John Kerry’s War: Syrian Strike Means Big Money for lawmakers

4 hours ago | International, Politics, US | Posted by Joshua Cook

The Department of Defense’s missile and munitions budget is $9.2 billion so a missile strike on Syria means a big payout for defense companies like Raytheon and Boeing.

According to DefenseNews.com, the planned Syria strike wouldn’t be cheap. “A cruise missile strike against Syria could cost the Pentagon hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons,” according to experts and government documents.
A report by the Department of Defense states that the unit cost of a Tomahawk tactical missile costs $1.5 million.

Barak Obama, the Nobel Peace prize winning president just added the Syrian people to his kill list this summer and it is a defense contractor’s dream come true. Wall Street has rewarded their lobbying efforts with a positive uptick.

For example, according to Reuters, Raytheon generates more of its revenues overseas than any other large U.S. weapons maker. It has forecast a 20-percent increase in foreign bookings in 2013.

Congress loves the defense industry too because of their lobbying efforts and campaign contributions.

The defense sector’s biggest companies include Center for Responsive Politics “Heavy Hitters” Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics, as well as Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

One of the major recipients of the defense sector campaign contributions went to Sen. John Kerry (D) who was confirmed Secretary of State on Jan 29, 2013.

Recently, Kerry went to the Middle East and praised a $2.1 billion Raytheon deal in Oman.

Kerry thanked them for their decision to buy the ground-based air defense system from the Massachusetts company. “We’re very excited about that and very grateful for your confidence in Raytheon,” Kerry said.

According to Reuters, “an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the $2.1 billion deal included these elements – which are being funded with the help of U.S. government financing – as well as other items that Oman is buying directly from the arms maker.”

On January 8, 2013, Kerry pledged to sell stocks that would be considered a conflict of interest. This included his Raytheon stock. See document

However, according to Legistorm.com, Kerry’s most recent statement does not list Raytheon shares as being sold according to the February 8, 2013 financial disclosure. See document here.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) certifies that government officials comply with these pledges, however, no report on Kerry has been published on their website. No one from the OGE has responded to our request as of this publication to show proof that he sold those particular stocks.

The Middle East crisis means lucrative business opportunities for defense contractors, and the demand never seems to end.

The U.S. taxpayer gives $50 billion dollars to foreign aid a year and most of this goes into the pockets of defense contractors who in return fund both political Parties in America through aggressive lobbying efforts.

For the rest of world, the real “shock and awe” is observing the indifference of Americans who lack the courage and political will to end this vicious cycle.