In case you didn't know "War Is A Racket"

[Faux pas]

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 to read it in its entirety.

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

Thanks for listening and PLEASE VOTE!

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[liam_laddie]

6. Another book about the attempted takeover

Look for "The Plot To Seize the White House" by Jeffrey Archer (1973.)
It's out of print, but entire text is available for download on-line.
Chilling, and a decent basis for understanding BushCorp and the
stakeholders behind the curtain.

[FogerRox]

21. Repost, I edited out an unreliable web site that I liked to

Watch this 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

This makes the connection from JP Morgan to Prescott Bush:
Then on May 1, 1926, Prescott Bush joined W.A. Harriman & Co. as its vice president, under the bank's president, Bert Walker.

Averell Harriman announced in 1920 that he would re-start Germany's Hamburg- Amerika Line.

Bert Walker had arranged a "marriage" of J.P. Morgan credit and Harriman family inherited wealth.

Chapter 1, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography --- by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin


Morgan was obsessed with the media and endeavored to control it. Providing backing for the New Republic had a threefold purpose for Morgan. Firstly, it would keep him abreast of the thinking in left-wing circles. He even had an inside man in the communist press. Secondly, Morgan believed a magazine such as the New Republic allowed the left to blow off steam, thus acting as a safety valve. Finally, he also believed it would give him a power of veto on any actions originated by the left, in case they ever went radical.
Funding the New Republic was not the only effort funded by Morgan to gain control of the press. In 1915, he got together 12 leading men within the newspaper business and commissioned them to determine how one could control the national press. They agreed that, to control the national press, all that was needed was to control 25 of the most influential papers. Morgan immediately sent emissaries to purchase the editorial policy of the 25 selected papers. Morgan also used his money to form the American Legion and to craft it into a union busting and redbaiting group of hired thugs that ran amok during the 1919 Red Scare terrorizing and murdering countless union leaders and leftists.
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was another Morgan front group aimed at controlling the American people. The CFR evolved out of the Rhodes Roundtable group during WWI. Most of the early members were Morgan employees who had met their English counterparts during the Paris Peace Conference. The CFR was a bridging group between the Morgans and the Rockefellers, and the Rockefellers provided much of the financial support. As the Rockefeller fortune came to outgrow the Morgan fortune, the CFR became more dominated by the Rockefellers. Percy Rockefeller, a Skull and Bones member who served on the board of the Morgan Guaranty Trust further strengthened the bridge between the Morgan and Rockefeller dynasties.

By Glen Yeadon, 8/21/04, George W. Bush, The Neocons, & The Nazis: Ties That Bind

[Gabi Hayes]

35. speaking of unreliable sites, you do know that Chaikin/Tarpley are

LaRouchies?

I've read a lot of that book, and wonder, as a result of their ties to that swindling creep, how much faith to put in their research

it sounds convincing on the surface, but so does a LOT of RW crap, lacking equally formidable-appearing evidence to the contrary

[Gabi Hayes]

34. that would be Jules Archer, not Jeffrey

http://www.amazon.com/Smedley-Darlington-Butler/lm/196W9LDU9H1KI

I got it from my library

[pnorman]

8. Great find!

I already have the DVD, but I now have a computer file, as well as a link to share it with others. This topic came under discussion on DU recently. It's stiil very relevant. In that discussion were given TWO links to that Jules Archer book, by now almost unobtainable in print. Later, I'll try to dig them out and post them on this thread.

pnorman
On edit: Here's the on-line version of that book "The Plot to Sieze The White House": http://www.clubhousewreckards.com/plot/plottoseizethewhitehouse.htm I also have a link to a page by page scan of that book, but this link is far superior, so I won't bother. Download that book NOW, before it disappears, like the print version did!

[Selatius]

2. Wesley Clark is about as close as we have to Gen. Butler

But even Clark was never as blunt and forward as Butler was.

[FogerRox]

3. Clarke has never been asked to lead a coup against a sitting US

President. Butler was.

[formercia]

10. If you only knew.....

Wes Clark's little secret....

[Selatius]

13. What is this secret, btw? n/t

[formercia]

14. hint

look at his foreign decorations.

[jokerman93]

15. yes, and??? n/t

[Selatius]

16. I'm still not following. If it pleases you, could you give a URL? n/t

[formercia]

17. dead links

Besides his many military decorations (both foreign and domestic), Wes Clark also holds an advanced degree in economics, several honorary Knighthoods, the USA's highest civilian level award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a National Audubon Society award for saving an endangered species of desert turtle.

http://www.answers.com/topic/wesley-k-clark#wp-Knighthoods



They used to be available on his web site but it seems they have proven to be more of an embarrassment that they were worth.

[formercia]

20. And, oh, by the way....

In case you missed it in civics class:


Article I, Section 9, of the original Constitution:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

[Faux pas]

19. Guess I'd better do some research on Clark, thanks. n/t

[tech3149]

4. Two Kicks

One for Gen. Butler and one for Tom Wyka.

[AntiFascist]

5. Butler certainly has made notable contributions, having possibly...

saved the U.S. from a fascist takeover. Although I do believe WWII may have started out as a racket, with industrialists putting Hitler into power and funding his war machine, I also believe it got way out of control due to fanaticism. Eventhough there may be LIHOP-type evidence for the original Pearl Harbor, I believe we did the right thing by ultimately getting involved and putting the fanatics out of business. Unfortunately it had to end with atomic bombs.

Now the fanatics happen to be running both sides of the conflict. We still have the power to end the problem, before our fanatics get our of hand.

[No Exit]

7. Should be required reading especially for all Americans under 30

[formercia]

9. All well and good

but there is still a higher power: The Knights of Malta. Cecil Rhodes was a Knight of Malta. He combined financing from the Rothschilds to take over the diamond mines in South Africa and conquer most of southern Africa. Before he died he saw the founding of the CFR to keep the party going but behind the curtain, there were the Knights controlling the whole show. They never work in the open, preferring to hide behind their charitable works and use front men like Fearless leader to ramrod the show. They always play both sides against the barbarian masses and no matter who wins, they always get their cut. Fritz Von Papen, a Knight of Malta, convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, thus bringing to power the Third Reich with obvious consequences. It didn't matter to them who was going to win WWII. A good portion of US Defense industries at the time were and still are controlled by the Knights. Frank Carlucci, head of Carlyle is one. Go figure.

Knights of Malta, starting wars and raiding Treasuries since 1099.

Reliable rumor has it that they are moving a lot of money into India. It seems like a logical target for a takeover. Lots of potential slave labor, a big and well armed military and nukes.

[atfqn]

11. Any chance

part of your post came from a book I might be able to find? I am intrigued and would like to know more. So if you have a title or few, would you let me know?

[formercia]

12. There are books out there on the subject

but I don't refer to them directly. I learned about the 'boys' 50 years ago from my father who was OSS and Knight of Malta. I've been putting the bits together myself. I have found that most writers are either ignorant of the details and get most of their info from other writers, thus creating an incestuous loop of questionable info, or have an agenda to divert the readers' attention elsewhere.

One of the leaders of the coup, Raskob was treasurer of the Knights at the time. That's the small group of people Bultler refers to. he knew better than to name them directly. He would have not lasted very long if he had.

[atfqn]

23. Unfortunately

this was the same conclusion I had reached. I was hoping you might have a fresh insight that I had missed. Shrug, history is fascinating.

[AntiFascist]

25. Hi formercia !

I've only recently learned about Butler myself and I'm fascinated by how close the world actually may have come to a fascist takeover. Was this really the motive of the Knights, or are they always trying to play off right-wing against left-wing elements, profiting all the while? The Cold War, I assume, was one of their greatest achievements.

[formercia]

26. From a financial standpoint

Hi, long time since the old focus group days. :)

The Cold War was probably the biggest money machine in history and money is a requirement to maintain power. Worldwide, there are probably 10K or so members, so it takes money to hire minions to do the dirty work.
as Far as the US is concerned, the Knights have been under orders for over a 100 years to destroy the US as a democratic government.The basis for the order was that the US is a product of Freemasonry and should be destroyed.
You can read the papal bull here:
Humanum Genus

Encyclical on Freemasonry
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII
Promulgated on April 20, 1884
http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_le13hg.htm

Don't let the date fool you. This order is still in effect. It sounds a bit archaic but they use this as their justification.
It used to be that the Knights had to be descendant from recognized families tied to european aristocracy but the US chapters that began here in the 1920's were waived from that requirement. The head of the knights does have the power to grant titles, usually Marquis, to those members that aren't from good families.

[AntiFascist]

30. That's very interesting....

and it addresses my other question, whether there are strong binds between the Knights and certain right-wing factions of the Catholic Church. One of the products of a member of that focus group being:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/8/204225/7523

Mother Jones has also done some excellent reporting on the overlap of the CIA with factions of the Catholic Church and the Knights of Malta:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1983/07/willbedone.html

BTW, this was published in 1983, long before it became popular to associate Opus Dei with the mythological DaVinci Code material, which only seems to serve as a distraction.

This work by Rev. Charles G. Finney gives an interesting history of freemasonry in the US, and could point to certain philosophies that have energized Evangelicals recently, possibly explaining an alliance with Catholics to destroy freemasonry?

http://www.scarletandthebeast.com/william%20morgan.htm

[zonkers]

18. I remember reading about this guy, thanks for reminding me. He

has a whole Nat'l Guard unit named for him, doesn;t he. I'm going to bookmark and read later.

[FogerRox]

22. Come on people, vote this post up, great OP, kickin

[Faux pas]

24. Thanks for the k & r, too bad not many think this sounds interesting

enough to check out. Oh well, I tried, their loss.

[FogerRox]

27. kickin

[Faux pas]

28. Appreciated FogerRox! Love the name btw. n/t

[FogerRox]

29. Flipped from Roger Fox, as if no-one ever guessed

[Faux pas]

31. LOL I got it right away. I originally wanted to use the name

Fox Paws.

[FogerRox]

33. & now back to our regularly scheduled program "WAR IS A RACKET"

[Uncle Joe]

32. Semper Fi, General Butler

Kicked too late to recommend

:kick: