WAR is a racket.......

[marmar]

..... It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the 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 very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War {I} a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

- Smedley Darlington Butler :patriot:

[islandmkl]

1. the whole speech is a wonder....

a general from 'back in the day'...way back...who spoke about the military-industrial complex 30 years before Eisenhower...

who listened?

where are we today?

[Taverner]

2. That's GENERAL Smedly Darlington Butler to you :)

A true American hero - and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for keeping us from becoming a fascist state.

[Flying Dream Blues]

8. All due respect to a fine hero, but with that name he almost HAD to be a soldier. :) nt

[B Calm]

3. Any honest veteran will admit that war is a racket! It's all about

rich people getting richer!

[HereSince1628]

4. Always nice to see old gems get replayed!

Smedley also acted to stop the coup d etat the bankers tried to pull on FDR.

Interesting that the bankers included representatives of banks (one run by a Bush) that are now being bailed out by another Bush.

[tuckessee]

5. But racketeers are heroes.

Go figure.

[mainegreen]

6. Peace is a ball!

Sorry.
Couldn't resist.

:P

[genie_weenie]

7. That's why this war is DIFFERENT!

When I worked alongside Jenna and Not-Jenna and Chelsea in Iraq, bathing in dirty water and ducking mortar rounds, and missing 3 straight Christmas's with family and them missing out on the DC party scene, I KNEW this war was a true WAR of Liberty and Freedom.

“Democracy is messy,” Donald Rumsfeld.

[guitar man]

9. ooh-rah!!

and a big Semper Fi to General Butler! :patriot: