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1/ Please read this THREAD - the wild story of the reclusive Blue brothers, who are about to make $3 BILLION from the UAE arms sales.
I wrote about them in my book, The Violence Inside Us. An example of how profits, not U.S. security interests, often dictate U.S. arms policy.
I wrote about them in my book, The Violence Inside Us. An example of how profits, not U.S. security interests, often dictate U.S. arms policy.
2/ As Yale students, the Blue brothers made the cover of Life Magazine, recounting the story of a daredevil adventure flying a small plane from New Haven to Columbia, and along the way befriended the brutal Somoza regime in Nicaragua.
3/ After college, Linden and Neal went into business with the dictator, running their plantations. Then they took over a small uranium company, General Atomics (GA), and got into trouble by keeping a processing facility open that was contaminating the local water.
4/ Back in Nicaragua, the Somozas were out of power, defeated by the Sandanistas, and the Blues were out for revenge.
They (and the Reagan Admin) backed the Contras against the Sandanistas, and got the idea for a drone equipped w bombs to be used by the Contras.
They (and the Reagan Admin) backed the Contras against the Sandanistas, and got the idea for a drone equipped w bombs to be used by the Contras.
5/ GA developed the Predator drone, but the Reagan Admin wasn't interested.
So the Blues hired tons of lobbyists, and started writing huge campaign checks and giving lavish trips to Republican Congressmen. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-atomics-top-corporate-trip-giver-for-congress
So the Blues hired tons of lobbyists, and started writing huge campaign checks and giving lavish trips to Republican Congressmen. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-atomics-top-corporate-trip-giver-for-congress
6/ The investment worked. Soon, Congress started ordering the drones. GA's biggest booster on the House Appropriations Committee was Duke Cunningham, who went to jail for taking bribes from defense contractors. https://www.vice.com/en/article/z44k3w/sandroneii
7/ The problem was, evidence suggests the Reagan era skeptics were rights. For instance, in the areas we conducted drone strikes in Pakistan from 2006-2012, terrorist activity increased, not decreased. Drone strikes just ramped up anti-American sentiment and extremist recruiting.
8/ And the Blue brothers' drones usually kill the wrong people. One study from drone usage in 2012-2013 in Afghanistan suggests drones hit the right target only 10% of the time. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-attack-drones/u-s-drone-strike-kills-30-pine-nut-farm-workers-in-afghanistan-idUSKBN1W40NW
9/ Prior to the Trump Admin, the U.S. refused to sell Reaper drones (the successor to the Predator) to foreign governments. But the Blue brothers put their lobbying machine into motion, and got Trump to override the ban. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/us/politics/trump-arms-sales-drones.html
10/ Now, the U.S. is on the verge of minting the Blues $3 billion by selling Reapers to the UAE, despite scant evidence these drones make the world safer, and a history of the UAE using U.S. military equipment in violation of both U.S. and international law.
11/ The story of the Blue brothers is a prime example of how the interests of defense contractors, not the actual security interests of the United States, too often guide our defense spending and our arms sales policy.
A cautionary tale for the incoming Biden team.
A cautionary tale for the incoming Biden team.
