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Jack Reed supports selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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amos house reedCongress is coming under increasing pressure to stop supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, but Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed doesn’t seem to be feeling it. He said the weapons, which are made by Rhode Island-based Textron and banned by 119 nations but not the US and Saudi Arabia, “should still be provided under strict conditions,” he told RI Future.

An amendment to the House military spending bill narrowly failed last week that would have stopped the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. It was supported by congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin, both of whom notably declined to comment on the vote. I asked Reed about the issue when I saw him on Friday.

“I think we should still be selling those weapon systems that comply with the law,” said Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees.

Providence-based Textron is the last North American producer of cluster bombs, and the only source of cluster bombs for the US military. They’ve become a hot button issue as evidence mounts that Saudi Arabia has used cluster bombs it procured from the US in civilian-populated areas of Yemen.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have each independently found evidence that Textron’s cluster bombs have malfunctioned more than 1 percent of the time in Yemen and have been used in civilian-populated areas. Both allegations would be violations of US law concerning cluster bombs.

“That is something we have to look at very closely because the threshold is 1 percent or less,” Reed said. “That’s the way they are designed, that’s the way they’re tested and that’s the way they are maintained. We have strict protocols in design and the systems need to perform to very high standards and that as a result those and only those systems are sold.”

He added, “I think you do look at all the data that is being submitted. I think we are looking at it, and we are testing it.”

Reed said the US military still has cluster bombs in its arsenal, as well. “We have them in our own inventory so we’re very conscience of trying to make sure they are tested properly,” he said.

He seemed confident in their efficacy. “The systems we provide, technically, are designed so that if a cluster does not detonate it will be deactivated. They are the only ones authorized to be sold.”

Textron’s political action committee has been a long-time financial supporter of Reed, according to campaign finance reports. In 2015, Textron donated $1,000 to Reed’s campaign war chest, and in 2013 Textron made six donations for a total of $10,000 – of which $5,000 was given on June 30. In 2010, Reed got $1,000 from Textron  , as he did in 2006 as well. In 2007 Textron gave Reed $9,000.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Cicilline, Langevin support bill to stop Textron-to-Saudi Arabia cluster bomb sales


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Peace activists protested outside Textron today. (Photos by Steve Ahlquist)
Peace activists protested outside Textron today. (Photos by Steve Ahlquist)

Congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin both supported an amendment to the House military spending bill that would stopped the United States from transferring Textron-made cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to transfer or authorize the transfer of any cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia,” reads the simple amendment Congressman John Conyers of Michigan.

It was narrowly defeated by 12 votes, 204 to 216. Neither of Rhode Island’s congressman could be immediately reached for comment. But Congressman Hank Johnson posted a news release about the bill and his speech before the House Armed Service Committee (Congressman Cicilline can be seen in the background).

“Earlier this year, the Saudi led-coalition dropped cluster bombs in Yemen’s that struck a rehabilitation center for the blind – which also has a school for blind children,” Johnson said. “The destruction of the school and the injuries sustained by the children were unbearably gruesome. This deliberate and reckless use of cluster munitions by Saudi Arabia highlights their complete disregard for the welfare of innocent people. This is unacceptable. We cannot ignore our duty to protect basic human rights values here and around the world. There is something fundamentally wrong with preaching human and civil rights here at home while we export death abroad. Rather, Congress must step up our efforts to keep such internationally reviled weapons out of the hands of those that would misuse them.”

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 002If passed, the bill would have further limited Rhode Island-based Textron’s market for cluster bombs. Located in downtown Providence, Textron, a defense industry conglomerate, is the last North American manufacturer of cluster bombs, which have been banned by 119 nations but not but the United States and Saudi Arabia. The US is known to have sold Saudi Arabia Textron-made cluster bombs and Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International as well as local peace activists have called upon Textron to stop making cluster bombs.

“It’s an important program for us,” Textron spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future in February. He could not immediately be reached for comment today.

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 003Human Rights Watch in a post published today mentioned the grassroots effort in Rhode Island to convince Textron to stop making cluster bombs.

“Public pressure seems to be mounting against Textron,” wrote Mary Wareham, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “Outside Textron’s headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, local activists have been demonstrating for weeks – demanding that the company cease its production of cluster munitions.”

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 001The FANG Collective and the American Friends Service Committee have led efforts to call public attention to Textron cluster bombs. Members of the groups and other peace activists participated in another protest outside Textron headquarters in downtown Providence today.

Singapore recently stopped making cluster bombs and Wareham wrote, “Textron should follow the example set by Singapore Technologies Engineering and commit to stop making these indiscriminate weapons as a way to assure the public that it is responsive to global concern at civilian suffering.”

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 005

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Report says US to stop selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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President Obama on a recent visit to Saudi Arabia. (Photo courtesy of the White House)

After months of sustained pressure from global humanitarian groups – as well as peace activists in Rhode Island – the United States seems poised to stop selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, according to an exclusive report in Foreign Policy.

“Frustrated by a growing death toll, the White House has quietly placed a hold on the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as the Sunni ally continues its bloody war on Shiite rebels in Yemen,” the American news magazine focused on global events and foreign policy reported Friday night. “It’s the first concrete step the United States has taken to demonstrate its unease with the Saudi bombing campaign that human rights activists say has killed and injured hundreds of Yemeni civilians, many of them children.”

Textron, a global defense and aviation conglomerate headquartered in downtown Providence, makes the cluster bombs the US  provides to Saudi Arabia through a Massachusetts subsidiary called Textron Systems. The last known contract with Saudi Arabia for Textron cluster bombs was signed in 2013, according to Mark Hiznay, a senior arms researcher for Human Rights Watch. The agreement says 1,300 cluster bombs were to be delivered to Saudi Arabia by December 31, 2015.

It’s unclear if that contract has been filled, in part, because Textron doesn’t comment publicly on international defense orders. Hiznay told RI Future he didn’t know the status of the order. Textron declined to comment publicly for this story. “It’s an important program for us,” company spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future in February.

Cluster bombs are one of the world’s most controversial weapons of war. Because they disperse “bomblets” that don’t always detonate on cue, they cause civilian casualties sometimes years after a conflict ends. Cluster bombs are banned by 119 nations and the United Nations, but not by the United States or Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both documented civilian casualties in Yemen after Saudi-led airstrikes against the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Human Rights Watch, according to the Foreign Policy report, “has investigated at least five attacks in Yemen involving CBU-105s in four governorates since the war began. In December, the group documented an attack on the Yemeni port of Hodaida that injured a woman and two children in their homes. Two other civilians were wounded in a CBU-105 attack near Al-Amar village, according to local residents and medical staff interviewed by Human Rights Watch.”

In Rhode Island, where Textron is headquartered, peace activists led by the FANG Collective and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, have targeted Textron with weekly actions in front of the global conglomerate’s downtown Providence headquarters at 40 Westminster St.

“Does anybody in this country go to work to kill a total stranger? This company does that, for money. Not because they have any greivance against anybody they are doing this for money,” said Pia Ward, an organizer with the FANG Collective at the most recent protest in front of Textron. “I am going to protest until they stop making cluster bombs. I’m going to be here every week until they stop making them.”

Peace activists and politicians celebrated the news.

“The Cluster Munition Coalition applauds the decision of the US government to block the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia,” said Megan Burke, the director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munitions (ICBL-CMC). “This decision follows numerous reports released by CMC members, such as Human Rights Watch, demonstrating the grave humanitarian impact of these weapons being used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. We call on the US to take the next step to prohibit all future production, transfer and use of cluster munitions by joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”

Martha Yager,  of the AFSC-SENE, confirmed the weekly protests against Textron until the company stops making cluster bombs.

“I am impressed that the U.S. has interrupted the flow of these awful weapons to Saudi Arabia,” she said. “Maybe now that the U.S. government has indicated reluctance to use or have its allies use U.S. made cluster bombs, Textron will announce that it is no longer going to make them.  Until that happens, we will keep pushing on them to do the right thing.  We will be there again on Thursday from 11:30 – 12:30 to make that ask.”

Congressman Jim Langevin told RI Future, “We must always seek to minimize harm to civilians in any conflict, and I applaud the Administration for taking this step to prioritize humanitarian concerns.”

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Pia Ward’s personal connection to cluster bomb casualities


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landminePia Ward has personal reasons for protesting Textron’s cluster bombs. She grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and as a young girl collected the military ordnance strewn across the countryside.

“My dad said ‘don’t pick up anything that’s live,'” she said, showing off what she described as an expired Israeli landmine found in Beirut during the 1980s.

“But you know you’re a child and you see something and you want this for your collection,” Ward said. “Many times I picked up something like this, not knowing if it was live, not knowing if it was exploded. I could have blown off my arms. This is what is happening to children.”

This is what happened to her childhood friend Kahlil, she said, who rode over a landmine on his bicycle – an accident that took both his legs.

This is why Ward, a member of the FANG Collective, organizes weekly actions in front of Textron’s world headquarters at 40 Westminster St. in downtown Providence.

Textron is the last North American manufacturer of cluster bombs, which are outlawed by 119 nations and the United Nations but not by the United States or Saudi Arabia. The US State Department buys cluster bombs from Textron and sells them to Saudi Arabia. Textron’s cluster bombs, by way of a Saudi-led military campaign, have been found in Yemen, where dozens of civilian deaths have been attributed to cluster bombs over the past year.

Global humanitarian groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recently called on Textron to stop making cluster bombs. Both have presented evidence that Textron’s cluster bombs malfunction more often than allowed by US trade law.

Peace activists in Providence have promised weekly actions in front of Textron’s downtown headquarters until the Rhode Island-based global conglomerate stops making cluster bombs. About 10 people attended the second weekly action on Wednesday afternoon, scheduled to coincide with Textron and other employees leaving work. Four Providence police officers stood watch as activists held signs and conversed with people walking by.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

The real measure of cluster bomb @Textron protests is not how many people show up but how many ppl are reached. A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

#PVD lawyer John Barton stopped by the anti @textron protest. And so did my brother (in background)!!

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

Sally Mendzela’s anti-Textron sign shows pictures of where cluster bomb profit comes from.

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

This is a real Israeli anti-personnel mine from Beirut from the 1980s. Pia Ward brought it to @textron protest.

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

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Anti-Textron actions to happen weekly in Providence, RI


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Pia Ward locked to Textron’s front door. (Photo by Steve Ahlquist)

There were two public protests – one that led to three arrests – last month at 40 Westminster Street in downtown Providence, corporate headquarters for Textron. The Rhode Island-based conglomerate was identified as Saudi Arabia’s source for cluster bombs and Saudi-led forces were accused of using the highly controversial and indiscriminate weapon, that 119 nations have outlawed but not the United States or Saudi Arabia, in its bloody conflict in Yemen.

