* Paper written for the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) at its consultative conference on East Asia and Oceania, Dec. 12, 2006, in Cebu City.

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[1] Pentagon’s “New Triad” nuclear system includes: 1) offensive strike systems (nuclear and non-nuclear); 2) strategic defenses; and 3) a revitalized defense structure. The “New Triad” had added budgets totaling $8.3 billion in 2002 and 2003, with $33 billion additional expenditures in 2003-2008.

[2] Richard Butler, “Why Nuclear is Not the Answer,” The Age (Australia), March 17, 2002, cited in “About Face: The Role of the Arms Lobby in the Bush Administration’s Radical Reversal of Two Decades of U.S. Nuclear Policy,” William D. Harfung with Jonathan Reingold, World Policy Institute special report, May 2002.

[3] Harfung and Reingold, World Policy Institute.

[4] Based on CRS, as cited by Richard A. Bitzinger, “Arms exports to Asia-Pacific Region increase,” Nov. 11, 2006, IDSS.

[5] Bitzinger, ibid.

[6] In 1994-1996, for instance, the U.S. exported $67.3 billion worth of armaments or 55 percent of global arms exports. Anna Rich, “U.S. Exports Arms to the World.”

[7] Anna Rich, ibid.

[8] “The U.S. “War on Terror” and East Asia,” James Reilly, Foreign Policy in Focus, February 2002.

[9] Japanese companies such as Kawasaki and Mitsubishi have begun to receive lucrative defense contracts from the Tokyo government. The Japanese Business Federation (Keidanren) has been lobbying for the development of defense industries.

[10] Papers read at the 4th Pugwash Workshop on Stability, Security and Cooperation in East Asia, Jan. 12-15, 2006, Beijing, China, cited by Prof. Edberto Villegas, “The Political Economy of the U.S. and Japan in the ASEAN Region,” ILPS consultative conference, Cebu City, Dec. 12, 2006.

[11] Through 2004, the U.S. Pacific Command held more than 1,700 exercises and other engagement activities with foreign military forces.

[12] Center for Public Integrity, cited in Hartung and Reingold, op cit.

[13] “The New American Empire and the Rise of State Terrorism,” CAIS Studies, October 2003, published by the Center for Anti-Imperialist Studies.

[14] Surrounding or lying beside the U.S. Congress, White House, the Pentagon and other government buildings at “The Mall” in Washington, DC are the offices of numerous arms lobby groups and similar institutions.

[15] In Iraq alone, the U.S.-led war and occupation has resulted in 655,000 Iraqi civilians killed between March 2003-July 2006, based on a study released by the Johns Hopkins University in November 2006.

[16] From the book, Unmasking the War on Terror, CAIS, Philippines, 2002.

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