Military
Despite whatever theories strategists may spin, the defense budget is now, to a large degree, a jobs program. It is also a cash cow that provides billions of dollars for corporations, lobbyists, and special interest groups. Ronald Steel: Temptations of a Superpower, 1995.
"The American military has been transformed into a “global oil-protection service” for the benefit of U.S. corporations and consumers, fighting overseas battles and establishing its bases to ensure that we get our daily fuel fix." Michael Klare, professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of scientists, the hopes of its children. -- Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. President and General
"That U.S. military budget exceeds what the rest of the world’s nations combined spend on defense. Nor can it be justified as militarily necessary to counter terrorists, who used primitive $10 box cutters to commandeer civilian aircraft on 9/11. It only makes sense as a field of dreams for defense contractors and their allies in Washington who seized upon the 9/11 tragedy to invent a new Cold War. Imagine their panic at the end of the old one and their glee at this newfound opportunity. Ike was right: Robert Scheer"
The second prevailing dogma of our time is aggressive militarism, of which the new policy of preemptive strike against potential enemies is but an extension. This new doctrine of U.S. foreign policy goes far beyond our former doctrine of preventive war. It green-lights political elites to sacrifice U.S. soldiers—who are disproportionately working class and youth of color—in adventurous crusades. This dogma posits military might as salvific in a world in which he who has the most and biggest weapons is the most moral and masculine, hence worthy of policing others. In practice, this dogma takes the form of unilateral intervention, colonial invasion, and armed occupation abroad. It has fueled a foreign policy that shuns multilateral cooperation of nations and undermines international structures of deliberation. Fashioned out of the cowboy mythology of the American frontier fantasy, the dogma of aggressive militarism is a lone-ranger strategy that employs “spare-no-enemies” tactics. It guarantees a perennial resorting to the immoral and base manner of settling conflict, namely, the perpetration of the very sick and cowardly terrorism it claims to contain and eliminate. On the domestic front, this dogma expands police power, augments the prison-industrial complex, and legitimates unchecked male power (and violence) at home and in the workplace. It views crime as a monstrous enemy to crush (targeting poor people) rather than as an ugly behavior to change (by addressing the conditions that often encourage such behavior). Cornel West: Democracy Matters
10 Conservative Myths About National Security
The US Has 761 Military Bases Across the Planet, and We Simply Never Talk About It (9/8/2008)
The US Military's Middle East Crusade for Christ
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America's Medicated Army --U.S. troops are going into battle with a
different kind of weapon, one so stealthy that few Americans even know of its
deployment. 05 Jun 2008 For the first time in history, a sizable and
growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants
to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The medicines drugs are intended not only to help troops keep their
cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most
precious resource: soldiers on the front lines. Data contained in the Army's
fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an
anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in
Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants
or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and
the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there
than in Iraq, military officials say.
GAO Blasts Weapons Budget
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040108A.shtml (April 1, 2008)
Writing for the Washington Post, Dana Hedgpeth reports: "Government auditors
issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons
systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over
budget and years behind schedule. The Government Accountability Office found
that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295
billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion..."
Military waste is at horrendous levels. See the Washington Post's take here. (02/01/2008)
Yet healthcare for the troops is not a high priority. It isn't for the rest of us either.
Ongoing problems at Walter Reed
Veterans Without Health Care: The New York Times | (November 9, 2007)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/111007C.shtml
In an editorial, The New York Times says that "many Americans believe that the
nation's veterans have ready access to health care, that is far from the case.
A new study by researchers at the Harvard Medical School has found that
millions of veterans and their dependents have no access to care in veterans'
hospitals and clinics, and no health insurance to pay for care elsewhere."
Are Bush and Cheney out of control ?
The US spends more on the military than the rest of the world combined. US troops are deployed worldwide. (Some listed here)
How much do Americans know about this ?
Budget: Highest Military Spending Since World War II
President Bush's 2009 budget would increase spending on the military to $515 billion -- and this number doesn't even count the billions the U.S. is spending every day in Iraq. The White House says the military budget - again not counting spending on Iraq - has grown by 70 percent since President Bush took office. Keep checking our website for updated analysis of the federal budget.
Blackwater
Iraq
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) was
founded by Iraq war veterans in July
2004 at the annual convention of Veterans for Peace (VFP) in Boston to give a
voice to the large number of active duty service people and veterans who are
against this war, but are under various pressures to remain silent.
From its inception, IVAW has called for:
- Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq;
- Reparations for the pillaging and destruction of Iraq so that ordinary Iraqi people can control their own lives and future; and
- Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women.
Today, IVAW members are in 32 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and on numerous bases overseas, including Iraq. IVAW members educate the public about the realities of the Iraq war by speaking in communities and to the media about their experiences. Members also dialogue with youth in classrooms about the realities of military service. IVAW supports all those resisting the war, including Conscientious Objectors and others facing military prosecution for their refusal to fight.IVAW advocates for full funding for the Veterans Administration, and full quality health treatment (including mental health) and benefits for veterans when they return from duty.
Military Families Speak Out is an Organization of people opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military. Formed by two families in November of 2002, we have contacts with military families throughout the United States and in other countries around the world. Our membership currently includes over 3,000 military families, with new families joining daily.
Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985 that includes men and women veterans from World War II , Korea , Vietnam , the Gulf War, other conflicts and peacetime veterans. Our collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary. Veterans for Peace has a national office in Saint Louis , MO and members across the country organized in chapters or as at-large members.
See Iraq
Bibliography
The Three Trillion Dollar War: Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
The Complex, How the Military invades our everyday lives: Nick Turse