WTF?!
I can well remember the call-girls debacle towards the end of my time at BAE, but this article is the first thing I've bothered reading about the current controversy... and I'm surprised to say that it doesn't look too shady.
As a background, the Saudi's have intel that (we are told) MI5&co find useful. (If it isn't useful then the deal may as well be off anyway.)
It would not be unusual for a government to offer compensation ranging from cash, policy and political favours through to military support in return for that kind of information. In this case we don't need to pay a penny, just help some guy in saudi rip off some funds from his own treasury.... AND we get to shift a few Eurofighters into the bargain... If the saudi government, the "victim" in this case doesn't want it investigated then it's probably a good idea to shut up.
@Ian
Right On, It's a common misconception that everyone is only on the take because we,(THE UK) are, infact everyone is on the take because everyone else is on the take and it's the only way to survive, and secretly MOST of those would be on the take even if nobody else was. Bizarely enough most people who are so misinformed also think the EU is a great idea, when it's a classic alliance of thieves!
Re: Hmmm
Easily explained matey, just list the huge number of peace keeping and humanitarian ops that BAE kit is being used for (including SAR stuff off the coast), admittedly this has got harder in the last five years. If they don't believe that our boarders need defending (The Falklands for example.) then it's just not worth explaining since they'll end up citing "Dr Strangelove" "Wargames" "Spooks" "Imagine" and ultimately "99 red baloons".
If you're not working in air systems they you just blame Air Systems who were responsible for this SNAFU...
If you are working for air systems then you'll spend...
5% of your time being patronised by upper management
5% of your time quibelling with client departments over how many hours they owe you for last week,
5% in statutory meetings, I actually started to play bullshit bingo.
10% of your time fighting with peter-principle over promoted middle managers
30% of your time explaining very basic concepts (ohm's law, integration, what the on switch does) to incompetent fools that middle-management recruited (see last point.)
5% of your time explaining to the client department that you've been very busy.
10% fighting with HR.
10% ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE WORK
10% web surfing, drinking coffee and chatting to your mates about how you REALLY need to get slaughtered tonight.
So you can look any given tosser in the eye and say that you don't actually work there, they just pay your wages. In the event that you are moved onto a project with more immediate implications, they will ask you if you mind.
If your mates honestly believe that you are utterly unaware of the moral and ethical implications then they don't actually respect you and why the hell are you calling them "friend"? (BTW CAAT, Trident ploughshares, Dykes on Bikes et-al often picket BAE sites, and genuinely do believe that defence workers don't think about that side of things.)
BAE Systems is criminally mismanaged, and I've ranted about this time and time again. That's a seperate issue from the moral status of the defence industry.
@amanfrommars
That very nearly made sense, well done!