Now that Human Rights Watch has evidence Textron-made cluster bombs were used in civilian-populated areas of Yemen, which would violate US trade law on cluster bombs, local peace activists say the protests will increase.

“We will be taking action targeting Textron once a week until they stop making cluster bombs,” according to a Facebook event promoting a protest this Thursday. “This week we’ll be demonstrating across the street with signs, banners, flyers.”

The protests are being organized by Pia Ward, who was arrested for chaining her neck to a front door at Textron at an action on April 21, the second public protest at Textron last month. She is a co-founder of FANG, Fighting Against Natural Gas, the group organizing protests against the proposed Burrillville power plant.

“This is just the first of many protests that will be occurring,” she wrote on Facebook. “I plan on having events that will not neccesitate anyone’s physical presence in Providence but will enable people across the US to participate.”

Ward lived in Lebanon as a teenager and her experience there inspired her to organize against Textron making weapons known to maim innocent civilians.

“In 1982, when I was 16 years old and living in Beirut, Lebanon, I had a friend who lost both legs when he accidentally rode his bicycle over an Israeli mine He was 12 years old,” she wrote. “His family was unable to afford to get him a wheelchair much less prosthetic legs. As a result, there wasn’t much he was able to do. In the morning he was carried down to the corner store where he spent his day playing pinball and in the evening carried back home again. This happened every day, 7 days a week. When I left Lebanon 5 years later, this was still the case. Still no wheelchair, still no prosthetic legs. His life had been reduced to pinball.”

The demonstration this week is scheduled for Thursday, 11am to 1pm. A spokesman for Textron declined to comment.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Human Rights Watch finds evidence of Textron cluster bomb in Yemen


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Focusing more sharply on Textron, a new Human Rights Watch report calls on the United States government and the Rhode Island-based conglomerate to stop selling cluster bombs. The report offers fresh evidence the Textron-made weapons – banned by 119 nations but not by the US – were used by Saudi Arabian forces in Yemen, injured civilians and malfunction more frequently than US trade law allows.

textron cluster bomb from yemen
“HRW staff photographed remnants from the attack showing markings indicating a manufacture date of July 2012 by Textron,” Human Rights Watch Arms Advocacy Director Mary Wareham told RI Future about this photo.

“The United States should cease its production and transfer of cluster munitions to conform with the widely accepted international ban on the weapons,” says the HRW report.  Textron spokesman David Sylvestre declined to comment.

Textron-made cluster bombs injured a woman and two children in December, 2015 and two civilians in April, 2015, according to the report. HRW documents six separate locations where unexploded cluster bombs were found, most recently in February of this year.

The report also contains new proof that Textron-made cluster bombs malfunction more often than US trade law allows. US export law prohibits the use of cluster bombs in populated areas and only allows the sale of cluster bombs that malfunction less than 1 percent of the time, a rate HRW says Textron’s cluster bombs have not complied with.

“Following multiple attacks in Yemen, it is now obvious that Sensor Fuzed Weapons are not the ‘reliable’ or ‘intelligent’ cluster munitions they have been promoted as,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the international coalition working to eradicate cluster munitions. “The US should cease production and transfer of these weapons following the evidence of their failures and their use in and near civilian areas and should join the international ban on cluster munitions.”

RI Future reporting on Textron and Rhode Island grassroots activism targeting Textron is cited in the HRW report.

In an RI Future article on February 24, 2016, a Textron spokesperson, David Sylvestre, asserted that the company cannot be held liable if the weapons are misused, reportedly stating: “We’re not in the plane dropping the bomb. If it was dropped in an area that is perhaps too close to a civilian population, that is not supposed to happen.” The report said that he affirmed that CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons are provided to the US military for delivery to foreign recipients, stating: “No company can put that on a boat and deliver it to a foreign government.”

Sylvestre described the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons as “intelligent” munitions and said: “They are not intended to target human beings at all…. They are made to target armored-vehicles.” None of the CBU-105 attacks documented by Human Rights Watch in Yemen have involved armored vehicles nor have any damaged or destroyed armored vehicles been documented at the strike locations.

During an April 19 demonstration at Textron’s corporate headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, Textron representatives apparently refused to receive a petition signed by more than 3,000 people calling on the company to cease its production of cluster munitions. Two days later, Rhode Island police arrested three activists who chained themselves to Textron’s front doors during a protest against the company’s production of cluster munitions.

 

Megan Burke, the director of the Cluster Munitions Coalition who participated in the April 19 demonstration outside of Textron headquarters in Providence, said in a news release, “The only way to ensure that no lives or limbs are claimed by cluster munitions in the future is to eliminate those weapons altogether. The United States should stop producing and exporting cluster munitions, and join the Convention.”

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Anti-cluster bomb activists arrested for chaining themselves to Textron building


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Peace activists chained themselves to Textron’s world headquarters in downtown Providence this morning, protesting the RI-based conglomerate’s role in supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

textron protest

Police arrested three activists who chained themselves to Textron’s front doors. Pia Ward, Mark Baumer and Lee Stewart used bike locks to chain themselves to Textron’s front entrances. They were handcuffed and placed in a van. An officer said they were being taken to the station to be processed.

piaward textron action“The climate change crisis demands that we end militarism and put those resources towards creating a better world for all, human and nonhuman alike,” said Ward in a prepared statement. “As a resident of Providence I don’t think we should accept a company like Textron who makes cluster bombs, kills civilians and profits off of death and conflict.”  said Mark Baumer. “Fighting for my humanity in a country that produces and sells cluster bombs that kill innocent people means rejecting personal complicity by taking action,” Stewart said.

