“The conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience...In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
“We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Farewell address
January 1961
At a time of year when Christians around the world celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, it is worthwhile to make note of the forces in this country and elsewhere who perennially beat the drums of war.
While the prescient warning of the late President Eisenhower has garnered much attention over the decades, the president’s wise words have rarely been heeded in the halls of power in Washington.
America has, unwisely, entered a period of what is likely to be permanent war—a condition that reflects the growing power of an immense corporate-military machine that reaps untold riches from the suffering of others.
No one would doubt that America needs a strong defense, but by nature of our size, wealth, and geographic isolation, there are few nations in the world that are, naturally, more secure from foreign invasion. To most of Washington, “defense” has become code for projecting American military power around the world. Sometimes that is in support of worthwhile endeavors, but often it represents the baser objectives of American corporations, seeking access to natural resources, such as oil.
But few Americans today understand the degree to which war itself has become the profit center for a growing legion of corporations, like Blackwater and Halliburton-affiliate KBR, that maintain their own military operations and provide a wide range of support services in our various war zones. The profits of these corporations ballooned in the wake of the Bush administration’s declared Global War on Terrorism, a declaration that literally doubled direct Pentagon spending in just seven years, from roughly $300 billion to more than $600 billion annually.
During that time, the number of American men and women in official uniform remained roughly the same. The vast majority of the new money went to private corporations, all of which now have a vital vested interest in the continuation of war and insecurity around the world.
Americans need to understand that the costs of this development are extraordinary. As Congress debates a health care measure that is expected to cost about $850 billion over a decade, it is worth remembering that the increase in Pentagon spending alone in recent years amounts to an extra $3 trillion a decade. And that’s on top of the $3 trillion a decade we spent prior to 2001.
Such immense spending represents vast overkill in terms of the nation’s actual security needs. And the wasteful use of resources crowds out more productive spending, and further adds to America’s growing debt.
Yet while we hear constant complaints that spending on health care, Social Security, or education will swell the deficit, we hear barely a whisper about the impact of money lavished on the Pentagon. The political pressure for more weapons systems and foreign entanglements is almost unstoppable. Bloated weapons systems that even the generals don’t want become difficult to stop as the arguments center more around profits and jobs than actual security. It is the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” about which President Eisenhower warned.
As a nation, we need to realize the degree to which our nation’s Capitol has been captured by the very forces that President Eisenhower described so eloquently nearly 50 years ago. And we need to push back, and support candidates who are willing to work seriously for peaceful ends. Peace on Earth won’t happen on its own. It will take a concerted commitment by people of good faith, and a realization that our words must, in the end, match our deeds, and our spending priorities.
