contribution to FT article "Al-Yamamah: the case for the defence"

Al-Yamamah: the case for the defence was written by son of former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) Jonathan Guthrie concerning investigations into an armaments deal by Britain and Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s for Tornado IDS strike aircraft, spares, training and support.

by Jeffrey Bradford 17 Apr 2008 05:57 PM
Jonathan put his finger on the issue with regard to the Al-Yamamah deal being something which looks less good with the benefit of hindsight.

It seems so long ago that the 1980s were the depth of the cold war in Europe, proxy wars being fought in Africa and the Middle East and Saddam Hussain being our bulwark against radical Islam in Iran.

Defence companies were involved in various deals which as they unwound subsequently have resulted in 'issues' Lockheed of America in the 1970s and Thales of France in South Africa more recently.

In addition Al-Yamamah was a major boost to the British engineering sector and it is questionable whether participation in Eurofighter could have been so robust had Al-Yamamah failed.

The tragedy today is a number of short-sighted decisions being made amongst nervousness regarding international scrutiny of the project - the Defence Export Service Organisation (DESO) has been abolished, Lord Drayson procurement champion has chosen to race automobiles and BAE Chief Executive Mike Turner has curtailed his career leading BAE at a crucial time in its international development.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and with hindsight it is not this deal.

The Vice-Presidential nomination game

Sunday morning and the US media in New York deployed multiple pundits to consider the Vice-Presidential candidates who will emerge for the eventual Democrat and Republican candidates for the 2008 Presidential election.

For Republican John McCain the names of Bush Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, former soldier and diplomat Colin Powell and others have been bandied about.

For Barack Obama, the interesting idea floated today was that of him selecting a military man, such as Wes Clark as VP to help offset McCain's credentials.

Hilary Clinton faces the dilemma of already having a 'Vice-President' in Bill Clinton, for whom a VP would likely be a nuisance three-some. Obama would be the obvious choice to avoid splitting the party, though the question is, would he want to be seen as kowtowing to the Clinton family, with an eye to his political longevity.

Personally, with an eye to restoring the view of America in the world I think each candidate needs someone capable of carrying domestic interests and helping shield the President from some of the thornier issues he will have to undo.

One thing is certain, Vice-President Cheney changed the nature of the office forever, and I am looking forward to the accounts as to how it came to be.

McCain shows his colours

A small postscript to an important article in last weekends New York Times newspaper concerning John McCain.  Whilst Hilary Clinton has been caught out, talking up her experience under fire, John McCain has remained silent in public concerning his son, who is several months into his tour with the US Marine Corps in Iraq.

I feel that his character coupled with familiarity with the outside world will position him increasingly well with middle America in the forthcoming US Presidential elections.