Martin Whiteside, the Green Party's Parliamentary candidate for Stroud and a District councillor said (ii): "The event is used to showcase weapons in all their 'glory' to large numbers of people. Whether or not any deals are closed on the weekend is irrelevant. This is about selling and making the use of force more acceptable."

Martin Whiteside said: "There is no doubt that for many people there is a real thrill to see aircraft fly at such high speeds, but I would urge people to think twice about viewing these killing machines while so many still suffer their effects. Tony Blair has taken this country into five wars in six years – Bombing Saddam Hussein in 98, military action in Kosovo in 99, Sierra Leone in 2000, followed by Afghanistan, then Iraq where 100,000 Iraqis have died. Some of the planes that will be at the show, have been used to help drop thousands of tons of cluster bombs and depleted uranium shells on Iraqis, destroying their countryside and infrastructure for decades to come. This is hardly family entertainment while people are still suffering and dying from the illegal, unnecessary and immoral war in Iraq. "

Profits from the Tattoo go to a charity (RAF Benevolent Fund) which helps RAF and ex RAF personnel and familles who fall on hard times.

Martin Whiteside comments: "It would be interesting to know how much this celebration of destructive power costs the MoD and how much is raised for charity when this cost is taken into account. Would it not be cheaper to hand over the money direct or even to provide care for service personnel from Government funding? I wonder how many would be recruits visiting RIAT realise they might end up relying on charity having suffered the consequences of war?"

Martin Whiteside concluded: "We must start to tackle the root causes of conflict. We fund one dictator after the other to keep solvent our 'defence' industries like those on show at RIAT. We armed Saddam to fight Khomeini, then fought him twice over oil. We must, for example, stop subsidising arms exports by nearly £1 bn a year and start a radical programme of conversion to renewable energy that would replace our need for this oil and drastically reduce climate change. The technology is there, but we lack the political will."



Notes:

(i) 16th/17th July 2005
 http://www.airtattoo.com

(ii) Martin Whiteside lives with his wife and three children in Thrupp, near Stroud, where he is an existing Green Party District Councillor. The first time he stood for the Council he scraped in by 35 votes, after a year of hard work for his constituents he was re-elected, getting more votes than all the other parties combined. In the recent elections he held the Green party's deposit for the first time despite considerable tactical voting. Martin Whiteside works as a freelance development consultant for aid organisations, including Oxfam, Christian Aid, WWF and the British Government, advising them on their development programmes in many different countries.