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After years of conflict in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Americans might have expected that some of their country’s huge defence budget would be diverted to more pressing domestic concerns. But with US strategic priorities now switching to the Asia/Pacific region, will America’s top generals ever allow their spending to be cut? America’s War Games, Al Jazzera 2008
The Pentagon gets weapons; defense companies get profits; and politicians get re-elected by funding armaments that generate jobs for constituents. ibid.
There are also hundreds of lobbyists for the defence industry who work for Congressional committees and federal agencies. ibid.
‘According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,’ Rumsfeld admitted. The War on Waste – Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% of Funds – $2.3 Trillion, CBS 2011
As a part of that $48.1 billion increase in the $400 billion defense request that came from the President, there inside was money for the Crusader missile. Cynthia McKinney
Prominently featured in my dissent is mention of the Carlyle Group and its relationship to the Defender missile. Cynthia McKinney
The most dangerous institution in American is the military-industrial complex, which is bleeding us dry – one trillion dollars a year, which is terrorising the wretched of the Earth … the disease that is eating at the very core of our society. Chris Hedges, Constructing Rebellion: The Overthrow of Corporate Tyranny, Youtube 1.33.48, 2019
We’re going to tax them at 91% like we used to … [and] destroy the military machine in this country which is the greatest enemy of democracy. Chris Hedges, lecture Seattle University 2018, ‘Corporate Totalitarianism: The End Game’ *****
Military budget is simply an enormous pork barrel of special privilege, the privileges taking the form of windfall profits, of no-risk profits and, most importantly, of enormous outlays of capital supplied by the Pentagon to arms contractors. William Karp
We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration ... A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. 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. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Dwight D Einseinhower, address to nation 17th January 1961
The Industrial-Military Complex: the American military elite seems to have responded to a recurring need of waging wars of conquest both to increase the control of world-wide resources and to maintain a healthy and productive war for industry. PSTV.tv – The New American Century
They would feed the insatiable appetite of the military-industrial complex. Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States VIII: Reagan, Gorbachev & Third World: Rise of the Right, Showtime 2012
But Ronald Reagan at the least let the chance to rid the world of nuclear weapons slip through his fingers because he wouldn’t let go of a space fantasy. ibid.
Arguably, the most powerful force is the military-industrial complex. It not only needs conflict to create wealth and jobs, it needs citizens to believe there is always an enemy out there. Alan Hart, Media Morphs: Conspiracy I, Edge Media 2012
He [Eisenhower] knew what was happening, and he attempted to warn us when he left office; and he told us quite bluntly, in no uncertain terms to beware of the military-industrial complex. And who is the military-industrial complex? It is the members of the Council on Foreign Relations, and ... the Trilateral Commission as well. Bill Cooper
The military-industrial complex not only controls our government lock, stock and barrel but they control our culture. Mike Gravel, Democratic nominee 2009
The military-industrial complex has taken over the country along with the Wall Street gang. Gerard Celente, founder Trends Research Institute
I saw that publishing all over the world was deeply constrained by self-censorship, economics and political censorship, while the military-industrial complex was growing at a tremendous rate, and the amount of information that it was collecting about all of us vastly exceeded the public imagination. Julian Assange
The prison-industrial complex and the military-industrial complex are here with us and are multi-billion-dollar enterprises. We can make more money off the kid in Compton if he’s a criminal instead of a scholar. It’s business. Henry Rollins
The new military-industrial complex is fuelled by a conveniently ambiguous and unseen enemy: the terrorist. Former President George W Bush and his aides insisted on calling counter-terrorism efforts a war. This concerted effort by leaders like former Vice President Dick Cheney (himself the former CEO of defense-contractor Halliburton) was not some empty rhetorical exercise. Not only would a war maximize the inherent powers of the president, but it would maximize the budgets for military and homeland agencies.
This new coalition of companies, agencies, and lobbyists dwarfs the system known by Eisenhower when he warned Americans to ‘guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence … by the military-industrial complex’. Ironically, it has had some of its best days under President Barack Obama who has radically expanded drone attacks and claimed that he alone determines what a war is for the purposes of consulting Congress. Professor Jonathan Turley, article ‘Big Money Behind War: The Military Industrial Complex’
There are 1,931 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence. Throughout the D C area 33 buildings containing 17 million square feet of office space have been built since 9/11 — the equivalent of 22 Capitol buildings. But despite the growth of government national-security workers, some 500,000 private contractors also have top security clearances ...
But the military-industrial complex has a trump card to play with members of Congress and the public: nobody wants to argue with national security. John Avlon, article ‘The Military Industrial Complex is Real and It’s Bigger Than Ever’
During his speech at West Point Military Academy earlier this week, President Barack Obama described climate change as a ‘creeping national security crisis’ that will require the armed forces to ‘respond to refugee flows, natural disasters, and conflicts over water and food’.
The speech emphasised that US foreign policy in the 21st century is increasingly being honed in recognition of heightened risks of social, political and economic upheaval around the world due the impacts of global warming.
… To be sure, the link between climate change and the risk of violence is supported by many independent studies …
But the era of climate warfare is not lying in wait, in some far-flung distant future. It has already begun, and it is accelerating – faster than most predicted …
This is what happens when one views the world, even with the best of intentions, through the twin lenses of military might and economic clout. We become incapable of recognising that the fundamental obstacle to addressing our global challenges is that we see enemies everywhere.
Climate change can create security risks, but to deal with them seriously, we need to stop projecting and recognise our own hand in the violence we’re so terrified of out there. Nafeez Ahmed, article The Guardian online, ‘The Age of Climate Warfare is Here. The Military-Industrial Complex is Ready. Are You?’