Tuesday, September 9, 2008

war

* Military recruiters have been welcomed back with open arms throughout Harvard University in the last year, with recruiters getting access to students' emails and addresses, making special appearances at First-Year Activities Fairs, and holding Commissioning Ceremonies every year.

* Every military recruiter on campus violates Harvard's own anti-discrimination clause, which states that the university is committed to operating “without discrimination against individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity…” and “expects that all employers will act in compliance with this non-discrimination policy.”

* In recent years, Harvard has invited recruiters, not just from the Army, Air Force & Marine Corps, but from the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Department of Homeland Security, to career forums and other events hosted by the Office of Career Services.

* Harvard has long been in bed with the C.I.A. Professors like Ernest May were paid for open research for the C.I.A. in the 80s, while others like Samuel Huntington were found to be conducting secret research on its payroll. There is no evidence that such research has ended.

* The C.I.A. has been implicated in the use of torture (“enhanced interrogation techniques”) against prisoners illegally detained in Iraq and in secret prisons in Europe, in the kidnapping, assassination, and “extraordinary rendition” of Muslims around the world, and in historical assistance for everyone from Latin American death squads to the founders of Al Qaeda.

* The National Security Agency has been found to be tapping the phones of U.S. citizens without warrants. The Department of Homeland Security includes Immigration Enforcement, which holds hundreds of thousands of immigrants in detention camps, and Federal Emergency Management, famed for sitting on its hands during Hurricane Katrina while 1,800 people died.

(Sources: The Harvard Crimson, Office of Career Services, and www.cia-on-campus.org)

Contracting with the Pentagon:

Harvard received a total of $1.07 million in contracts from the Department of Defense in 2005.

* The University was paid $238,000 for “tuition, registration, and membership fees.”

* The College got four contracts worth $172,000 for “technical assistance” and “other professional services” (undisclosed) for 2005.

* The Kennedy School of Government got $486,000 for “training” programs in 2005.

* In 2004, Harvard Business School alone received five contracts worth $1.26 million.

* Little else is known about what kind of services the university is now offering the Pentagon.

(Sources: U.S. Department of Defense and www.governmentcontractswon.com)

Investing in War Profiteers:

* Harvard has $36.3 million invested in General Electric (G.E.), which makes billions in profits from building nuclear reactors and jet engines for use in bombers and other military machinery.

* $7 million is invested in Boeing, which profits from selling the military planes and helicopters, overseeing “missile defense” programs, and building “joint direct attack munitions” which regularly miss their targets, taking the lives of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

* $6.2 million is invested in United Technologies (a.k.a. Sikorsky), which makes its billions of dollars in profits from military helicopters, engines and missile systems that have inspired terror in civilians from Iraq to Lebanon, Somalia to Colombia and beyond.

* $3.7 million is invested in Halliburton, the oil giant which in one year procured $8 billion in profits from its military enterprises in Iraq. Its contracts soared 600% under the administration of Bush and Cheney, who served as its CEO and still gets millions of dollars from its profits.

(Sources: U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and www.opensecrets.org)

No comments: