War as “big business” - "The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism"

[bluhoodie]

Hossein-zadeh’s book sheds light on antecedents to increasingly aggressive war policies of America.

Book review of: "The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism" by Ismael Hossein-zadeh (Palgrave-Macmillan 2006).
Reviewed by Gernot Ruzicka

. . . In his famous farewell speech in January 1961, US President Eisenhower had warned of a possible takeover or unlawful influence of the military-industrial complex in the U.S., a force which already then had reached fearsome scale. In his recently published book, The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006), Kurdish-American professor of economics Ismael Hossein-zadeh<1> takes on the task of shedding light on the antecedents to the increasingly aggressive and expansionist war policies of the USA.<2>

Supported by numerous figures, dates and documents he succeeds in demonstrating that in the United States, for the first time in human history, an empire has arisen in which not the “logic” of waging of war determines weapons production, but rather the opposite: a gigantic weapons industry – the military-industrial complex– requires, and thus brings about, a permanent state of war to sustain weapons sales and profit. Here it is only secondarily a matter of economic, territorial or geopolitical advantage gained through war; rather, military power has succumbed to becoming an “end in itself” under the influence of a “parasitic military imperialism.” According to statements by the Pentagon in its annual “Base Structure Report,” the US has currently stationed one and one-half million military personnel in 6000 domestic and over 700 foreign bases in 130 countries.
Already before the Iraq War there were more than a quarter million uniformed personnel in place outside the USA. In addition, there is an equally high number of civil servants, technical personnel, agents, etc. . . ..

Culture of Militarism

Besides the Office of the President, the Office of National Security, the military committees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, as well as the Secret Service, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are naturally also involved in the military decisions process. But there is yet a third power behind this so-called “iron triangle”: approximately 85,000 private firms which profit from armament contracts with the Pentagon. Surrounding this core of the military-industrial complex are attached powerful research, advisory and lobbying organizations, such as the Rand Corporation and the Hoover Institution. Moreover, the Association of American Universities reported as recently as 2002 that nearly 350 colleges and universities conduct research financed by the Pentagon and that the universities receive more than 60 percent of their grants for defense-related research. The third largest sponsor involved in this is the Pentagon itself. Hossein-zadeh also describes how American culture has meanwhile been drenched by a spirit of militarism. This is however . . . a product of a systematic influence on civilian life through the cultivation of militarism. In this process the military establishment has used the news media and the entertainment industry “to justify wars and to sanitize as well as glorify them.”

War as “big business”

Of the national tax revenue of the USA, according to Hossein-zadeh, the share allotted to the Pentagon has grown to 41.6 %. This veritable war economy, which in size far overshadows Germany’s rearmament during the Third Reich, leads to a dependence of millions of workers and a competition among politicians of all parties for armaments contracts. Hossein-zadeh writes: “The control over huge amounts of national resources tends to lead to an undermining of democratic values, a perversion of republican principles and a reduction of civil freedoms, as well as to political corruption at home and abroad.” As an example he mentions that 5 of the 6 donors to the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives in 2001 were atomic weapons and rocket defense manufacturers.

Read more at Middle East Online: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/culture/?id=23309

[Echo In Light]

1. One can easily understand the need of a constant "enemy" and 9/11 movie script to sell to the public

In order to justify this heinous system which benefits the few over the many.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Just watch "Why We Fight"

And all shall be made CRYSTAL clear.

In fact, it's fairly clear why it wouldn't be any other way in our capitalist/military-industrial-complex world.

[Echo In Light]

3. No shortage of quality docs nowadays, and that's a good one

The commentary from former 60 Minutes producer, Charles Lewis, is particularly damning, talking about how "warlike" and militant Americans are without being able to acknowledge it. Terrifying. Also watch him the brilliant doc film Orwell Rolls in His Grave, about the U.S. media ... who owns it, the propaganda used to get people on board with the aims of centralized corporate power {fascism}, how news is managed and why, starting back in the 80s.