War is a Racket

[Stvn]

Seems the current administration isn't really doing anything new, just more of the same.

WAR IS A RACKET

by Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, U.S.M.C.

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.

He is talking about wars prior to WW1 folks. Read the rest here:

http://library.uncwil.edu/faculty/gulasg/racket.htm

I had read this prior, and thought it interesting:

http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm

And if you are wondering who Smedley Butler is:

http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Historical/Whos_Who/Butler_SD.htm


-stvn

 

[pax]

Ive always found the revelations by military people especially the high ranking officers enlightening. Its true everywhere and not just in the US but many generals of the us armed forces have always felt a particular duty and sense of honor when it came to telling the public what was really going on in some cases. I suppose revelations from us officers is always more poignant simply due to the size and power of the us gov and military...

WW1 was a hell of racket for some arms manufacturers.. some of whom sold to both sides... Its def one war I wish North America had never participated in.