Raytheon in bid to build Saudi wall

Thursday October 05, 2006 22:53

by Foreign correspondent

Big brother keeps getting bigger

Raytheon, the US Arms/Defence giant with offices in Frenchay, Bristol, is bidding to build a ‘wall’ on the Saudi/Iraq border.
Since August, Raytheon has been the subject of protests at it’s Bristol offices because of it’s US weapons links, especially over the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon. See previous stories - http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25275 & http://bristol.indymedia.org.uk/newswire.php?story_id=25266

The Saudi/Iraq border, in northen Saudi, runs for 900km, much of it harsh desert. It is hard to patrol & protect. Reports suggest the Saudi’s wish to build the wall for 2 reasons. Firstly to stop the possible flow of arms & fighters into Iraq to support the insurgency. Saudi is a Sunni dominated Arab nation, and there has been much support from Saudi’s for the resistance to the US/UK led war in Iraq and other operations in the middle east. However the area of Saudi next to Iraq is also home to the Shi’ite minority in Saudi. This minority is much discriminated against, and the Saudi’s are worried that Shia fleeing civil war in Iraq may stir up trouble amongst their own Shia. That is the second and probably major reason for the wall.

The proposed wall will have 2 tall electronic fences with barbed wire fencing in-between, along with all sorts of high-tec equipement. It will be the 3rd ‘wall’ constructed in the middle east.

Full story in Toronto’s Star - http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159998617393&call_pageid=968332188492

Raytheon US - http://www.raytheon.com/
Raytheon UK/Bristol - http://www.raytheon.co.uk/about/bristol.html