Iran

Debra Burlingame, Divest terror, Iran, War on Terror

We pay the enemy and America’s corporations profit

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Virtually any US firm doing business in Saudi Arabia or with Iran is helping the enemy. Every American should read ex-CIA officer Robert Baer’s book, ‘Sleeping With the Devil.’ America and its corporations are so corrupt and venal, that they put corporate greed above the lives of our men and women in uniform, above the international community’s attempts to stop a new race for nuclear weapons.

Money is fungible. A percentage of all multi-million-dollar projects end up as graft in the pockets of Saudi royals. When we’re talking about tens of thousands of members of the royal family that have to be kept in the style of living to which they’re accustomed, what are the odds that some of it is going to al Qaeda coffers through “charities?” Then there are the madrassas the Saudi Wahhabis are building all over the world, including the US.

Saudi Arabia, which gave us 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11, is also supplying the vast majority of foreign fighters to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have a huge unemployment problem of young men under 30. Most university degrees in Saudi colleges are “Islamic Studies.” Yeah, that’s usable in the real world.

We will not rid ourselves of this problem until America ends its dependency on foreign oil. (See www.setamericafree.org) Imagine a world in which oil plummets to $15 bucks a barrel. Imagine what the Middle East would look like deprived of the money to finance Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, and all the other terrorist groups. Imagine what would happen if resentment and hatred of the US which props up these repressive regimes were redirected to the regimes themselves.

General Electric has admitted that it has contracts in Syria and Iran for electric power plants, oil and gas, lighting, and medical equipment (that latter is humanitarian stuff not subject to sanctions and no one is citing them). GE claims that none of it is being used for military purposes by “Iranian forces” or “Syrian forces.” Here is an excerpt from GE’s response to a 2006 inquiry by the SEC, Office of Global Security Risk:

“In addition to diagnostic, monitoring and life science medical products, our products and services that are sold or otherwise distributed include power generation systems and parts, oil & gas equipment, power control/supply and lighting products in Iran, each of which is sold or distributed pursuant to legal obligations entered into prior to February 2005. We sell our products and services directly and through distributors located in Iran and elsewhere. Our customers include private companies, government-owned electrical utilities and refineries, the Ministry of Oil, public/private hospitals and universities. To the best of our knowledge, none of the products or services we provide has been, or could be, employee in any military application or used by the armed forces of Iran for strategic, tactical or training purposes.”

How about the foreign insurgents financed by Iran, flying into Damascus, being trained in Syrian camps and crossing through the Syrian-Iraq border, what our troops call the “rat line?”

Apparently, General Electric either does not get or care that Iran has been violating international law for 30 years with impunity. Iran has engaged in proxy wars through its terrorist arm Hezbollah and through its Revolutionary Guards. It has kidnapped and killed American citizens and the citizens of its neighbors. It has provided foreign fighters, arms, and money to fight the US and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It defies the international community in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. It declared war on the US — its enemy — and advocates its destruction, along with Israel.

The purpose of economic sanctions against Iran is to provide the world community with some leverage, to let the ayatollahs know that their murderous, outlaw conduct comes with a price, that there will be consequences. When companies like GE, an iconic American company founded by Thomas Edison, find legal loopholes to do business with the people who call America and its allies their sworn enemies, that not only gives comfort and life support to the ayatollahs, that sends a signal that America and its allies do not even have the support of their own people.

Some time ago, GE changed its corporate slogan from “We bring good things to life,” to “Imagination at work.” The latter is a good description of the mendacity of GE’s lawyers, who told the SEC Office of Global Security that GE’s old contracts were okay. Yet President Bill Clinton put US sanctions against Iran in place in 1995, more than twelve years ago.

When we see Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for “death to America” and watch Iranian fast boats charging US Navy ships, we see the enemy. General Electric sees a customer in good standing.

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.