The recent announcement of the merger of Lucent and Alcatel, two
telecommunications titans, has been heralded in financial circles as a
positive development.
However, there is a little-known aspect of Alcatel's business that
should make Americans uncomfortable with this new arrangement.
Alcatel does a considerable amount of business with countries on our
State Department's list of terrorist-sponsoring nations, including Iran
and Sudan. Worst of all, the services and products that Alcatel
provides to Iran can, at least indirectly, help that nation's military
capability. Among its activities in Iran that have relevance to
Tehran's military and terrorism-related activities are contracts signed
with state-controlled Iranian companies to provide data transmission
and switching network capabilities. The contracts have reportedly
included provisions of hardware, software, technologies and training to
Iranian companies. It likewise is installing an undersea
telecommunications cable for Iran.
In case you are wondering how Alcatel's projects with the Ayatollahs
could enhance their military capability, consider that, according to
the September 5th 2001 edition of The Washington Post, during the
Saddam Hussein regime, Alcatel did similar work for Iraq and the U.S.
government publicly expressed concerns that the project would advance
Iraqi military capability--and potentially cost American lives.
It is worth mentioning at this point that prior to this merger, Lucent
was prohibited from doing business in and with Iran and Sudan because
of U.S. sanctions against those nations.
Why has the U.S. imposed sanctions against Iran and Sudan?
In the case of Iran, they are of course the world's most active sponsor
of Jihadist terrorism. They finance, train and supply Hizbullah and
HAMAS, two of the world's most brutal terrorist groups. Hizbullah was
the terrorist group responsible for the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing in
Beirut, Lebanon which killed 241 Americans. HAMAS, of course, has
brought the suicide bomb to an art form, killing thousands of innocent
civilians in the process.
Moreover, several reports, including the September 11th Commission
report, indicate that Iran is also harboring and assisting Al Qaida and
may even be harboring Osama Bin Laden himself. Overwhelming evidence
also shows that Iran is very much involved in the violent insurgent
terrorism in neighboring Iraq.
In other words, when it comes to terrorism, America has no greater
enemy than Iran. Add to these terrorist activities Iran's nuclear
weapons program and ballistic missile arsenal and it is not difficult
to understand why the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Iran. But this has
not prevented French companies like Alcatel from doing business with
our enemies.
Sudan is also a terrorism sponsor ruled by a radical Islamist regime.
They harbored Osama Bin Laden before he moved to Afghanistan and HAMAS
and Hizbullah have both operated terrorist training camps in Sudan.
However, these activities pale in comparison to the slaughter of
Sudan's black Christian population at the hands of government-backed
Islamist militias. Tens of thousands of innocent men, women and
children have been systematically exterminated in Sudan in what the UN
has correctly termed "genocide."
Again, it is not hard to understand why the U.S. has sanctions imposed
on Sudan.
What is difficult to understand is why France's Alcatel has chosen to
help countries like Iran and Sudan develop modern communications
infrastructures which serve to solidify these rogue regimes' reign of
terror. As a world leader in the telecommunications sector, Alcatel is
undertaking technologically-advanced projects with state-owned entities
in terrorist sponsoring nations. Their projects in these nations are
worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Not only does this create
government revenues for terrorist-sponsors, but it also serves as an
engine for broader economic growth. When leading global companies such
as Alcatel partner with terrorist-sponsoring states, it sends a clear
message to these regimes: Sponsoring terrorism is not a concern as long
as there are corporate profits to be made. This message undermines U.S.
sanctions, international diplomatic efforts and our war on terrorism.
These projects also provide moral and political cover to these rogue
regimes, obscuring the fact that they are providing hard currency,
weapons, technology and safe harbor to terrorists.
Until Iran and Sudan discontinue their sponsorship of terrorism, it is
our view that no company, regardless of the scale of their operations,
should be willing to do business with them.
Christopher Holton heads the Center for Security Policy's Divest Terror
Initiative (http://www.divestterror.org). He can be reached at
holton@centerforsecuritypolicy.org .
