War Is A Racket By Major General Smedley Butler

[papau]

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/newsletter/09.22.2006.html

The following is an excerpt from a speech Gen. Butler delivered in 1933…one of over 1,200 speeches he delivered in over 700 US cities.

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of 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 masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

In 1935, Gen. Butler published his famed short work titled War is a Racket. Click here http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm to read it in its entirety.

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm

War Is A Racket
By Major General Smedley Butler
Contents

Chapter 1: War Is A Racket http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm#CHAPTER ONE
Chapter 2: Who Makes The Profits? http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm#CHAPTER TWO
Chapter 3: Who Pays The Bills? http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm#CHAPTER THREE
Chapter 4: How To Smash This Racket!
Chapter 5: To Hell With War! http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm#CHAPTER FIVE

[marmar]

1. Butler, in his words, got tired a being a "gangster" for capitalism...

We need about 1,000 of him these days.

[bigbrother05]

2. Thanks for posting, bookmarked for later reading

My Dad was in WW11, Korea, and Vietnam, always told
War was good for the US economy.

[Jcrowley]

3. K & R

[ShortnFiery]

4. Excellent! k & r

[bhikkhu]

5. Excellent piece. Also recommend "Confessions of an Economic

Hit Man" for the post-WWII period to now. And Tuchman's "Proud Tower" which chronicles the time just before Butler's era, where the choice was effectively made for empire.

I truly hope my grandchildren will live in a peaceful world, and learn a more accurate version of history in school than I did.

[OneBlueSky]

6. I've seen this posted many times . . . imo, it should be re-posted . . .

at least once a week . . . and recommended to the "Greatest" thread each time . . .

this is something that we need to keep in the forefront of our consciousness as we work to reclaim our country from BushCo and the corporations . . .

[papau]

7. I agree - :-)

:-)

[FogerRox]

8. Dont forget Smedley exposing the 1934 coup attempt on FDR

History channel movie on the WH coup in 1934:

http://www.videos.informationclearinghouse.info/fdrplot.wmv

KOS on the WH coup in 1934:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/27/112936/440

[FogerRox]

9. vote this up, come on DUers

:kick:

[sadiesworld]

10. .

[cascadiance]

11. A film on Smedley Butler should be Clooney's next project!

I bet he'd do a decent job of it, and would have the clout in Hollywood to get it made!

[Tace]

12. Every Time I Say To Someone: "Ever Hear Of Smedley Butler?"...

the person I ask says, "No."

They never heard of Smedley Butler or the attempted military coup on FDR, or the tie-in of George W. Bush's ancestors with the attempted FDR coup... and their support for the Third Reich.

I'm convinced the number of people in the United States aware of this stuff is some small fraction of one percent.