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GE: They bring bad things to life

By Michelle Malkin  •  January 16, 2008 08:26 AM

Debra Burlingame lambastes GE’s See No Evil corporate policies on Syria and Iran:

General Electric has admitted that it has contracts in Syria and Iran for electric power plants, oil and gas, lighting, and medical equipment (that latter is humanitarian stuff not subject to sanctions and no one is citing them). GE claims that none of it is being used for military purposes by “Iranian forces” or “Syrian forces.”

…Apparently, General Electric either does not get or care that Iran has been violating international law for 30 years with impunity. Iran has engaged in proxy wars through its terrorist arm Hezbollah and through its Revolutionary Guards. It has kidnapped and killed American citizens and the citizens of its neighbors. It has provided foreign fighters, arms, and money to fight the US and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It defies the international community in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. It declared war on the US — its enemy — and advocates its destruction, along with Israel…

…When we see Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for “death to America” and watch Iranian fast boats charging US Navy ships, we see the enemy. General Electric sees a customer in good standing.

Read the whole thing and watch the related video.

Posted in: Iran

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Comments

  1. #1
    On January 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am, shimauma2 said:

    Would it be do-able for conservatives to boycott this company on principle? Mind you it’s just an idea; we might not even make a dent…but then AFA has had Ford on the ropes for a while, so who knows?

  2. #2
    On January 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am, zorro said:

    General Electric sees a customer in good standing.

    Add NBC to the mix and you have a bad corporate citizen.

  3. #3
    On January 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am, dan708 said:

    I agree with shimauma2 on principle, but GE is so huge, with so many divisions, they might be impossible to avoid.
    Michelle, I wouldn’t mind seeing an update with a complete listing of all GE subsidiaries.

  4. #4
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am, Boomer said:

    I’m sure the DOJ will be all over this in 3, 2, 1 …… crickets chirping.

  5. #5
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am, mnmike said:

    GE brings terrorists to light

  6. #6
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:08 am, cpodug said:

    GE brings provides terrorists to with light

    Fixed it for ya

  7. #7
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am, granite said:

    Something similar to this was engaged in by American corporations during World War II.

    ~ 20 years ago, I read “Trading with the Enemy”.
    To say the leaast, it was a bit unsettling.
    Guess I’ll dig the book up and skim through it.

  8. #8
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am, BrianNY said:

    Debra Burlingame is an impressive and valuable commentator. I ran a NYC 5k in honor of her brother back in 2004. She and her family warrant much respect.

  9. #9
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am, gandolphxx said:

    Another bombshell is Hockenberry’s claims that General Electric, NBC’s parent company, discouraged him from talking to the Bin Laden family about their estranged family member. Hockenberry asked GE, which does business with the Bin Laden family company, to help him get in contact with them. Instead, a PR executive called Hockenberry’s hotel room in Saudi Arabia and read a statement about how GE didn’t see its “valuable business relationship” with the Bin Laden Group as having anything to do with “Dateline.”

    - Former “Dateline” reporter blasts NBC [owned be GE]

  10. #10
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:30 am, scooter56 said:

    Where was the outrage about Halliburton, Conoco Phillips, etc….. trading with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria?

  11. #11
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:32 am, 30 pcs of silver said:

    List of GE subsidiaries can be found here.

    I’ve had GE on my boycott list for quite sometime. To bad it wasn’t before we bought a GE refrigerator.

  12. #12
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:33 am, sivapragasam said:

    Off Topic, but made my day. It will, yours, too…

    The threat from the militants, the former intelligence officials warned, is one that Pakistan is unable to contain. “We could not control them,” said one former senior intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We indoctrinated them and told them, ‘You will go to heaven.’ You cannot turn it around so suddenly.”

    Read the whole thing here

  13. #13
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:46 am, Pixel_Dust_1776 said:

    GE does not have king and she’s no widow. GE’s “god” is money.
    Why should they care about the U.S.?
    Rio
    Semper Fi!

  14. #14
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:54 am, mngirl said:

    US based companies are not supposed to do business with Iran or Syria. The followng from the US State Dept:

    U.S. Government economic sanctions still govern imports of Iranian-origin goods and services and exports to Iran. Except for carpets and foodstuffs, and information or informational materials and gifts valued at $100 or less, the importation of Iranian-origin goods or services into the United States is prohibited. The exportation or re-exportation of goods, technology or services directly or indirectly from the United States or by a U.S. person to Iran also is prohibited, except in the following cases: articles donated to relieve human suffering (such as food, clothing and medicine), gifts valued at $100 or less, licensed exports of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices, and trade in informational materials.

    GE is not exporting anything to relieve human suffering or any of the other “allowed” items. GE’s CEO is American, as is most of its executive committee. Unless they have paid off the right people in the US Gov’t and received a waiver they should be very wary of doing business with Iran.

    The way American companies sometimes get around this, is they have a European based subsidiary do business with Iran or Syria or any other companies under embargo. Even then, its a relatively gray area.

  15. #15
    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:56 am, tre said:

    One of the Russian dicators, I can’t remember which one, once bragged that when Communist Russia hung the last American, an American business man would be there trying to sell them the rope.
    Now I believe him.