Providence fire fighters unscrewed door handles to remove the activists. They had construction-grade grinders on hand in case that didn’t work. At least two police cruisers and four fire vehicles responded. The activists disrupted traffic at the intersection of Westminster and Weybossett streets for at least 30 minutes. The entrance to Textron was blocked for at least 15 minutes before police arrived.

textron actiontextron action police fire

Textron has come under what the activists called “intense scrutiny” for its role in supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch exposed in February that Saudi Arabia is using cluster bombs in areas populated by civilians in Yemen. Cluster bombs, which pose a danger to civilians, are banned by 119 countries but not by the United States. The US buys cluster bombs from Textron and sells them to Saudi Arabia.

RI Future was the first to report that Rhode Island-based Textron is involved in the growing international resistance to the US role in supplying Saudi Arabia with cluster bombs.

Senators Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, recently proposed new legislation that would halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said he is evaluating the bill.

According to Providence Police Commissioner Steve Pare the activists are charged with vandalism and malicious mischief. They will be released today. The activists asked that donations to support them be made here.

This post will be updated.

Steve Ahlquist contributed to this report.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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CODEPINK, peace groups join campaign against Textron cluster bombs


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img-petition-2Multiple peace groups are targeting Textron because the Rhode Island-based conglomerate provided cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia that were used in the conflict in Yemen, injuring civilians and contributing to a growing human rights catastrophe in the severely impoverished Middle Eastern nation.

CODEPINK, a female-organized anti-war group, the Cluster Munition Coalition, (ICBL-CMC) an international group that lobbies against cluster bombs, Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, and others plan to protest at Textron’s world headquarters in Providence, 40 Westminster St., on Monday at 4:30.

“The only beneficiaries of Endless War have been the huge military industrial complex,” according to a news release from the groups. Textron, according to the release, “produces many pieces of the war machine.”

After a Human Rights Watch report detailed the dangers posed by cluster bombs used by Saudi forces in Yemen, RI Future reported that local RI business Textron made and sold the cluster weapons in question. Textron is one of only four private businesses in the world that still makes cluster bombs, and the only one in North America  and recently sold cluster bombs to Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emerites, South Korea, India, Taiwan as well as Saudi Arabia.

Cluster bombs have been outlawed by 119 nations across the planet because of the indiscriminate harm they can cause to civilians during and after military conflicts. They are not banned by either the United States or Saudi Arabia.

“When these weapons are dropped, it is impossible to be sure they will not hit people’s homes or neighborhood. Each cluster munition contains many small submunitions- some of which do not explode when dropped,” said Megan Burk, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition, who will speak at Monday’s action. “These unexploded submunitions act as landmines.”

CODEPINK recently started a petition asking Textron to end production of cluster bombs.

“We, the undersigned, call on Textron Industries and CEO Scott C. Donnelly to immediately cease all sales of munitions to Saudi Arabia,” it says. “Textron’s munitions have been part of a campaign that has caused the death of 3,000 innocent Yemeni civilians. It’s time for this to stop. Please immediately cease all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia to ensure that your products are not used to commit further atrocities.”

After protesting at Textron, the group plans to deliver a copy of the petition to Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. Most of the delegation has spoken out against the use of cluster bombs.

“Cluster munitions pose an unacceptable danger to civilians,” said Congressman David Cicilline. “I’ve advocated for restricting the use of these weapons in the past, and I’ll continue working to limit the risk they pose to civilians.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, said, “Cluster bombs can take a terrible and lasting toll on civilians, which is why I’ve cosponsored legislation to restrict their use. I hope the Senate will take action on this bill to help protect innocent civilians from these dangerous weapons of war.”

Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, “has supported efforts to limit the sale and transfer of cluster munitions and to ensure the use of more precise technologies to protect civilians,” according to spokesman Chip Unruh.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Textron plays leading role in Middle East violence


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BOMB-CLUSTERS-630x400Last week, former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden told MSNBC’s Morning Joe panel that Americans “are not tolerant enough of collateral damage.” Hayden feels the American War Machine is too constrained by the conscience of ordinary Americans. His disgusting statement apparently does not apply to the Providence, Rhode Island-based Textron Corporation, who continue to manufacture and sell cluster munitions to other governments, who in turn use them indiscriminately in places like Yemen, Ukraine, Syria, and Sudan, to name a few.

Despite the American government’s claims that they no longer use cluster bombs, hard evidence suggests otherwise. Yemeni journalist Haider Shaye found “irrefutable proof” that a 2009 missile strike in Yemen was conducted by Americans. The American strike came shortly after Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It killed 35 Yemeni women and children, and left behind at least one unexploded cluster bomb. Not long after Shaye reported on his findings, he was jailed by the Yemeni puppet regime and held past his anticipated release date at Barack Obama’s direct behest.

Even if the American military’s use of cluster bombs had gone undiscovered by Shaye, their complicity in other governments’ use of cluster bombs indicts them all the same. The Pentagon spoon-feeds overseas arms contracts to firms like Textron, who are equally culpable in the death and destruction.

When cluster bombs are dropped, they open mid-air, releasing many hundreds of smaller bombs which blanket large swaths of targeted territories. Because many of these “submunitions” do not detonate even after landing, they remain a danger to local populations where children often pick them up and farmers step on them or drive over them. Sometimes, the clusters lie dormant for years, even decades, before being stumbled upon by unsuspecting victims who have limbs blown off or are seriously crippled or disfigured. That is, assuming they are lucky enough to survive the blasts at all.

