The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade QUOTES

1 " And herein lies a key ambiguity about large defence contractors: they are pillars of the free market economy whose shareholders are supposed to provide oversight, while receiving extensive state support which insulates them from market vagaries and meaningful oversight. One thing, however, is constant: this either-or status has resulted in companies that are often badly managed and regularly find themselves in financial difficulties, despite their government’s efforts, sometimes illegal, to find them business. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

2 " Military thinkers and actors dominated the new White House and the key departments of state, both military and civilian. Over thirty senior arms industry executives, consultants or advisers were placed in key positions in the military and across government... More than half a dozen important policy positions in the Bush administration were occupied by Lockheed Martin executives, lobbyists or lawyers, reflecting the influence of defence contractors across the breadth of government. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

3 " A litany of scandals came to public attention in the wake of the political fallout from Watergate, uncovering slush funds for domestic and foreign bribery. The SEC offered an amnesty for companies admitting to questionable or illegal payments; over 450 US companies admitted making such payments worth over $300m to government officials, politicians and political parties. Over 117 of the self-reporting entities were Fortune 500 companies. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

4 " President Carter’s re-election campaign in 1979 commenced amid spiralling global oil prices. With Bandar’s help, Carter drafted a letter to Fahd requesting Saudi Arabia to put more oil on the market.69 Fahd responded: ‘Tell my friend, the president of the United States of America, when they need our help, they will not be disappointed.’70 He promised to do ‘anything in his power externally or internally to ensure your re-election’, since this was ‘essential if there was ever to be a just and lasting peace in the Middle East’.71 This assistance, which saw Saudi oil trading $4–5 a day below other suppliers, cost the kingdom $30m to $40m a day. In gratitude, Carter invited Bandar to the White House in early December 1979, where they discussed Middle East politics and the US–Saudi relationship. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

5 " While the Saudi rulers demand that their subjects adhere strictly to a rigid Wahhabism, their own behaviour could not be further removed from their faith. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

6 " The arms industry’s economic contribution is also undermined by the frequency with which its main players around the world – Lockheed Martin, BAE, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and those closely linked to it such as KBR, Halliburton and Blackwater – are implicated in grand corruption, inefficiency and wastage of public resources. They are very seldom forced to pay any significant price for their malfeasance and are always allowed to continue bidding for massive government contracts. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

7 " They are very greedy. You always have to pay bribes. If they want to buy this glass you tell them it’s five dollars. They will beat you down to one dollar, then they will say, “OK I will give you $3, but you give me $2 back! "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

8 " the biggest problem the Saudis had to contend with was the inadequacies of Airwork, the providers of the training and maintenance contracts. The company’s commitments proved beyond its resources. The Ministry of Defence was compelled to become more deeply involved. Ex-RAF pilots were recruited to fly the planes, becoming, in effect, sponsored mercenaries to the Saudis; and eventually the British government had to set up its own organization in Riyadh, jointly with the Saudis, to supervise the programme. What began as an apparently simple commercial sale ended up, like many future arms deals, as a major government commitment. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

9 " Prince Bandar has the ability to charm the powerful and his country’s money with which to buy friendship and influence. He is comfortable and inventive at circumventing laws and restrictions and has on occasions appeared to be loose with the truth. This made him the ideal person to negotiate the world’s ultimate arms deal. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

10 " To secure a contract, a company must secure the support not merely of a senior prince, often through an established agent through whom very substantial commissions have to be paid; but also of many ministers and officials down the line.’74 "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

11 " Together, Mertins and Cummings were a formidable arms-dealing force. In 1965 they worked together to sell seventy-four US-made F-86 fighter planes to Venezuela, fifty-four of which were surplus German stock and a further twenty procured from active Luftwaffe service.24 It was a hugely profitable deal. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

12 " The deal is probably the most corrupt transaction in arms-trading history, with Bandar, Thatcher’s son and many others implicated in receiving payments on an epic scale. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

13 " The first involved the sale of ninety F-86 aircraft to Pakistan, once again raised from surplus German stock. At the time Pakistan was a no-sale zone, embargoed by NATO because of its simmering conflict with India. The required subterfuge was undertaken with the help of the Shah of Iran, who allowed the planes to be delivered to Tehran by Luftwaffe officers and then flown to Pakistan by Iranian pilots dressed up as Pakistani officers. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

14 " I sat down with Governor Reagan, and we chatted a little bit. Then I explained why we needed the aircraft. He said to me at the end of it, ‘Prince, let me ask you this question. Does this country consider itself a friend of America?’ I said, ‘Yes, since King Abdulaziz, my grandfather, and President Roosevelt met. Until now, we are very close friends.’ Then Reagan asked a second question. ‘Are you anticommunist?’ I said, ‘Mr. Governor, we are the only country in the world that not only does not have relationships with communists, but when a communist comes in an airplane in transit, we don’t allow him to get out of the airplane at our airport. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

15 " Over time, the Saudis gave $32m to the Contras.86 The routing of this money was linked to the AWACS sale in that a fund was created from the sale, from which the Contras’ monthly money was diverted.87 Bandar would say later: ‘I didn’t give a damn about the Contras – I didn’t even know where Nicaragua was.’88 This support was the Saudi way of investing in America, the ultimate aim being a Saudi–American alignment to compete with Israel’s relationship with the US.89 "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

16 " The ‘revolving door’ of people and money perpetuates what C. Wright Mills described as the ‘military metaphysic’, a militaristic definition of reality justifying ‘a permanent war economy’.8 This, despite the warning of the former General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his farewell address as President of the United States: [with] the conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry … in the councils of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

17 " The weapons were delivered aboard the Sky Bird in mid-1992 – with two UN arms embargoes being violated by a single deal. In order to avoid detection, the shipping manifests were altered. Repeating their previous ruse, it was claimed that the shipment was intended for the Lebanese Christian militia.27 Umag, a port city in Croatia, was the real destination, with an end-user certificate provided by the Finance Minister, Martinovic. "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

18 " Colonel Thomas Dooley, an executive of Sikorsky, the helicopter manufacturer, testified in a United States court that, while trying to sell Black Hawk helicopters to the Saudi regime, he experienced a ‘competition for bribes’. He explained that Prince Bandar told him explicitly ‘what bribes needed to be paid for the deal, through which middleman they must be routed and how he would distribute the money to other members of the royal family’.28 "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

19 " Mertins frequently upset his handlers, often selling to countries that were considered, at the very least, anti-American. His relationship with US Intelligence ended in 1972 during the Vietnam War, "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade

20 " Although the FBI and later the 9/11 Commission ultimately stated that the money was not intentionally being diverted to fund terrorists,9 investigators were surprised to discover how lax the safeguards at Riggs Bank were,10 especially as the bank was known to have close links to the CIA.11 "

― Andrew Feinstein , The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade