Press Release - Campaigners to enact the Bloody History of ITT Today

Campaigners will hold a demonstration today to remember the bloody history of EDO MBM/ITT, A multinational arms company working in Brighton. The ITT Corporation, one of the largest companies in the world, which took over EDO in December 2007, have a long history of working with fascist regimes. They worked with the Nazi regime in Germany throughout its genocide, with Franco in Spain and with Pinochet in Chile.

ITT took over EDO MBM which had been owned by the US company, EDO corporation. Prior to that the company had been owned by MBM, an arms company who have worked in Brighton since the 1940s.

Campaigners will use street theatre to depict ITT's inglorious history outside EDO MBM/ITT on Home Farm Road Brighton.

Campaign press spokesperson Chloe Marsh said "we think it is important to remember this country's history. ITT profited from the bombing of London and southeast England as its German subsidiary Focke-Wulfe built fighter aircraft for the Nazis. It is clear that the company has not gained any integrity since then as they continue to sell weapons to Israel for its crimes against the Palestinians"

Photos and Interviews Available


for more info call 07538093930 or email  smashedopress@riseup.net

Notes for Journalists

On 20th December 2007 EDO shareholders voted to approve the takeover of EDO Corp by ITT, the estimated value of the transaction was $1.7 billion.

ITT & Hitler

The CEO of International Telephone & Telegraph(ITT), Colonel Sosthenes Behn reportedly spoke with Adolf Hitler on the phone from New York Cityevery week of World War II. Key companies that maintained the German telephone network were ITT subsidiaries at that time, and communications were
obviously of strategic importance for Nazi Germany. Their subsidiaries produced vital supplies such as switchboards, telephones, teleprinters, aircraft intercoms, submarine and ship phones, electric buoys, alarm gongs, buoys, air raid warning devices, radar equipment, radio parts and 30,000 fuses per month for artillery shells used to kill allied troops.

Numerous payments were made to Heinrich Himmler in the late 1930s and in World War II itself through I.T.T. German subsidiaries. The first
meeting between Hitler and I.T.T. was reported in August 1933, when Sosthenes Behn and I.T.T. German representative Henry Manne met with Hitler in Berchesgaden. Subsequently, Behn made contact with the Secretary of State Keppler and, through Keppler's influence, Nazi banker Baron Kurt von Schröder became the guardian of I.T.T. interests in Germany. Schröder acted as the conduit for I.T.T. money funnelled to Heinrich Himmler's
S.S. organization in 1944.

ITT profited from the bombing of London and southeast England as its German subsidiary Focke-Wulfe built the FW 191 heavy bombe and the FW 190D
fighter bomber. By 1943 13% of ITT's income was generated from Nazi Germany.

At the time of the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941, ITT's investments in Nazi Germany totalled $30 million. They continued to invest in and collaborate
with Nazi Germany after the USA entered the war, in fact striking a deal with Hitler ensuring that the Nazi government would not acquire ITT’s shares, but would be responsible for the administration of the shares. ITT literally went into partnership with the Nazi government in wartime.

ITT later sued the American government, receiving $27 million for damage that had been inß icted on their German plants by Allied bombers, despite the fact that these factories were building Nazi military equipment to attack the allies during the war. On 20th December 2007 EDO shareholders voted to approve the takeover of EDO Corp by ITT, the estimated value of the transaction was $1.7 billion. ITT have a long history of active support of fascism, recent attempts to re-brand their image have proved irrelevant in the face of their involvement in war-crimes and genocide throughout history, and which continues today.

ITT & Franco

To protect the interests of its Spanish subsidiary the Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana (CTNE), which held a monopoly over Spain's telephone system, ITT actively supported fascist dictator General Franco rise to power while opposition to ITT’s presence and profiteering in Spain grew, even resulting in two bombs exploding at an ITT telephone facility in Madrid.

Colonel Behn provided private phone links between the plotters at Madrid and Generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola in the provinces. Behn's activities allowed the extremely effective coordination between the widely scattered rebel leaders in the early days of the uprising. CTNE technicians were also repairing damaged telephone equipment for Franco's insurgents. The US government claimed neutrality in the Spanish civil war,but failed to prevent US companies like ITT financing and supporting Franco. It was this extra support which won Franco the war, and resulted in 36 years of fascist rule in Spain.

ITT & Pinochet

In 1970 ITT tried to get the CIA to support Salvadore Allende's right-wing opponent for the presidencey in Chile. ITT offered to pay the CIA $1million to prevent the Chilean Congress from confirming Allende after he was elected. Allende was campaigning on a platform of expropriation of American businesses, including ITT.

In October, 1971, President Salvador Allende of Chile, the first democratically elected socialist leader, nationalized ITT's 70% interest in the Chilean Telephone Company (Chiltelco). ITT proposed an 18-point action plan to the U.S. Government to strangle Chile's economy, create panic among its population, and cause social disorder,so the Chilean armed forces would overthrow Allende.

Three months later President Nixon created a special inter-agency group to implement ITT's proposal, and the National Security Council's Committee approved a plan to overthrow Allende. ITT directors John A. McCone, former head of the CIA, and Eugene R. Black, former head of the World Bank,
were instrumental in getting the U.S. to approve ITT's plan. Funding for the covert actions was channelled through the CIA, and the World Bank was one of the first financial institutions to cut off credit to Chile.

Allende was killed in 1973 in the resultant military coup funded by ITT, who were rewarded with the return of its holdings under new leader Augusto
Pinochet's brutal dictatorship which saw thousands of Chileans tortured and murdered.
Later in the decade charges of perjury were brought against ITT for having denied involvement in the CIA-backed military coup to US Congress. ITT public relations officer Hal Hendrix pleaded guilty to lying under oath, but was fined under $100 as a reward for cooperation in the larger perjury case against ITT.

The perjury case against ITT was dropped in 1979 on the grounds of international security, yet documents declassified in 2000 showed ITT to be guilty of perjury regarding its involvement in Chilean politics.
Despite its attempted re-branding, only last year ITT were found guilty of breaking US arms control laws by exporting secret night vision technology to foreign military forces which led to the largest fine in history
for breach of export control law.