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The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
Brooklyn, New York (VICE) -- "You know, it's weird, man. It's like everybody's real cordial with each other. But, at the end of the day, we're, like, buying weapons to destroy each other. I don't want to, like, sound too liberal or anything. But it's really not glamorous. This s*** f***** kills people." Shockingly, the guy who said this wasn't some antiwar hippie who had just dropped acid. He was a 6'4" Marine Corps Force Recon sergeant who had recently returned from two tours in Afghanistan. We were both attendees at the 2010 Special Operations Force Exhibition (SOFEX) in Jordan. His reaction was prompted by the trade-show floor -- a sea of displays and kiosks from weapons companies hawking missiles, machine guns, tanks, and bombs like they were next year's luxury sedans. Even more unsettling, the biggest dealers were from the U.S.
When I was a young punk kid, it
was fashionable to say things like, "The military-industrial complex is taking
over the world." At the time, I didn't know what "military-industrial complex"
meant, but the conference rapidly provided me with a very literal definition of
the term.
SOFEX takes place every two years
in Amman, and is largely the brainchild of Jordan's King Abdullah II, who has a
penchant for special operations and massive displays of artillery. Over the
course of a week, more than 12,000 attendees tromped through massive tents
housing hundreds of arms manufacturers. The atmosphere was insidious but open,
an organized free-for-all in which American companies like Northrop Grumman,
Boeing, and General Dynamics sold weapons to almost any nation that could afford
them.
I've been to hundreds of
depressing media trade shows, and SOFEX's salespeople are no different from the
rest, except that their wares are designed to destroy things and kill people. I
witnessed representatives from almost every nation spending millions of dollars
on heavy munitions. I was wondering if the transactions were padded by foreign
aid from the U.S. and other countries. I heard high-ranking soldiers say things
like, "When I retire I'm going to be on the other side of the table -- ha ha ha
ha." What this means is that it's not uncommon for generals with
government-controlled salaries around $100,000 a year to spend the twilight of
their careers purchasing billions worth of munitions from arms companies who, in
turn, offer these same senior officers state-side "consulting" gigs with
multimillion-dollar salaries. It's blatant payola, the whole thing so corrupt it
borders on absurd.
Absurdity, as it turned out, was
a running theme of the conference./cnn.com/
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