Even with the well-known minefield that is now Laos, where locals still fall victim to cluster bombs some forty years after America’s Vietnam War, Textron seems unable to pass up the lucrative arms deals. One of Textron’s justifications for the continued production and sale of cluster bombs is that their new and improved technology has become so refined that only a mere one percent or less of all cluster bombs deployed will remain unexploded. This “one percent rule” is in keeping with Pentagon requirements on cluster munition production, under which Textron appears to take moral cover.

Textron’s Vice President of Business Development Mark Rafferty called the advances in cluster bomb technology “extremely sophisticated” and added, “knowing that we are in no way, shape or form contributing to [civilian suffering] is really a very satisfying place to be.” Despite these protestations, it’s hard to imagine Rafferty would volunteer his own children to play minesweeper in places like Yemen, where the local population aren’t exactly reassured by Textron’s one-percent-unexploded estimate.

The hypocrisy of the American government on this issue is thick enough to cut with a knife. In 2011, Hilary Clinton admonished the now-deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for his use of cluster bombs while her own soldiers covertly dropped them in the Middle East. It was one of the many human rights violations that Clinton cited as support for her tunnel-brained rampage in Libya. Clinton also failed to mention that the United States, like Libya, is one of the few countries to refuse to sign onto the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

On April 18, 2016 the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC-SENE) will stage a 4:30 PM protest outside of Textron’s world headquarters in downtown Providence. While the profits are likely too good for Textron to pay any regard to the protesters, perhaps a hit to their stock price will help them see more clearly the carnage they cause beyond America’s borders. If investors are comfortable continuing to finance Textron’s deadly operations, they should be aware that they are inviting blowback against themselves and other innocent Americans.

This post originally appeared on the website of the Center for a Stateless Society, a “left market anarchist think tank and media center.” Chad Nelson is a Providence resident and a senior editor with the Center for a Stateless Society.

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What US company made the bomb that killed 97 civilians in Yemen?


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General Dynamics, doing business as Electric Boat, announced last week it is building a $2.5 billion military submarine in Rhode Island. Good news for the state’s struggling economy, as defense contractors here are a major source of jobs, income and tax revenue.

“I couldn’t be more proud to have Electric Boat in our backyard,” Governor Gina Raimondo said at the submarine’s keel-laying ceremony.

hrwusbombsJust a few days later, New York Times foreign correspondent and former Providence Journal reporter CJ Chivers wrote this about what seems to be a different General Dynamics product. “A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition used bombs supplied by the United States in an attack on a market in Yemen last month that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children.”

If the bomb in question was made by General Dynamics, it would mark the second time a company with significant ties to Rhode Island has made a weapon that was used by Saudi Arabia against civilians in Yemen.

General Dynamics did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An arms expert for Human Rights Watch told RI Future he could not confirm the make of the bomb. “There wasn’t enough left of the bombs to determine when or where it was produced,” said Mark Hiznay. But here’s what we know:

“Remnants” of a GBU-31 satellite-guided bomb, were found at the bombed Yemeni market, according to this Human Rights Watch report. The guided bomb unit “consists of a US-supplied MK-84 2,000-pound bomb,” says the report. General Dynamics “is the only manufacturer of steel forged MK80 Series Bomb Bodies within the National Technology and Industrial Base which conform to the U.S. Department of Defense Technical Package” according to its website.

The weapon in question could be more than 40 years old, Hiznay said. But the United States still sells new versions of the bomb to the Saudis. In November, 2015 the State Department announced it was selling 1,000 GBU-31 bombs to Saudi Arabia, among many other weapons, for $1.29 billion. Human Rights Watch workers suspect the bomb used on March 15 in Yemen was from the 1970’s.

“The US remains a significant supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia,” according to a new report from the Stop Explosives Investment Campaign. “Licensing data for 2015 has not yet been made available, but during the year, the State Department approved six major arms sales to the country, collectively worth US$20.8bn.”

“Numerous human rights and peace organisations have campaigned over the past months to establish an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia,” Frank Slijper of PAX, a Dutch peace organization that is a leading voice on foreign arms sales, told RI Future via email. “When European arms appear to be used by a country for committing war crimes, stopping the arms trade to that country is the logical answer.”

In February, cluster bombs made by Rhode Island-based Textron were implicated for injuring civilians and high failure rates when used by Saudi-led forces in Yemen. The American Friends Service Committee of Southeastern New England plans to protest outside Textron’s headquarters in Providence on April 18.

General Dynamics is based in Newport News, Virginia and the division that makes the Mk-84 bomb is located in Florida, the weapons were manufactured in Texas. But General Dynamics has operated as Electric Boat, the company’s initial name going back to the early 1900’s, at Quonset since the early 1970’s. Based, in Groton, Conn., Electric Boat employs roughly 3,000 people in Rhode Island.

Both incidents have attracted local and international scrutiny to US companies involved in what President Eisenhower called the military industrial complex, an industry that looms large in the Ocean State.

“The Defense Sector plays a major role in the Rhode Island economy because of its unique ability to undertake large and small-scale basic and applied research and development projects and to push manufacturers to develop innovative products and revamp supply chains to meet production and/or distribution demands of civilian and military projects,” according to a 2014 legislative report on the defense sector in Rhode Island.

