Know who your "friends" are!
United States' closest friend is a country whose president is headed to court on rape charges, it's Prime Minister is being investigated for corruption, His military chief has resigned. His office manager is under house arrest, and an inquiry commission is looking into allegations that he mishandled last summer's Lebanon war. And last but not least they continue to kill innocent people in Palestine. Now, they are going to "help" U.S. secure it's borders...
Israeli firm gets Mexico border wall contract
http://ww4report.com/node/2743 Published on World War 4 Report (
http://ww4report.com)
Israeli firm gets Mexico border wall contract
By Bill Weinberg
Created 11/08/2006 - 03:40
How ironic. We noted [1] in August that ex-Israeli security chief Uza
Dayan was warning the US against emulating Israeli strategies in
securing the Mexican border. Now it appears that Elbit Systems [2], an
Israeli firm which is building the "Aparthied Wall" in occupied
Palestine, has been awarded a contract, along with Boeing, to build the
wall on the Mexican border. From Israel21C [3], Oct. 15:
For possibly the first time ever, the words Israel and border are in the
same sentence and it doesn't have anything to do with its own borders.
The talent and expertise that Elbit
Systems (NASDAQ ELST) has employed
for years in protecting Israel's borders will now be put to use on US
borders to keep Americans safe.
Kollsman Inc., an American-based subsidiary of Elbit, has been selected
as a member of the winning consortium by the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) for the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) to supply
technology to identify threats, to deter and prevent crossings, and to
apprehend intruders along the US borders with Canada and Mexico.
Kollsman, headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire, is a development,
manufacturing and support organization providing advanced
electro-optical
and avionics systems to the commercial aerospace,
military and homeland security markets. The company's expertise
includes enhanced vision systems, flight displays, head-up displays,
thermal imaging systems, fire control systems, and advanced security and
surveillance solutions.
The Secure Border Initiative is the latest attempt by the United States
government to use technology to secure its borders, stop smuggling, and
prevent illegal immigration. After September 11, illegal immigration is
not just seen as a social problem, but also a national security issue. A
unique aspect of this initiative was that Homeland Security gave the
bidders total freedom to create new ideas of how to apply both new and
old technology to secure the US borders.
The DHS awarded the SBI contract for the border security project to prime
contractor Boeing over Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. In addition
to Boeing and Elbit, the other members of the $2 billion program are
telecommunication heavy-weights Lucent, L3 Communications, Perot Systems
and Unisys Global Public Sector.
Elbit was selected because of its ability to bring together global
resources with decades of technological experience and capabilities
securing borders in extreme cold, mountainous regions, as well as hot,
desert terrains.
Kollsman's global parent, Elbit Systems Ltd. has extensive experience
with operational border control and management systems combined with
command, control and situational awareness for the Israeli government.
Elbit's Long Range Reconnaissance and Observation System (LORROS) and
advanced turnkey unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAV) are some of the
products and technology that will be utilized.
President and CEO of Elbit Systems of America, Tim Taylor said he was
proud of being part of the winning bid and is "motivated to provide the
best border protection available."
"US citizens and the federal government are very concerned about the
vulnerabilities on the porous US northern and southern borders. The
help restore the safety and security that Americans have known for so
long. Detecting threats along 6,000 miles of border in the US is not the
place for experimentation. The experience of our family of companies,
along with the substantial credentials of Boeing as a successful prime
integrator in the homeland security market enables us to make a
significant contribution to protecting the United States."
Wayne Esser, head of the SBInet project for Boeing said: "We are very
happy that Elbit is part of the team because there is not
one-size-fits-all solution for 6,000 miles of border. Knollsman has the
engineering and manufacturing capability to provide at short notice
state-of-the-art solutions that will be integrated to support this
challenging effort. The result will be a program that safeguards the
freedoms that are a cornerstone of our nation."
Based in Haifa, Elbit is the largest non-governmental defense company in
Israel.
"Elbit Systems through its Ortek subsidiary is a major player in
homeland security in Israel and throughout the world. The electronic
deterrence system is key in providing customers in Israel and around the
globe with comprehensive solutions for peripheral defense," said Joseph
Ackerman, president and CEO of Elbit.
Among its projects are defense systems for Israel's land and sea
borders, peripheral security systems of air force bases, major sections
of the border security fence, and Jerusalem's detour route.
>From AP [4], Sept. 22:
Boeing's project proposal also included relying on more than 300 radar
towers along the borders, some supplemented with cameras developed by
Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd. which can spot people nearly 9 miles away
and vehicles at distances of up to 12 miles.
Under the program, Boeing and its partners will also work to improve
physical infrastructure along the border areas to help agents do their
job.
After SBInet is deployed in Arizona, it will be rolled out in segments to
other parts of the border based on highest traffic areas, Chertoff said.
Other partners of Boeing in the bid include L-3 Communications Holdings
Inc. , Unisys Corp. , Perot Systems Corp. , DRS Technologies , Elbit
unit Kollsman Inc., Lucent Technologies , Centech and USIS.
The organizers of an event this Saturday Nov. 11 at New York City's
Judson Memorial Church, "Resist the Apartheid Walls, from Palestine to
Mexico [5]," note: "Elbit will import Israeli military technology,
tested on Palestinians, for use against poor immigrants here."
See our last posts on Israel/Palestine [6], the struggle for the Mexican
border [7], the immigration crackdown [8] and the "Apartheid Wall [9]."
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Source URL:
http://ww4report.com/node/2743 Links:
[1]
http://ww4report.com/node/2339 [2]
http://www.elbitsystems.com/ [3]
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1450&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology [4]
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/oct/27/bush_signs_fence_bill/ [5]
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/11/78913.shtml [6]
http://ww4report.com/node/2735 [7]
http://ww4report.com/node/2728 [8]
http://ww4report.com/node/2732 [9]
http://ww4report.com/node/2387