War is a Racket

[unhappycamper]

The following is excerpted from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. General Butler won two Medals of honor and one of the rarest of American decorations for valor, the Marine Corps Brevet Medal.

<snip>

WAR is a racket. It always has been

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War < I > a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

MORE
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4377.htm

And here is a link General Butler's bio in the Marine Corps Legacy Museum:
http://www.mclm.com/tohonor/sbutler.html

[acmejack]

1. Even better are the guys who make money from both sides!

Old Prescott knew how. We need an independent War Profiteering investigation. The R's won't let it happen & Congressman Waxman is well and truly pissed!

[unhappycamper]

2. The war profiteering investigations catapulted Harry S. Truman into

the national spotlight. He was hampered at every turn by the system, yet he was still able to exposed massive fraud and waste.

If we had a free press, something like this could work now. Unfortunately, the fascists have taken over our media.

[Just Me]

3. It was true then and it is obviously true now!

Indeed, Sir,...war is a racket!!!

[tmooses]

4. General Butler was truly a man of insight into the use of our military

for personal and political gain. I had done some research on him while doing some research on the "Bonus Army" marchers (the 300 WWI veterans from Portland, OR led by Walter Walters) and the story of what happened in the Hooverville encampment in Anacostia. http://www.hampsteadchamber.com/A%20Southern%20Primer/hoover.htm

I was actually thinking about him last night while watching the new movie, Cinderella Man. I wish the movie had gone into some of the social issues surrounding the depression a little, but there was a scene that took part in a "Hooverville" in NYC.

I think Gen. Butler's antidote for war profiteering is as valid today as it was 80 years ago:

Conscript the members of those corporations who profit the most from war first.

Conduct a plebiscite on war where only draft age people are able to vote.

Build a defense minded military.




Anyone calling for these measures then or now is immediately branded anti-American or a communist by those who want to preserve the status quo. But Gen. Butler was unique because his patriotism and heroism could not be challenged. He performed his obligations for 30 years admirably and without question. His criticism was only after he had retired and was free to speak his mind. That type of courage is what we need now. Are you listening Gen. Powell?

[unhappycamper]

6. The Veterans for Peace has a Smedley D. Butler Brigade that is

very active in MA. I put together a link for the Patriot's Day parade in Concord:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x4021

I have the pictures for the Dorchester Day Parade, but still need to get the story together. But ya gotta admit, that's an distinctive banner:

[tmooses]

7. Thanks for those wonderful pics from Patriots Day. I wish I could salute

each and every one of those members. And what a beautiful day in Concord! I'd love to visit there someday.

[acmejack]

8. What a concept-the vote that is!

Problem is getting them out to vote! Actually, I believe it is middle age groups where participation is weakest.

The result would certainly be a resounding NO! Unfortunately, the probability of such a vote actually occurring are low for the foreseeable future.

But something we could make happen is addressing that need to inform and motivate the nonparticipants.

The opposition has all their voters out and participating. They are all fanatics of one sort or another, so they'll be out. The majority of the non-voters would be our supporters, should we get them informed and motivated.

[Protagoras]

5. we see this theme repeated in books, movies, etc

over and over again...and yet it still gets justified and financed every time.

Has there ever been a movie made where the defense contractor was the good guy? And yet no one bats an eye when Lockheed or Bechtel offers them a job.

How many ways can we say it?

[gmsage]

9. General Butler was a rare gem....

...I feel that our generation got "short sheeted" since the only anti-war brass the Democratic Party would give any prominence was Wesley Clark.

I remember General Clark at the Democratic Convention invoking the spirit of that fascist, and rabid Anti-Communist Woodrow Wilson. Wilson's policies are recounted in the film Reds, with Warren Beatty as Jack Reed.

Reed wrote, "War means an ugly mob-madness, crucifying the truth-tellers, choking the artists.... It is not our war." He testified before Congress against conscription: "I do not believe in this war...I would not serve in it."

Wilson's Justice Dept. had Reed arrested for "discouraging recruitment in the armed forces". Sound familiar???

[Just Me]

10. However, Wilson's perspective evolved from,...

,...power-grabbing to international power-sharing. He was an internally divided man, that's for sure.

[unhappycamper]

11. IIRC, the US was under martial law

during the lead up to and prosecution of WWI.

An interesting sidebar is the great influenza of 1918 was called the "Spanish Flu" because it was first reported in the (free) Spanish press. The pandemic started around Ft. Riley, Kansas & was exported to world via our deployment of troops.

[firefox]

13. It was really Freedom flu then? nt

[Just Me]

14. I do believe that the neoCONs anticipate imposing martial law,...

,...in their lead up and prosecution of a world war they are intent upon inciting. I'm hoping they'll either be removed from power or that I'll remove myself and my son before that happens.

Interesting sidebar btw.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi gmsage!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[firefox]

12. The drug war is a racket too

Halliburton was for Bu$h's War and so was any company that made armaments. It's the money thing.

[gmsage]

19. I like the way you talk, mmmhhhmmm.....

The WOD is one of the biggest rackets going in fact. That's why it's got so much financial backing from Big Pharma. If you've read any of my other postings here, you know that this issue is an obsession of mine.

Unfortunately Monday's ruling by the Supremes puts me on the same side as Rehnquist, and Clarence Thomas. How friggin' wierd that feels. Wish more rank and file democrats and our Representatives would see the ruling for the over-reaching tyranny that it is.

Now Bayer, the folks that brought us Heroin, in conjunction with the British company GW Pharmaceuticals is developing a marketing strategy for a marijuana spray called Sativex, hoping that they can corner the market in MMJ. GW Pharma even hired ex-deputy ONDCP Director, Andrea Barthwell to promote the new product. In their FAQ they say that they are "against legalization of crude marijuana". Who didn't see that coming???

[nuxvomica]

15. Butler was a great American

My avatar is a picture of him and my sig points to a link about how he foiled a corporatist-fascist plot to overthrow FDR. I even have a VHS of a History Channel documentary on the plot, which should be covered in high-school history classes. People need to understand that there is little difference between what's going on now and what went on then except that the American fascists nowadays are called "neocons" and they have been very successful so far.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. He was the first "economic hit man".. But he was honest about it.

Butler knew the US government was using the military to protect US corporate interests abroad. That was what that attempted Fascist coup of FDR was all about. FDR was going to put a stop to all that. Theoretically that may be one of the reasons why JFK was eliminated as well.
Same plan, different decade. Ironically it is some of the same families that are doing the planning...the Bushes for instance.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. It has been since Cain whacked Abel.

Not to mention that it's also legitimized murder.

[Karenina]

20. Kick for Sunday reading!

:kick: