John Minto: Lame excuse for smart bombs

Trade Minister Phil Goff says that Auckland-based technology company Rakon has not been involved in illegal exports of arms industry products (Herald June 16).

Goff told the Defence and Foreign Affairs Select Committee last week that after talks with Rakon and on the basis of documents supplied by the company his officials were satisfied that the company's crystal oscillators did not require an export permit because they were unlikely to have been designed specially for military use.

This is a Government in convenient, calculated denial of the obvious warts-on-your-face truth.

Rakon has proudly asserted its intention to dominate the lucrative and expanded guided munitions and military positioning market within the next five years. They list their military products as including Mainstream TXCOs (crystal oscillators) for inclusion in smart bombs and G-hardened crystals for use in smart shells.

Rakon's own documents show the company has, since 1997, prepared crystal oscillators for use in the guidance systems of so-called smart bombs for the United States Air Force. These are bombs which can be guided to their target using GPS technology with Rakon components doing a crucial part of the job.

About 6500 of these smart bombs were dropped on Iraq in 2003 killing many thousands of Iraqi citizens in the process. Rakon is a company profiting from death and destruction in an illegal war.

The company has also produced G-shock crystals for use in guided artillery shells and is developing crystal oscillators specifically designed to withstand nuclear radiation and operate at the high altitudes associated with nuclear missile strikes.

Mr Goff says there is nothing wrong with this because from discussion with the company these products are unlikely to have been designed specifically for military use. This is truly pathetic. What kind of investigation is it that reaches such a lame, incredulous conclusion?

The evidence in the public arena is that these products were specifically designed for military use. This is a company which wants to dominate the guided munitions market. Is Mr Goff telling us that the company can do this without any liaison with the US military? Without designing these products to US specifications?

Rakon's public relations spin is that these products have other applications and that Rakon can't be responsible for the end use of their products. Is this what they said to the senior US Air Force officials who visited them recently? Is this what they said to our previous US Ambassador when he visited their factory?

The truth is that Rakon is up to its armpits in the arms industry and has the blood of many innocents on its hands. It is benefiting from selling products for use in an illegal war. The invasion of Iraq was a war crime and this company is complicit with this criminal act.

Neither do Rakon's shareholders have any pangs of conscience. Since the revelations of their involvement in the arms industry their share price rose and has continued rising. With US foreign policy the way it is, the demand for smart bombs can only increase. Rakon is on to a winner and the shareholders are loving it. Obviously none of the company's directors or shareholders have had their children blasted apart by a smart bomb in Iraq.

To cap off the insult to New Zealand, Rakon won the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Supreme Award for exports last year and has received almost $600,000 in government subsidies in recent years.

Instead of insulting our intelligence Goff should simply have said the Government is comfortable with Rakon providing military support for the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and is quite relaxed about government funding to go towards this war effort.

But cut out the weasel words.

* John Minto is spokesperson for Global Peace and Justice Auckland.