From The Ramparts

war Wasts Lives

War Wasts Lives

“WAR is a racket. 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? Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill. And what is this bill?
This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations. For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.” War Is A Racket by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC 1935

As we pause from our rat race to take a brief respite from the weariness and drudgery of mindless consumerism and some even stop during this “holiday” to honor fallen soldiers and loved ones, we should ask ourselves what has all this killing gotten us, how have we benefitted from all these wars and “police actions”? The propagandists will say the wars were fought for freedom and to maintain liberty. I say except for the war of Independence and 1812 which the Europeans fought to free themselves from British rule and intervention all the other wars Euro-AmeriKKKa fought were wars of covetousness, imperialism and greed. For us as oppressed Africans in a brutal and vicious social order based on color and “race” fighting wars on behalf of our oppressors netted us little. Except for a few Africans who were granted freedom for fighting in the Revolutionary War and the masses of Africans who directly benefited from their participation on the Union side (a few Blacks actually fought on the side of the Confederacy) which resulted in the end of slavery we have received almost nothing for shedding our precious blood for whites!
Warfare, bloodletting, pillage and plunder are the cultural legacy of Europeans. Check out their history both in Eurasia and around the world. Their true nature is seen within the context of this ongoing behavior pattern and the massive disruption of existing social and ecological orders it has caused. War and plunder are so natural for Europeans they really don’t need a reason. When you stop and think about it, what valid reason or justification could they possibly invent that could stand up to enlightened scrutiny for their abhorrent behavior over the last few thousand years? The only conclusion any sane and clear thinking person can come up with is, something is seriously wrong with white folks, they just love to kill, maim and slaughter. Looking at their entertainment whether it be books, movies or television they get a vicarious charge out violence. So we should not be surprised the current ruling elites have embarked on wars of conquest in Haiti, Columbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and are actively plotting and planning additional wars with Iran and Syria.
Edwin Star asked and answered the rhetorical question, “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.” back in the ‘70's. But in 1935 a retired popular and highly decorated US Marine Major General named Smedley Darlington Butler after an illustrious career as a soldier and patriot wrote a small booklet entitled War Is Racket. This Memorial Day weekend I suggest you take the time to read it. It can be found Online at http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm Also take the time to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler and read about Major General Butler. I rarely promote Europeans but reading his book and looking as his experiences especially the episode in his life where he exposed an attempted fascist coup to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt will give you deeper insights into current events both at home and globally.
Wars are an outgrowth of a state of consciousness on the part of one or several parties, tribes or nations. Mental preconditions and affinities towards aggression, bloodletting, covetousness and hatred always exist before the first spear is thrown, the first arrow is shot or bomb is dropped. In a war there is usually an aggressor who initiates the contact/hostilities either covertly or overtly. Defensive wars are fought as a last resort or to defend one’s self from imminent danger, after another tribe or nation has initiated hostilities. Throughout its’ history AmeriKKKa’s aggression and genocide against the indigenous inhabitants of this land reflected the barbaric cultural patterns of Europeans in general. It is important we recognize this behavior for what it is and what it represents. AmeriKKKans wanted more territory so they launched wars against Mexico and Spain. AmeriKKKa’s ruling elites want to control the land, resources and labor of the world so they joined their Europeans kin in WWI and WWII, they supported the French imperialism in Indo-China and they recently launched a “Global War on Terrorism’ as a pretext and justification for their covetousness.
War stimulates the US economy. Major General Butler noted it in his day, “The World War, rather our brief participation in it, has cost the United States some $52,000,000,000. Figure it out. That means $400 to every American man, woman, and child. And we haven't paid the debt yet. We are paying it, our children will pay it, and our children's children probably still will be paying the cost of that war. The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits – ah! that is another matter – twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent – the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let's get it. Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and ‘we must all put our shoulders to the wheel,’ but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket – and are safely pocketed. Let's just take a few examples: Take our friends the du Ponts, the powder people – didn't one of them testify before a Senate committee recently that their powder won the war? Or saved the world for democracy? Or something? How did they do in the war? They were a patriotic corporation. Well, the average earnings of the du Ponts for the period 1910 to 1914 were $6,000,000 a year. It wasn't much, but the du Ponts managed to get along on it. Now let's look at their average yearly profit during the war years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight million dollars a year profit we find! Nearly ten times that of normal times, and the profits of normal times were pretty good. An increase in profits of more than 950 per cent. Take one of our little steel companies that patriotically shunted aside the making of rails and girders and bridges to manufacture war materials. Well, their 1910-1914 yearly earnings averaged $6,000,000. Then came the war. And, like loyal citizens, Bethlehem Steel promptly turned to munitions making. Did their profits jump – or did they let Uncle Sam in for a bargain? Well, their 1914-1918 average was $49,000,000 a year! Or, let's take United States Steel. The normal earnings during the five-year period prior to the war were $105,000,000 a year. Not bad. Then along came the war and up went the profits. The average yearly profit for the period 1914-1918 was $240,000,000. Not bad.” War Is A Racket
Do you think the Carlyle Group, Haliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root, General Electric Lockheed Martin et al are the first companies to gauge US taxpayers during time of war? Not hardly. That’s why both political parties are pushing for more war, they’ll get rich supporting wars because “defense contractors” and their lobbyists pay for their campaigns, the golf outings, the hookers and junkets. That’s why the Democrats just caved in the Bu$h and continued funding the war in Iraq! As the flag draped caskets continue to return and the crippled, maimed and traumatized military personnel come home, remember General Butler’s words. If you really want to stop this carnage and prevent more wasted lives around the world ,begin to actively oppose the warmongers and their cheerleaders by thinking peace and refuse to support war in any form or fashion.

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posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 8:12 AM