(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
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ARMS CONTRACTORS SPEND TO PROMOTE AN EXPANDED NATO [1]
['Katharine Q. Seelye']
Date: 1998-03-30
American arms manufacturers, who stand to gain billions of dollars in sales of weapons, communication systems and other military equipment if the Senate approves NATO expansion, have made enormous investments in lobbyists and campaign contributions to promote their cause in Washington.
The end of the cold war has shrunk the arms industry and forced it to diversify.
But expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- first to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, then possibly to more than a dozen other countries -- would offer arms makers a new and hugely lucrative market.
America's six biggest military contractors have spent $51 million on lobbying in the last two years, according to an analysis prepared for The New York Times by the Campaign Study Group, a research company in Springfield, Va.
If lobbying costs were included from all companies that perform military-related activities, like computer and technology firms, they would dwarf the lobbying effort of any other industry.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/30/world/arms-contractors-spend-to-promote-an-expanded-nato.html
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