The real menace- Robert Scheer, -military-industrial complex.

[rodeodance]

a month old------but good article.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/12/27/EDGOULJ6PK1.DTL&type=printable

The real menace

- Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The public, seeing through the tissue of Bush administration lies told to justify an invasion that never had anything to do with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 or weapons of mass destruction, now has begun a national questioning: Why are we still in Iraq? The answers posted most widely on the Internet by critics of the war suggest its continuation as a naked imperial grab for the world's second largest petroleum source, but that is wrong.

It's not primarily about the oil; it's much more about the military-industrial complex, the label employed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower 45 years ago when he warned of the dangers of "a permanent arms industry of vast proportions."

The Cold War had provided the rational for the first peacetime creation of a militarized economy. While the former general, Eisenhower, was well aware of the military threat posed by the Soviet Union, he chose in his farewell presidential address to the nation to warn that the war profiteers had an agenda of their own, one that was inimical to the survival of American democracy:

"In the councils of government, 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."

Ponder those words as you consider the predominant presence of former Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney, in the councils of this White House, and how his old company has profiteered more than any other from the disaster that is Iraq. Despite having been found to have overcharged some $60 million to the U.S. military for fuel deliveries, the formerly bankrupt Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, continues to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in lucrative contracts. ...

[crickets]

1. K&R

:dem:

[Locrian]

2. Republic or Empire

Excellent article in Harpers along this very liine:

http://billtotten.blogspot.com/2007/01/republic-or-empire.html


Republic or Empire
A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States {1}
by Chalmers Johnson {2}
Harper's Magazine (January 2007)


"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence - economic, political, and even spiritual - is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society."


Basically - the neocons have already WON. We are now a defacto oligarchy, headed by military/industrial corporations. Until we go bankrupt:

"It appears for the moment, however, that the people of the United States prefer the Roman approach and so will abet their government in maintaining a facade of constitutional democracy until the nation drifts into bankruptcy."