There are 32,900 jobs in Rhode Island, 6.2 percent of all jobs in the state, that are supported by the defense industry, according to the report.

About half of the defense-supported jobs in Rhode Island (roughly 16,000) are private sector positions. There are some 6,000 jobs directly working for defense contractors. Ship building, such as Electric Boat’s submarine contract, constitute about 47.7 percent of private defense employment in Rhode Island.

“In 2013, the Private Defense Industry contributed to the creation of $462.5 million in direct income for households in Rhode Island. In addition, the direct contribution of the Private Defense Industry to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated at $947.6 million,” the report says.

The defense industry is responsible for more than $100 million in annual taxes, the report says. The average annual salary in Rhode Island’s private sector defense industry is $72,361 while the average salary for education and health services is $37,000 and the average salary in tourism and leisure is $18,000, according to the report.

defensejobs_riMeanwhile, the fruits of economic development from the US military industrial complex, whether directly or indirectly, is causing a human rights catastrophe in Yemen that could be aiding al Qaeda in the highly impoverished African nation.

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Quaker group to protest Textron for selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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cluster bombAs Saudi Arabian airstrikes threaten to cause a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the American Friends Service Committee of Southeastern New England is planning to protest Textron outside the company’s headquarters in Providence.

“We will gather at 4:30pm with the long budget banner and signs addressing the use of Textron-made cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and a call for our taxes to be invested in addressing human needs not militarization,” according to a notice from AFSC-SENE, a Quaker organization that advocates for peace and justice.

The action – scheduled for April 18 at 4:30 outside of the Textron building, 40 Westminster St. – comes on the heels of RI Future exposing Rhode Island-based Textron’s role in Saudi Arabian military actions in Yemen, which is increasingly becoming a flashpoint for global human rights activists.

In February, Human Rights Watch criticized Saudi Arabia for its use of cluster munitions against Yemen. The report details civilian injuries and calls out the Textron-made bomb for malfunctioning more than 1 percent of the time – a violation of US trade policy. Last week, the World Health Organization said 6,200 people have died since the conflict began in March of last year and more than 30,000 were injured. The United Nations said this week more than 900 children have been killed since the conflict began, more than seven times more than the previous year.

A New York Times report yesterday said the Saudi led airstrikes threaten to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries” and listed cluster bombs as a contributing factor. “In addition to airstrikes, civilians must contend with hazards posed by unexploded bombs and cluster munitions dropped by the Saudi coalition.”

There are 118 nations that officially condemn the use of cluster bombs. The United States and Saudi Arabia are not among them.

The April 18 protest will include delivering letters to senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of whom expressed to RI Future a desire to better address the use of cluster bombs. Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, which would add regulations to the use and sale of cluster bombs. The US already imposes some restrictions on the use and sale of cluster bombs. Textron is the only American company that makes cluster bombs, though there is at least one other company that makes a component of Textron’s cluster bomb.

“Shortly after we gather we will send someone to Senator Whitehouse’s and Senator Reed’s offices with a letter asking them to at the very least support the People’s Budget and to vote against a budget that spends war on militarism than all other things put together,” said the AFSC-SENE announcement. “We will also have a letter calling on Textron to stop the manufacture of these weapons.”

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Textron sold cluster bombs to 7 foreign governments


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cluster bomb reportRhode Island-based Textron sold cluster bombs to seven foreign nations since 2004, according to a report from PAX, a peace group that is part of a global initiative to end the production and use of these increasingly controversial air-to-armored vehicle weapon of war.

Textron’s cluster bomb, the only such weapon still made in North America, was recently featured in a Human Rights Watch report condemning the use. The report says Textron’s product malfunction more than 1 percent of the time, which would be a violation of US export law pertaining to the sale of cluster munitions to foreign governments. The HRW report tells of civilian injuries from errant cluster bomb projectiles during Saudi-led military raids on Yemen. Saudi Arabia purchased the cluster bombs from Textron, via the US military.

The 2014 Worldwide Investment in Cluster Munitions report says the longtime Rhode Island conglomerate has sold cluster bombs to: Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emerites, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.

About half of the cluster bombs Textron produces are sold to foreign governments, Textron spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future. The report, citing the company’s 2013 factbook, says Textron has sold more than 7,400 of the cluster bombs to the US Air force and foreign governments. “It’s an important program for us,” Sylvestre said.

It’s an important program of a different kind for PAX and the Cluster Munitions Project. “Textron is included on the red flag list because there is sufficient evidence that the company has produced the SFW after May 2008,” says the report. “The company has not stated publicly that it will end its involvement in the coming 12 months.”

The 200 page report devoted to private sector cluster bomb industry has one-page a section about Textron under the chapter “Hall of Shame: Financial Involvement and Investments.” Textron is on the “red flag” list – the seven companies most responsible for the continued production of cluster bombs. There are only two American companies on the red flag list: Textron and ATK, which was included because it makes a component of the Textron cluster bomb. Like Textron, ATK has a diverse portfolio. It makes military grade defense weapons, firearms for civilians, ammunition, stand up paddle boards, Bolle sunglasses and Camelbak water bottles. Textron also makes Cessna airplanes Bell helicopters, golf carts, gas tanks and power tools.

Textron is a longtime Rhode Island-based company with about 300 employees in the Ocean State and more than 34,000 across the globe.

Sylvestre told RI Future military products, made by subsidiary Textron Systems, represents about 11 percent of Textron’s total revenues. DefenseNews lists Textron as the 17th largest military contractor in the world, with $4.179 billion in defense revenue in 2014. It says 34 percent of the company’s revenue comes from military contracts.

Three of four members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation has responded for comment about America’s continued role in cluster bomb use and production. Much of Europe, Canada and 118 total nations have already banned the use of cluster bombs. The United States has not but has committed to curtailing their use and danger.

“Cluster munitions pose an unacceptable danger to civilians,” said Congressman David Cicilline. “I’ve advocated for restricting the use of these weapons in the past, and I’ll continue working to limit the risk they pose to civilians.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, said, “Cluster bombs can take a terrible and lasting toll on civilians, which is why I’ve cosponsored legislation to restrict their use. I hope the Senate will take action on this bill to help protect innocent civilians from these dangerous weapons of war.”

Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, “has supported efforts to limit the sale and transfer of cluster munitions and to ensure the use of more precise technologies to protect civilians,” according to spokesman Chip Unruh.

Read our full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Textron still makes cluster bombs despite downward global, US trends


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CMC_production_2015_FinalRhode Island-based Textron is one of four private-companies on earth, and the last North American producer, to manufacture what is quickly becoming one of the world’s most controversial weapons of war: cluster bombs.

“The cluster munition industry is gone because many nations have banned the weapon,” said Mark Hiznay, a senior arms researcher for Human Rights Watch.

“Most foreign producers are state-owned industries,” he said, such as China and Russia. In addition to Textron he knows of only three other privately-held companies in the world that still make cluster bombs, two are in South Korea and one is in Singapore.

Human Rights Watch recently released a report criticizing the failure rate of Textron-made cluster bombs and accused Saudi Arabian-led forces in Yemen of using them dangerously close to civilians.

CMC_TreatyStatus_2015_FinalAt one time 34 different nations made cluster bombs but now only 16 still do, or reserve the right to, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor, an annual report of the sale, use of and efforts to ban cluster bombs. 119 countries have banned them. Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and England, among others, have already destroyed their entire stockpiles, Hiznay said.

The United States, on the other hand, has not signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Bombs treaty. In 2003, the US military used Textron-made cluster bombs against Iraqi tanks as it advanced on Kirkuk.

Both of Rhode Island’s senators say they see the need to curtail the use of cluster bombs.

“Senator Reed has supported efforts to limit the sale and transfer of cluster munitions and to ensure the use of more precise technologies to protect civilians,” said his spokesman Chip Unruh.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is a co-signer of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act. “Cluster bombs can take a terrible and lasting toll on civilians, which is why I’ve cosponsored legislation to restrict their use,” he told RI Future. “I hope the Senate will take action on this bill to help protect innocent civilians from these dangerous weapons of war.”

The House-version of this bill is sponsored by Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, who represents the Worcester area. Congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin could not be reached for comment.

cluster bombThe Textron-made bomb – the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon – is at the center of a new Human Rights Watch report that indicates the weapon malfunctions more than 1 percent of the time, a violation of US export law, and accuses the Saudi Arabian-led forces in Yemen of using the weapon dangerously close to civilian populations which has resulted in several documented injuries.

“It’s puzzling to us that Textron is marketing this as a reliable weapon,” Hiznay said. “We’re not sure if it’s Textron’s problem or the Saudis’ problem, but we’ve had the US Air Force use them in Iraq and produce duds and now we have Saudi forces using them and producing duds in Yemen.”

US export law requires cluster bombs sold to foreign countries to malfunction less than 1 percent of the time, a success rate Human Rights Watch says the Textron-made bomb has not achieved. A 2008 Department of Defense Directive, the current prevailing US policy on the use of cluster bombs, requires the US military to only use cluster bombs with similar success rates.

“Most of the SFW’s have been sold to the US Air Force,” said Textron spokesman David Sylvestre in an email. “Comparatively few have been sold to US allies.” He declined further comment about the sale of weapons saying, “Much of the data about what we sell to a particular military customer may be considered protected or classified info by the US government or the customer.”

According to a 2011 Department of Defense news release, Textron was contacted to sell 404 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia for $355 million. In 2012, Textron was contracted to sell 325 cluster bombs to South Korea for $325 million. The US last put aside funds to buy cluster bombs from Textron in 2007, said Hiznay, but didn’t make the buy after the weapons malfunctioned more than 1 percent of the time.

“We believe that SFW is truly the best area attack weapon in the world,” said Ellen Lord, senior vice president and general manager of Textron Defense Systems. “Through a process of rigorous research, testing and analysis, we have created a weapon that is reliable, safe and meets current clean battlefield standards.” 

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Human Rights Watch condemns use of Textron-made cluster bombs


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cluster bombRhode Island-based Textron sold to Saudi Arabia cluster bombs that, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, “are being used in civilian areas contrary to US export requirements and also appear to be failing to meet the reliability standard required for US export of the weapons.”

The CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons produced by Textron, according to HRW, have been deployed dangerously close to civilian populations as Saudi-led military strikes have targeted Yemen in 2015 and 2016. According to a recent New York Times story, “If confirmed, the report could put new pressure on the United States over support for its ally Saudi Arabia in the Yemen conflict.”

The report alleges several Yemeni civilians have been injured by malfunctioning cluster bombs. HRW and 118 nations oppose any use of cluster bombs in general, but the report says these weapons in particular are malfunctioning.

