Stop the Merchants of Death

Pax Christi Long Beach Island Chapter NY

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Stop the Merchants of Death

WEAPONS PROFITEERING

ECONOMICS OF WAR

Stop Ruthless Arms Brokers that Fuel Deadly Conflicts

Ruthless arms brokers have been at the center of many of the most disturbing arms deals, including weapons transfers to abusive armed groups and countries under U.N. arms embargoes. Many of these merchants of death remain free and unhindered, and continue to traffic arms to human rights abusers. Urge your Member of Congress to press the Bush Administration to support a strong global agreement on arms brokering to better enforce U.S. law and halt this global threat to human rights.

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I am deeply concerned about the ease with which ruthless arms brokers provide weapons to abusive armed groups and countries under U.N. arms embargoes. These globetrotting merchants of death continue to facilitate shipments of arms such as assault rifles and shoulder-fired missiles to armed groups, including those that the U.S. Department of State lists as terrorist organizations, threatening U.S. lives and interests. In the last decade and a half, unscrupulous arms brokers have been at the center of many of the most disturbing arms deals. In a typical example, arms brokers purportedly organized a shipment of 3,117 surplus assault rifles from Nicaragua to Panama, but in fact were diverted to Colombia’s paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). At the time, the AUC was accused of killing thousands of civilians and was on the U.S. Department of State list of terrorist organizations. The notorious arms broker, Victor Bout, continues to be linked to illicit arms transfers to armed groups fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), many of which use arms to wreak havoc on innocent civilians. Bout and many other well-known arms brokers, however, remain free and continue to fuel violent conflicts. Addressing the threat of these globetrotting brokers, the U.S. government adopted a tough law on arms brokering in 1996. The U.S. law, for example, covers a wide range of brokering activities and both U.S. and some foreign persons operating in the United States or abroad. This law, however, will not be fully effective until other governments adopt and work to implement similar laws. Without similar international laws, U.S. government officials find it difficult to investigate and extradite perpetrators of U.S. law in foreign countries. In order to better enforce U.S. law and stop ruthless arms brokers from supporting abusive armed groups around the world, I urge you to encourage the Bush Administration to establish a strong global agreement on arms brokering to tackle this global threat.

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War is always a defeat for humanity.

~Pope John Paul II

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