SYRIAN CONFLICT: LUCRATIVE FOR US DEFENSE INDUSTRY

<h2 class="article-main-title" id="header-title" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">THE ONE GRAPH THAT SUMS UP WHY TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK ON SYRIA </span></span></h2><h2 class="article-main-title" id="header-title" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">By Chris Miles via Policymic</span> </span></span></h2><br /><div class="article-photo-container"><img alt="the, one, graph, that, sums, up, why, were, going, to, war, with, syria, " class="photo-image-article-main" height="401" src="http://media1.policymic.com/site/articles/61599/1_photo.jpg" title="the, one, graph, that, sums, up, why, were, going, to, war, with, syria, " width="640" /> <br /><div class="landscape-caption"><br /></div></div><div class="article-photo-container"><br /></div><div class="article-photo-container"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring wrote on 28 Aug 2013:</span></b></span></i></div><div class="article-photo-container"></div><div class="article-photo-container"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"With short surgical missile strikes the USA saves its face by sticking to its threat; mainstream media on the other hand has its action extravaganza, portraying the intervention in an inflated way in order to continue the propaganda-media war which has raged in SYRIA since the beginning of the uprising and <span style="background-color: yellow;">last but not least the weapons industry will also be a benefit, for the uprising in SYRIA</span> will continue for quite some time."</span></i></div><div class="article-photo-container"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Read entire article at:  </span></i></div><div class="article-photo-container"><i><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/us-military-intervention-in-syrian.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/08/us-military-intervention-in-syrian.html</a></i></div><div class="article-photo-container"><br /></div><div class="fb-like fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/PolicyMic" data-send="false" data-show-faces="false" data-width="450"><span style="height: 24px; width: 450px;"></span></div><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;">If ever there was a sign of the military industrial complex in America, this graph is it.</span></span><br /><br />Reports that the United States is very near to launching an attack against Syria to punish Damascus for the use of chemical weapons sent <span style="color: #cc0000;">Raytheon’s</span> stock price to a 52-week high this week.<br />Who is <span style="color: #cc0000;">Raytheon</span>? The manufacturer of the BGM-109, more commonly known as the Tomahawk missile, the weapon of choice of the Obama administration in any strike against Syria.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">Raytheon</span> <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=RTN+Interactive#symbol=rtn;range=20130628,20130828;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;" style="line-height: 1.5em;" target="_blank">stock has surged</a> over the past two months, coinciding with the biggest U.S. military build-up America has mounted since it launched an assault against Libya in 2011.<br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">Raytheon</span> is a Cambridge, Mass.,-based American defense contractor with total employment of 72,400 people. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of guided missiles and produces such widely used weapons as the AIM-7 Sparrow missile, the <a class="kLink" href="http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/02/28/ten-companies-profiting-most-from-war/2/" id="KonaLink4" style="line-height: 1.5em;" target="_blank">AIM</a>-9 Sidewinder missile and the BGM-109 Tomahawk. The company is also responsible for the Air Warfare Simulation program used by the Air Force. According to the <a href="http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/02/28/ten-companies-profiting-most-from-war/" target="_blank"><i>Wall Street Journal</i></a>, in 2010, the company had nearly $23 billion in arms sales, more than 90% of its total revenue for the year.<br />The Pentagon buys 196 Tomahawk missiles a year, considered the "minimum sustaining rate" for the U.S. military's arsenal. And there are some key members of Congress who think more should be spent on these weapons.<br />“There are many of us who have been concerned for years about maintaining our missile capabilities,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, to <i>Politico</i>.<br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">Raytheon</span> has delivered 252 missiles this fiscal year and 361 last fiscal year. War with Syria means that there would likely be a future increase in orders for the missiles, which can go for about $1 million a pop. In the 2011 U.S. military adventure into Libya, 124 Tomahawk missiles were fired by U.S. and UK ships against Libyan targets. The Libya campaign would give a comparable bar on how many Tomahawk missiles will be used in a Syrian campaign.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Supply and demand</b></span><br /><br />The BGM-109 has been used in each of America's official <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_%28missile%29#United_States_Navy" target="_blank">conflicts</a> in the last 22 years. Using wings and a flight system, cruise missiles like the Tomahawk are designed to carry a heavy warhead at subsonic speeds over a significant distance. Originally developed by General Dynamics in the 70s, the 3,500 lb. 20 foot long <a href="http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/tomahawk-long-range-cruise-missile/" target="_blank">Tomahawk missile</a> is now manufactured by Raytheon, a large U.S. defense contractor. Each unit can cost anywhere from the mid-$500,000s to almost $1.5 million, depending on the chosen configuration, payload, and booster deployment. The missile's modular system allows it to carry a conventional or nuclear payload if needed.<br /><br /><a href="http://media2.policymic.com/89037abd2e43fc529ca9bd82fd3309e2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="inarticle-image" data-original="http://media2.policymic.com/89037abd2e43fc529ca9bd82fd3309e2.jpg" height="308" src="http://media2.policymic.com/89037abd2e43fc529ca9bd82fd3309e2.jpg" style="display: inline;" width="320" /></a><img class="inarticle-image" data-original="http://media2.policymic.com/bd0f277f4ca022e466192cea2b5fa24f.gif" height="320" src="http://media2.policymic.com/bd0f277f4ca022e466192cea2b5fa24f.gif" style="display: inline;" width="312" /><br /><br /><br />In its budget submission for fiscal 2013, the White House requested 196 Tomahawks, for a total program cost of $320 million. The White House is requesting the same amount next fiscal year, for a cost of $325 million.<br />War is big business, and Syria is paying the bills. <br />Need more proof that companies are profiting off of the recent Syria war mongering?<br />Lockheed Martin — the largest arms-producing and military services company in the world, with nearly $3 billion more in arms sales — saw its stock spike to a six month high on Monday, the <a href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/61097/the-verdict-on-syria-has-already-been-decided-we-re-going-to-war">day that the war drums with Syria really started</a> beating.<br /><br /><img class="inarticle-image" data-original="http://media2.policymic.com/1c931514c6593aef4731b6e0671069eb.png" height="353" src="http://media2.policymic.com/1c931514c6593aef4731b6e0671069eb.png" style="display: inline;" width="640" />

SYRIAN CONFLICT: LUCRATIVE FOR US DEFENSE INDUSTRY

THE ONE GRAPH THAT SUMS UP WHY TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK ON SYRIA  By Chris Miles via Policymic Geopolitical Analy...

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