Smedley Butler on Interventionism

[Stoic]

-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

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 (where have I heard that name before?). 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.

[Union Thug]

1. And nothing has changed. n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. We need to heed these words

Butler knew what he was talking about.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

3. Butler was one of only 19 to win the Medal of Honor twice. nt

[Uncle Joe]

4. Semper Fi to the late General Butler

:patriot: Thanks for the post Stoic

Kicked and recommended

[earlybelle]

5. Why isn't this plastered all over every public school and military base in America?

Why aren't some journalists touting this? Why aren't some pundits mentioning this---since they frequently pull out quotes that support the fascist regime of Bush. I would love to see Lou Dobbs read this in its entirety on his program....or Mccafferty.

[Trajan]

6. I posted an excerpt of this a month ago ....

Smedley Butler is a BONA FIDE american hero ....

And to think the Mellon/Chase/DuPont cabal intended to use him to overthrow the US Administration and install a Fascist regime ....

They fucked with the wrong Marine ....

THANK YOU Smedley Butler ....

[rman]

7. same guy that thwarted the business coup against FDR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

Business Plot
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The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch, was a conspiracy involving several wealthy businessmen to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

Purported details of the matter came to light when retired Marine Corps General Smedley Butler testified before a Congressional committee that a group of men had attempted to recruit him to serve as the leader of a plot and to assume and wield power once the coup was successful. Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 <1>. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot, <2> but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.



The plot to overthrow FDR
History Channel
43min
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=628728631767818729
http://www.ihffilm.com/r547.html
In 1932, while many Americans felt it was the way out of the Depression, a powerful group of financiers and industrialists saw the New Deal as a threat. THE PLOT TO OVERTHROW FDR reveals this group's plan to either overthrow the newly-elected president or force their agenda on him. They intended to use a paramilitary organization of disgruntled WWI veterans inspired by Marine General Smedley D. Butler to coerce the government. But Butler, discovering the details of the conspiracy, blew the whistle, triggering a Congressional investigation. Leading scholars, historians and government officials reveal the details of one of the most bizarre schemes in American history.

[Stoic]

8. Cripes, I forgot about this.

I've been pretty pessimistic since the election waiting for the Dems in Congress to stick their heads up their asses and begin the big sell-out to corporate interests. We live in a plutocracy and only once-in-awhile democracy.