  16. #16
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am, Barry F. said:

    GE brings terrorists to light

    I think it would read better as “GE - terrorist light.” ;-)

  17. #17
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am, Theresa said:

    Well, no more GE anything for my family. This betrayal by corporate America has become the norm, not the exception. Everything is driven by money. I certainly hope the DoJ is looking into this, but then I wonder at their loyalty too. Lately, it seems as if there is a concentrated effort by big money to destroy this country. Am I the only one who feels this way?

  18. #18
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am, Alphonse said:

    Syria was an ally against al-Queda before Bush declared Crusade against Islam. Iran was helpful against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Silly to let a few neocons whose loyalty to the United States is questionable and the Israel lobby run our country.

  19. #19
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am, AmericaFirst said:

    GE is another China. China exports military technology and hardware to Iran and Syria. We file sanctions and ban Chinese firms and individuals from doing business in the US. We do not penalize the entity. It’s obvious GE, like China, have thousands of alternative routes to bypass our American policies and laws. Our government looks away, while our military men and women die, all to keep commerce flowing (in one direction, the enemy’s)

  20. #20
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:29 am, Speakup said:

    Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain - Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815

  21. #21
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am, ezupirate75 said:

    Pick off the traitors one-by-one. On Monday Keith “Dirtbag” Olberman named Admiral Michael Mullen as his worst person of the Day & accused him of trying to make his own Gulf of Tonkin incident. My plan is to begin a e-mail & blogsphere boycott of Olberman, specifically to target the advertisers of his show. I am willing to take one for the team & actually watch the “Dirtbag’s” show to get a list of the advertisers. My plan is to mute the TV when the “Dirtbag” is talking & then obtain a list of advertisers. At that point we can begin a e-mail barrage on Jeff Immelt (CEO of GE) & the advertisers letting them know they are under a boycott until the “Dirtbag” is canned.

  22. #22
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am, meatpieandtatters said:

    Profits above all else including morals and character.

    GE: We Bring Good things to our execs and investor’s lives however, whenever we can get away with it.

  23. #23
    On January 16th, 2008 at 10:47 am, jukin said:

    I’d rather have GE keep their hands in those countries than a french or russian company.

  24. #24
    On January 16th, 2008 at 11:17 am, katieanne said:

    Bill O’Reilly did a good piece on these anti-Amerericans. No more GE in our house.

  25. #25
    On January 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am, DBNinKY said:

    I firmly agree with #10!

    Where is that Haliburton level of outrage which permeated the air-waves for the better part of this decade?!

    Maybe one of these days GE’s stockholders will have had enough and act to take back their company from the excutives (I use that term loosely) that are running it - into the ground!

    #24, My sentiments exactly!

  26. #26
    On January 16th, 2008 at 11:51 am, Barry F. said:

    Bill O’Reilly did a good piece on these anti-Amerericans. No more GE in our house.

    It is always such a hoot to watch that young producer on The O’Reilly Factor chasing people around trying to get them to comment on stories they are avoiding, like he did with Jeffrey Immelt.

  27. #27
    On January 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm, traveler49 said:

    It will be very difficult to boycott everything GE. For instance, how will my wife be able to carry on in this world without her weekly dose of Monk.

  28. #28
    On January 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm, Vince said:

    Traveler,

    I would watch Monk, just not buy the sponser’s products.

  29. #29
    On January 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm, GaijinBob said:

    ezupirate75 said:

    On Monday Keith “Dirtbag” Olberman named Admiral Michael Mullen as his worst person of the Day

    Ha ha! You watch Olberdufus. How boring must your evenings be that you would actually spend (waste?) precious minutes of your life watching that crap. ;) (Joking!) But really, life is too short! Get married and make babies. Then you will have no more time for anything from the Clinton News Network, PMS-NBC, or all the rest.

  30. #30
    On January 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm, ezupirate75 said:

    Gaijin Bob, I picked up the info. from http://www.mediaresearch.org/

    I would prefer you waterboard me & pull my finger nails out with pliers to watching him. I am actually trying to organize a boycott of his advertisers to take him off the air. I would have his show running on the TV with the sound muted & then figure out who is advertisers are & then tell them drop him or face a boycott. Old enough I don’t want any more kids, got a college age daughter who may give me grandkids in the not to distant future.

  31. #31
    On January 17th, 2008 at 6:01 pm, Sisyphus said:

    Second look at my retirement accounts!

    My God the very US warships that GE’s client Iran wants to blow up are built with GE systems. What, are they going to happily sell us more ships as fast as they help Iran sink them?

    On January 16th, 2008 at 9:46 am, Pixel_Dust_1776 said:
    GE does not have king and she’s no widow. GE’s “god” is money.
    Why should they care about the U.S.?
    Rio
    Semper Fi!

    Why should GE care? Because we can make them care. It seems to me that with a little guts sanctions against Iran and Syria could be applied to corporations that act against our national intrests.

    Want to do business with our Enimies? Fine. Why should we let you do business in the US? How about delisting them from the NY Stock Exchange?

    Boycotts are economically ineffectual but the SEC could be.

    For 6 years I have stood behind Bush everytime he asked for the powers and means to wage the war. But if he will not even use it to keep those inside this country inline, why bother?

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