Military Propaganda for Arms Sales, Anup Shah (June 2003)

1. That the armament firms have been active in fomenting war scares and in persuading their countries to adopt warlike policies and to increase their armaments.
2. That armament firms have attempted to bribe government officials, both at home and abroad.
3. That armament firms have disseminated false reports concerning the military and naval programs of various countries, in order to stimulate armament expenditure.
4. That armament firms have sought to influence public opinion through the control of newspapers in their own and foreign countries.
5. That armament firms have organized international armament rings through which the armament race has been accentuated by playing off one country against another.
6. That armament firms have organized international armament trusts which have increased the price of armaments sold to governments.

— J.W. Smith, The World's Wasted Wealth II, (Institute for Economic Democracy, 1994), p. 224

But, this was not of the arms industry of today. Smith was quoting the League of Nations after World War I, when "Stung by the horrors of World War I, world leaders realized that arms merchants had a hand in creating both the climate of fear and the resulting disaster itself." But it sounds familiar, right? It summarizes quite well the problems of today as well. Justification for arms and creating the market for arms expenditure is not a new concept. The call to war and fear-mongering is an old tradition.

FULL ARTICLE:

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/ArmsPropaganda.asp