We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation, 1961
When President Eisenhower made his parting speech to the nation, many people were puzzled. Eisenhower was a career military man. How could he be so disloyal to his professional class, they wondered?
But Ike knew something most people don’t. He understood warmongers. And he knew that armed zombies are the most dangerous zombies of all.
We saw Ike in the flesh many years ago, just before he died. We were visiting our father in the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington.
We were walking down the corridor with Dad – a World War II veteran – when he suddenly stood up straight and saluted. It had been at least 20 years since he had worn a uniform, but the reflex was still there. When General Eisenhower whisked by us in a wheelchair, Dad stood to attention.
Now another 40 years have passed. Eisenhower’s warning, ignored and forgotten, has turned into a curse. For reasons of its own – money, power, status – the military-industrial complex pulls us into war after war.
Our old friend Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune:
| The US boasts the most powerful military on Earth. We have 1.4 million active-duty personnel, thousands of tanks, ships and planes, and 5,000 nuclear warheads. We spend more on defense than the next 13 countries combined.Since 1991, notes University of Chicago security scholar John Mearsheimer, the US has been at war in two out of every three years… We are more secure than any country in the history of the world. What almost all of our recent military interventions have in common is that they involved countries that had not attacked us: Libya, Iraq, Serbia, Haiti, Somalia, Panama, Grenada and North Vietnam. With the notable exception of the Afghanistan invasion, we don’t fight wars of necessity. We fight wars of choice. |
Why do we choose to stick our noses in other peoples’ business?
What reward do we get for the trillions of dollars we spend doing so… and for the young men who come home with missing limbs and suicidal tendencies?
Why do we do it? Hawks, doves, geopolitical strategy, national security – none of them have anything to do with it.
They are just wind...
BS...
TV babble...
Bill Bonner founded Agora, Inc in 1978. It has since grown into one of the largest independent newsletter publishing companies in the world. He has also written three New York Times bestselling books, Financial Reckoning Day, Empire of Debt and Mobs, Messiahs and Markets.
The above article originally appeared at www.billbonnersdiary.com.
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