[News] Canadian Bullets, Dead Iraqis

[News at freedomarchives.org]

<http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/30644.php>http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/09/30644.php

Canadian Bullets, Dead Iraqis

With up to 13,802 Iraqi civilian deaths to date, Canadians will now be 
providing one of the most basic necessities for the US occupation forces in 
Iraq: bullets. The Canadian company SNC Technologies Inc. (SNC TEC) is now 
part of a multinational consortium of small-caliber ammunition producers 
whose purpose is to supply between 300 million -500 million more bullets to 
occupation forces per year, and potentially for at least five years.

Beyond Canada, General Dynamics, the US defence contractor, also awarded 
contracts to several small bullet suppliers - including Winchester, a unit 
of Olin Corporation and Israel Military Industries. Their also in 
discussion with several other international producers, including General 
Dynamics Santa Barbara Sistemas, Madrid, Spain in an effort to try to meet 
the ammunitions demand. Michael S. Wilson, president of General Dynamics 
Ordnance and Tactical Systems, said,"Our goal is to ensure maximum supply 
support for the U.S. armed forces in their war against terror."

The high demand in bullets is in response to a recent U.S. Army market 
survey for a "Small-Caliber Ammunition Systems Integrator". The Financial 
Times reports that the US occupation forces "will need 300m to 500m more 
bullets a year for at least five years, or more than 1.5m a year for combat 
and training. And because the single army-owned, small-calibre ammunition 
factory in Lake City, Missouri, can produce only 1.2m bullets annually, the 
army is suddenly scrambling to get private defence contractors to help fill 
the gap."

"We're using so much ammunition in Iraq there isn't enough capacity 
around," said Eric Hugel, a defence industry analyst at Sephens Inc. "They 
have to go internationally."

The Financial Times also reports that the "bullet problem has its roots in 
a Pentagon effort to restock its depleted war material reserve. But it has 
been exacerbated by the ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where 
rearguard and supply units have been thinly-stretched throughout the 
countryside, occasionally without active duty combat soldiers to protect 
them."

Recently rejuvenated after the historic demonstrations in New York, where 
half a million people were unified in saying "No to the Bush agenda", a 
campaign focusing on these contracts could have a direct effect on saving 
the lives of Iraqis, and give traction to an again waking anti-war 
movement. For the international anti-war movement, which is struggling to 
live up to it's reputation as "the other super power", such contracts could 
provide important anti-war campaigns in our own nations, raising the social 
costs for the US, and other complicit countries, in waging war on Iraq. For 
Canada, long in denial about it's active participation in the US war on 
terror, the SNC Technologies contract should highlight the fact that Canada 
has not only provided previous military and diplomatic support for the war 
on terror, but is now literally, without doubt, providing the ammunition to 
kill Iraqis.

As for the general structure of the contracts, General Dynamics reports 
that they will serve as the systems integrator responsible for supply chain 
management, with Winchester serving as a principal supplier of all calibers 
of ammunition, including 5.56mm, 7.62mm and Cal. 50 ammunitions. Israel 
Military Industries Ltd. currently produces ammunition to U.S. military 
specifications for each of the calibers being sought and will be relied 
upon to be a significant production partner on the team. SNC will also be a 
critical provider of select ammunition across all calibers being sought.

For Canadians interested in SNC Technologies Inc., they are a developer and 
manufacturer of ammunitions and related defence products. Headquartered in 
Le Gardeur, Québec, their web site boasts of annual revenues of more than $ 
266 million(CAD).

SNC TEC is the sole Canadian producer of military ammunition and produces 
over 70% of conventional military ammunition used by the Canadian 
Department of National Defence. In addition, the company is also a current 
supplier to the Department of Defense of the United States for both small 
and large caliber products. Internationally, SNC TEC provides conventional 
ammunition, or components, to a large number of other countries across 
Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, as well as Australia and New Zealand 
(according to their web site, these include Belgium, Denmark, France, 
Holland, Greece, Italy, Sweden, the UK, UAE, Oman, Jordan and Kuwait, Hong 
Kong, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines).

The company is wholly owned by the SNC-Lavalin Group. "The SNC Group, which 
began as a small engineering consulting firm in 1911, grew over the years 
into a leading group of engineering and construction companies. In 1992, it 
merged Lavalin engineering firm to form the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc."

SNC-Lavalin Group has offices across Canada, in 30 other countries around 
the world, and are currently working in some 100 countries. SNC-Lavalin has 
annual revenues of about $ 3.3 billion (CAD). The Corporate headquarters 
are located in Montréal at :

455 René-Lévesque Blvd. West Montreal, Quebec Canada H2Z 1Z3 Telephone : 
(514) 393-1000 Fax : (514) 866-0795 Email : 
<mailto:info at snclavalin.com>info at snclavalin.com

Chris Spannos volunteers for ZNet, Vancouver Co-operative Radio and the 
Vancouver Participatory Economics Collective

<http://resist.ca/story/2004/9/12/11757/9360>http://resist.ca/story/2004/9/12/11757/9360


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20040915/283be572/attachment.htm>