yes, we’re still doing business in Iran. They’re trying to say that they’re not going to take up any new contracts, but lawyers know how to finesse that. The fact of the matter is they are defying U.S. sanctions by going around with a loophole, doing business with their foreign subsidiaries in countries like Syria and Iran.

O’REILLY: I think the American government knows this though. And you know, the State Department has not condemned them, the Bush administration has not condemned them. Other companies do it as well.

BURLINGAME: Well, there are some 35 companies that are doing it. And the SEC Office of Global Security Risk did inquire of GE in 2006, basically saying what are you doing, what’s your involvement, what’s the extent of your contracts? GE responded, I can summarize it for you by saying none of your business; we’re complying with law; and our focus is ensuring shareholder value. That’s a euphemism for we’re looking after GE’s profits. And on the street, that would be called blood money.

Divest terror, War on Terror

Invest terror free

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In a commentary yesterday in the Washington Times, Frank Gaffney wrote:

Clearly, it is time to bring to bear another instrument capable of dramatically curbing the cash flow to Iran and, for that matter, other terror-sponsoring regimes.

For decades, it has been possible for investors to ensure that their portfolios — public or personal — are not used for purposes inconsistent with their values or priorities. Starting with the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa two decades ago, a cottage industry known as “socially responsible investing” has sprung up. Today, public pension funds, other institutions and individuals can avoid investments that involve, among other things, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, guns, gambling, Myanmar and environmental predation.

It has been difficult, however, to engage in the most socially responsible investment approach of all — ensuring the survival of our society by keeping portfolio dollars from flowing to publicly traded companies that do business with states that sponsor terrorism. Until now.

Yesterday the FTSE Group, a leading global index, announced it was partnering with the Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG) to provide the world’s first series of terror-free screened indexes. CSAG’s filter that underpins these stock indexes will be the gold-standard in the burgeoning field of what the Securities and Exchange Commission calls “global security risk.”
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It is time the Bush administration ended its stated opposition to terror-free investing. After all, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson observed last month in sanctioning the IRGC: “In dealing with Iran, it is nearly impossible to know one’s customer and be sure that one is not unwillingly facilitating the regime’s reckless conduct.”

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