War profiteering, British version

Trench warfare during the Great War (First World War)

This article in the Daily Mail, How BAE and a rather mysterious Labour peer get rich as our troops die 02.09.07, isn't credited on the Web site as of this writing, but was written by Craig Murray. Murray writes:

Rolls-Royce gets about 25 per cent of its income from military sales, a figure that has been climbing steadily since the start of the Iraq and Afghan wars and which is now steaming past the £2billion-per-year mark.

It has been a very good war for Rolls-Royce chairman John Rose, whose pay rose to £6.9million last year. [The exchange rate for the pound is around £1:$2.] ...

There are currently up to three times as many British mercenaries as British troops in Iraq. ...

But the biggest British beneficiary has been BAE Systems – formerly British Aerospace – highlighting its extraordinary and poisonous relationship with New Labour.

In reporting its financial results, BAE was very open about the conflicts being massively profitable, its year-on-year pre-tax profit soaring from £378million to £675million.

BAE said the 'high tempo' of UK and US military operations was increasing demand for its land-based weapons systems. Which is to say that the faster our lads die, the more money it makes.

Somehow, the United States was able to win the Second World War along with its allies while still placing effective limits on war profiteering and carrying out active Executive and Congressional oversight of war contracting. It's worth trying again.

Tags: craig murray, iraq war, war profiteering

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