“While any use of any type of cluster munition should be condemned, there are two additional disturbing aspects to the use of CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons in Yemen,” says the report. “First, US export law prohibits recipients of cluster munitions from using them in populated areas, as the Saudi coalition has clearly been doing. Second, US export law only allows the transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of less than 1 percent. But it appears that Sensor Fuzed Weapons used in Yemen are not functioning in ways that meet that reliability standard.”

Textron spokesman David Sylvestre confirmed that Textron produced the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons.

The bombs passed rigorous inspection before being handed over to the US military for delivery to Saudi Arabia. “No company can put that on a boat and deliver it to a foreign government,” he said, noting that Textron can’t be held liable if the weapon was misused. “We’re not in the plane dropping the bomb. If it was dropped in an area that is perhaps too close to a civilian population, that is not supposed to happen.”

Sylvestre made a point to differentiate the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons from what he called “Vietnam-era cluster bombs.” The modern version are “intelligent” and only target tanks, he said. “They are not intended to target human beings at all,” he said. “They are made to target armored-vehicles.”

About half of the weapons Textron produces are sold to governments other than the United States, said Sylvestre. He did not know how much business Textron does with Saudi Arabia, or how much it paid for the Sensor Fuzed Weapons. A recent report from the Congressional Research Service says Saudi Arabia spent more than $100 billion since 2010 on US military equipment and training.

“It’s an important program for us,” Sylvestre said.

Headquartered in Providence, Textron employs about 300 people in Rhode Island and has more than 34,000 employees across the globe. The cluster bombs were most likely assembled in Oklahoma while individual parts might be manufactured elsewhere, according to Sylvestre. Textron Systems, a division of Textron Inc. headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, is responsible for the military products, which represent about 11 percent of Textron’s total revenue, Sylvestre said. The company also makes Cessna airplanes, Bell helicopters, golf carts, gas tanks and power tools, among other products. At one time, it owned Gorham, Speidel and A.T. Cross – themselves iconic Rhode Island companies.

Textron started as the Special Yarns Company in Boston in 1923 and the current name is an amalgamation of two early subsidiaries. Sylvestre said Textron first got into the defense industry by manufacturing rip cords used on US military parachutes.

Company founder Royal Little, who lived in a mansion near the town beach in Narragansett, was “the inventor of the modern conglomerate,” according to his obituary in the New York Times.

“Mr. Little made industrial history by taking Textron Inc., which was deeply rooted in the textile industry, and grafting onto it a thicket of small companies that turned out diverse products like ball bearings, gas meters, golf carts, helicopters, metal-working machines, radar antennas, screws and snowmobiles,” says his obituary. “Mr. Little’s skill at acquisitions so outshone those of his competitors that he became famous, as Dun’s Review put it, as ‘the man who started the whole conglomerate movement.'”

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RI congressional delegation shows no leadership on Middle East


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middle-eastDo RI Future readers have any idea of what is happening the Middle East? Have you heard enough from congressmen Cicilline or Langevin or senators Reed or Whitehouse on the Middle East turmoil and US policy? Have you heard anything from them on the nuclear treaty with Iran,  which the entire Congress will soon vote on. Such a big issue and nothing but silence from our delegation.

I haven’t heard anything, but I would like something.

Why are we supporting the incessant Saudi bombing of Yemen by supplying the Saudis with the weapons, bombs, and intelligence used to kill thousands of innocents and destroyed their entire infrastructure? Why are we now cozying up to al-Qaeda in Syria and supporting groups who were formerly labeled as “terrorist” groups. I am sure most readers do not have a clue as to what we are doing and why we are doing it.

Where are representatives Cicilline and Langevin and senators Reed and Whitehouse on these issues? Nothing but silence from them, and I find their silence deafening. Shouldn’t “leaders” be holding town meetings with voters to explain the happenings, and to answer the many questions voters may have?

I call upon our congressional delegation to be “leaders” and come to us in town meetings with an explanation. Don’t be afraid; we won’t bite.  It is amazing; they spend millions to gain a position of leadership then are afraid to lead. Show us some leadership and courage, for a change.

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Twitter in Politics; Cicilline Responds to Tweets Today


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There’s no deficit of copy dedicated to how Twitter is changing politics, such as this New York Times story from Sunday about how the micro-blogging social network platform has spawned “a revolution of sorts” in Saudi Arabia.

Twitter helped me to point out to WPRO morning host Andrew Gobeil that he neglected to mention the poll he was interviewing Barry Hinckley about was performed by a partisan pollster. Gobeil, to his credit, took ownership of the oversight and, I’m assuming, corrected it on the air. Here’s a small sample from our exchange (for the whole conversation, click here):

 

The left in Rhode Island should use Twitter more for this kind of stuff … spreading the progressive gospel, pointing out media bias, discrediting conservative spin, sharing news stories we think our important to the local debate, etc…

And here’s another way progressives are using Twitter:

U.S. Congressman David Cicilline will host a Twitter Town Hall focused on issues important to younger voters. TODAY, at 5:30 PM, at the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, Roger Williams University Library (1st Floor), 1 Old Ferry Road, Bristol, Rhode Island.  The Town Hall will take part during Cicilline’s participation in the Roger Williams University Department of Politics and International Relations’ Coffee and Politics series. Students attending the meeting will have the opportunity to ask Cicilline questions, and Rhode Islanders on Twitter can also use the hashtag #TalktoDavid to submit questions at any point before the event.  Cicilline will be available to press following the discussion.

His Twitter handle his @DavidCicilline.

Mine, in case you were wondering, is @bobplain … or you can follow @RIFuture to just get all of our posts (which you can do by following me, too)