Major General Smedley Butler,
the most decorated U.S. Marine in history wrote a book: War is a
racket!
In Butler’s book, he described and criticized the workings of the
United States government in its foreign actions and wars, such as
those he took part, and the American corporations and other
imperialist motivations behind them.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower said the same thing during his last
speech as president of the United States. He called the
factions creating wars, “The military industrial complex.”
It’s made up mega corporations in the business of warplanes,
munitions, textiles, boots, rifles, foods, tanks and everything that
soldiers need to fight wars. Profits, profits, profits!
What kind of men make up the military industrial complex? As
Butler said they generate and buy wars by creating conflict where no
conflict occurs.
Even the German Nazi Hermann Goring said, “Why of course the people
don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his
life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to
his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war:
neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of a country who
determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the
people along, whether it is a democracy or fascist dictatorship, or
a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the
people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is
easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and
denounce the peace makers for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
The United States started the Korean War by making up a story that
we needed to combat communism from spreading. Over 33,000
young men lost their lives in that pointless and useless
conflict. But the military industrial complex made a fortune!
The United States started the Vietnam War, which, again, began as a
civil war between the people of that country. Again,
politicians ramped it up, and sold the public as to Nam’s
purpose. Over 58,300 kids paid with their lives for Robert
McNamara and Lyndon Baines Johnson’s pointless and useless
war. But again, as William Lederer wrote in his book Our Own
Worst Enemy, the big money corporations made billions on war
production. It lasted for 10 solid years while accomplishing
nothing. Except we dropped more bombs than WWII and sprayed
Agent Orange that killed more people and created horrific birth
defects in the Vietnamese for decades. Who made Agent
Orange? Monsanto, and they continue to poison the world with
their GMO crops and Round-Up weed killer.
Personally, I think the CEO and stockholders at Monsanto should be
tried and convicted of crimes against humanity and the natural
world. They destroy every living thing they inject, spray or
change DNA.
About the only thing that stopped the Vietnam War---college kids
marching and burning draft cards, and refusing to go to war. The
Kent State killings made huge impact on the “Silent Majority.”
How did the military industrial complex sneak around that problem to
create the Iraq War and/or continuation of the Afghanistan
War? Make our military a volunteer army so if a kid gets
killed, he chose to join the U.S. military, so he chose his own
death.
In reality, the men and corporations of the military industrial
complex chose his death. All soldiers remain chattel and
chowder for our war machine. No heroes exist in war---only
lucky guys that dodged that bullet with their name on it.
Today, after 17 years, George W. Bush started a war in Afghanistan
and later in Iraq, more than 4,100 of our finest youth lost their
lives and thousands walk with prosthetic limbs. Obama
continued it and Trump continues those wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. We’ve spent in excess of $5 to $7 trillion.
Our country drowns in $20 trillion in debt. What did we
accomplish? We killed bin Laden six years ago at a cost of $7
trillion and thousands of young kids’ lives sacrificed.
Mind you! We spent that $7 trillion to fight a bunch of goat
herders, war lords and poppy growers, most of them illiterate.
And, we keep training their men to stop the insurgents, when most of
them ARE the insurgents. So, we’re training them to kill our
soldiers.
And, because we support a volunteer military, less than one percent
of American youth serve our country. Thus, no big outcry
because so few suffer death or dismemberment.
But the military industrial complex corporation stockholders
continue making a killing. As General Butler said, “War
is a racket; it’s all about money; it’s not about freedom; it’s all
about money.”
On top of that our US Congress financially supports 700 bases in 80
countries around the world. Yes, seven hundred military
bases! We pay for 450,000 military personnel operating those
bases. For what? It means we stick our nose into
everybody’s else’s business. Again, the military industrial
complex makes a fortune maintaining those bases.
For the record, doesn’t knowing this make you sick to your
stomach? What could we have done spending $7 trillion in our
own country? How about building homes for 1.5 million homeless
Americans? How about supporting 13 million children living
below the poverty level? Any ideas on solving the health care
crisis to cover all Americans in need of health care? How
about stopping 13 teens from dying of overdoses of drugs hourly,
24/7? I suspect that $7 trillion would have covered everyone
for decades.
How about African-Americans slugging it out in our inner
cities? Any chance $7 trillion would build new schools, gyms,
pools and after school activities? Any chance we could pay inner
city teachers double their current salaries to teach in those
Godforsaken inner-city schools where violence, incest, drugs and
killings remain the norm? How about cleaning up Chicago and
Los Angeles? How about building a wall on our southern
border to keep out drugs? That $7 trillion would have made our
country vibrant, vital and successful beyond imagination!
As we move into the “Season of Peace on Earth”, I bet the men of the
military industrial complex have already planned the next war for
our kids to go get killed and maimed. And, we citizens will
sit by complacently without a whimper. Goring hit it dead on
the head!
Why are we still waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan? Answer:
because most Americans don’t give a damn! And that my friend,
is what the men of the military industrial complex count on!
##
-- Frosty Wooldridge
Golden, CO
Population-Immigration-Environmental specialist: speaker at
colleges, civic clubs, high schools and conferences
Facebook: Frosty Wooldridge
Facebook Adventure Page: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of
Exploring the World
Www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com
Www.frostywooldridge.com
Six continent world bicycle traveler
Speaker/writer/adventurer
Adventure book: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of
Exploring the World
Frosty Wooldridge, six continent world bicycle traveler, Canada to
Mexico summer 2015, 2,000 miles, 100,000 vertical feet of climbing
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