that questioned our intentions in Iraq.
The previous war in Vietnam and the current war in Iraq have nothing to do
with democracy, weapons of mass destruction or keeping Americans safe from
terrorists, communists or the boogeyman for that matter. It's all about business.
It's about exactly what Dwight Eisenhower warned us about, the
military-industrial complex, and this is exactly why I believe the policies that
emanate from Washington are antithetical to the teachings of Christ.
It's about money and greed, and making it safe for the US to conduct "business,"
particularly when it comes to natural resources.
Let's start with the Pentagon. I believe it's important to think in terms of how
important the Pentagon is to the economy.
There's hardly an element of the advanced technology industry in the U.S. that's
not tied into the Pentagon system-which includes NASA, the Dept. of
Energy...the whole apparatus.
When the Pentagon budget started to decline in 1986 and in 1987, real wages
started to fall off for skilled workers, in other words, for the college educated.
So, even a slight decline in military spending immediately showed up in real
wage levels for that sector of the population. (Lawrence Mishel and Jared
Bernstein, The State of Working America: 1994-95, Armonk, NY)
In the U.S. the form that fascism (dare I use that word?) took at first was the
New Deal, but this was too small, and it didn't really have enough effect. In
1939, the Depression was still approximately what it had been in 1932. Then
came WW2, and at that point, we really became fascist: we had a totalitarian
society basically, with a command economy, wage and price controls, allocations
of materials, all done straight from Washington. And the people who were
running it were mostly corporate executivess, who were called to the capital to
direct the economy during the war effort. So, the U.S. economy prospered
during the war, industrial production almost quadrupled, and we were finally out
of the Depression. (Richard B. DuBoff, Accumulation and Power: An Economic
History of the United States, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1989, ch. 6.)
After the war, there was general agreement among business and elite planners
in the U.S. that there would have to be massive government funneling of public
funds into the economy, the only question was how to do it. There was some
period of debate, where the issue was raised "Should the government pursue
military spending or social spending?" But, the issue was basically decided before
the debate began.
It was also established that the public should not know about it. The first
Secretary of the Air Force, Stuart Symington, stated in 1948: "The word to use is
not 'subsidy,' the word to use is 'security.'" In other words, if you want to make
sure the government can finance these industries, you have to maintain a
pretense of constant security threats-and they can be in Russia, Libya, Grenada,
Cuba or Iraq. (He made the remark in a discussion following an Air Force
presentation to the Combat Aviation Subcommittee of the Congressional
Aviation Policy Board, on January 21, 1948. See Frank Kofsky, Harry S. Truman
and the War Scare of 1948: A Successful Campaign to Deceive the Nation, New
York: St. Martin's, 1993)
And this is where we are today. What's required to keep a military economy
moving is a constant state of war. And what's required to maintain a constant
state of war is a steady supply of enemies. Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Noriega,
etc., all of which, at one time or another, were on the US payroll. Now, with the
war on terror, a war that can never be won, the US has a permanent enemy and
the wars can continue ad infinitum!
On the geo-political front, peak oil production is very much on the minds of
China, India, Pakistan, Japan and yes, the US. All of the positioning is happening
right now with alliances and deals being struck as we speak. It's apparent to me
that the US military is being transformed into a world-wide oil protection and
resource management operation. Look at what's happening in Africa. The
fighting lasting in Central Africa for 20 years!
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