According to the Associated Press, a couple from Saudi Arabia tortured their Sri Lankan domestic servant maid by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead after she complained of a heavy workload. This type of behavior is apparently not unusual for a population in Saudi Arabia that employs a large amount of domestic servants due to the wealth created by the sale of their oil to the United States and other countries. Making this kind of story more disturbing is the fact that the U.S. military, American tax payer and the American government, protects and enables a repressive government to remain in power in Saudi Arabia by selling the Saudi Royal family billions of dollars of weapons and military training. This kind of military and political support to Saudi Arabia contradicts the ideals of democracy and freedom our country was founded upon, and with each additional weapons contract, America loses more political capital as it tries to denounce other repressive regimes like Iran and North Korea.
First reported by Bloomberg News on August 13, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will buy 72 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from United Technologies estimated to be worth over $30 billion. In addition to the $30 billion for United Technologies, the top three leading defense industry conglomerates Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman will also be awarded an additional $30 billion for 84 F-15E fighter jets, munitions and electronic equipment. Although this sale will undoubtedly be celebrated by local politicians in Connecticut, Texas and Pennsylvania when the news is officially released in September, when the campaign season kicks into high gear, it is disheartening that one of the sole remaining bright spots in American manufacturing and products that America exports to the world, is related to politically connected defense corporations celebrating deals with repressive governments like Saudi Arabia.
Many United Technology employees who will celebrate the lucrative contract to build 72 UH-60 Blackhawk’s for Saudi Arabia, and an overwhelming majority of Americans, do not realize that the government of Saudi Arabia is made up an Islamic fundamentalist government that treats women as inferior human beings. While most people may know that women cannot drive a car, not many people know that it is illegal to bring a Bible into Saudi Arabia and that the laws of the country are based on the Koran. In addition to scoring as one of the most repressive regimes in the world by the Economist Magazine's Intelligence Unit World Democracy Ranking in 2008, Saudi Arabia is also one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom, human rights and corruption. Celebrating a business deal that will enable a repressive regime to remain in power contradicts the ideals of democracy and freedom our country was founded upon.
Since the end of the Cold War, instead of diversifying their product line over the last 20 years, Sikorsky Aircraft continues to rely on government contracts to sustain the local work force. It would be far more productive for Connecticut and the entire American economy if United Technologies and other companies like General Electric combined their resources to build products for the world economy such as light-rail transportation systems, high-speed trains and wind turbines, instead of weapons for repressive governments. It is a commonly accepted economic principle that defense spending is a direct drain on the economy, reducing efficiency, slowing growth and costing jobs. It means that the government is pulling away resources from the uses determined by the market and is instead using them to buy weapons and to pay for soldiers and other military personnel.
Rather than pursuing a flawed national security policy based on energy security through military protection for a finite natural resource, Connecticut voters should demand their representatives in Washington offer Sikorsky and General Electric tax incentives to build products that would be in demand in a post-fossil-fuel world economy. American companies could export to the world, and help to rebuild America's crumbling national infrastructure. Instead of rebuilding Baghdad and Kabul and transporting highly paid mercenary soldiers around the country in Black Hawk helicopters powered by General Electric engines, new mass rail transportation products by United Technologies would enable all Americans to use products bought by their taxpayer dollars, instead of only the relatively few Americans connected to the national security state apparatus who currently use them.
Tea Party supporters, fiscally conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats, all give the Pentagon a huge pass in their anti-big-government political rhetoric. Relying on military contracts for business growth and using political connections to increase the corporate bottom line is what political scientists call corporatism or, the more widely used term, corporate welfare. Making this case of corporate welfare even more disturbing is the fact that it will allow a repressive regime in Saudi Arabia to remain in power, violating many of the ideals and principles Americans value.
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