What is our military defending anyway?

[ashling]

[ProgressSaves]

1. Nothing recently that has had a decent ROI for the 99%.

Diplomacy is on the rise, though, and holds promising returns.

[on point]

2. The oil to fuel our imperial empire in support of the 1%

[Bigmack]

11. Cheaper to buy it at world prices.. nt

[Chuuku Davis]

3. Easy

Cheap dependable oil

[daleanime]

4. K&R....

[DJ13]

5. Corporate profits

[Arugula Latte]

7. Yep.

Dwight D. Eisenhower called it.

[rhett o rick]

6. Your tax dollars are going to protect the wealthy elite. nm

[jimlup]

8. Me thinks most here know the answer...

it's just the truth of the world. Unfortunate but true. For lack of a better term - Imperialism?

[PowerToThePeople]

9. US of C

[sammy27932003]

10. Try to feed our starving and homeless children first.

Does anybody know how many wars we are in right now? I just read we have 151,000 soldiers and contractors in Iraq from a soldier.All Media disinfo are nothing but lapdogs for 3 corporations.They said weekly deaths of our soldiers is Classified.

[spanone]

12. it's own existence.

[bhikkhu]

13. We can afford all that. We just don't do it.

The military budget, ideally, maintains the rule of law and stable markets, which, ideally, provides the best opportunities to good people for prosperity and peace.

[truebluegreen]

23. "Ideally" being the key word.

Unfortunately reality is very different. So different that a poll of 65,000 people in 65 countries showed the U.S. the clear winner in the "Most Dangerous to World Peace" category (24%; China was second at 8%).

[freshwest]

14. When letting my mind run wild, I wonder if TPTB with their intense focus on off world exploration,

knows something we don't know. So they are building something to stop it or to flee. It's a higher goal, seeking the survival of some as they can't save all on a planet with finite resources.

Their intense interest in space is not just from curiousity. They've proven to be very survival oriented. They want to consolidate their power to combine it for some great purpose. Maybe.

I'm working at discovering as much as a member of the 99% can figure what they expect from all of this. Without calling it good or bad. Just want to know the why of it all.

[KG]

15. trade routes. as ever for imperial militaries

[Scuba]

16. I endorse this post.

[newfie11]

17. So do I

[Octafish]

18. Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC, MOH(2) spelled it out...

"I spent 33 years...being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism....

"I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1916. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street....

"In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested....I had...a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotions....I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three cities. The Marines operated on three continents..." (p 118).

DETAILS...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6150066

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Twenty million dollar per year salaries for..

The CEO's of the defense contractors.


They are defending the biggest pork barrel spending the world has ever known

[jsr]

20. Our military serves and protects the defense-surveillance industry.

[tk2kewl]

21. Freedumb!

freedom to profiteer

[L0oniX]

22. Corporations