Eisenhower Warned Us, We Failed: 50 Years On & the Military Industrial Complex Marches On

So I haven’t written a blog in a while, I’m concentrating on writing something else, bigger. That’s all I’ll say for that on that for now. However I did feel on this day that I had to write something.

Eisenhower Warned Us, We Failed: 50 Years On & the Military Industrial Complex Marches On

President Dwight D Eisenhower’s goodbye speech was given 50 years ago to this very day on the 17^th of January 1961, and its statements are all too clear, more prescient now than I am sure he could have ever imagined.

For those who aren’t familiar, audio of the speech can be found on YouTube and I have posted a link below to part one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pWAGgLSCSQ

Transcript can be found here: http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/indust.html

For those too lazy (it’s ok, you should see my list of home delivery menus) I want you to read these, most important parts.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17^th 1961

“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 State house, 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 militaryindustrial 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.”

Let’s go over that again:

“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 State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.”

“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.”

Now I know the under lining is a tad dramatic, but you get the point.

Now look at the top 20 of military expenditure by country:

Rank of Country By Military expenditure, 2009 % of GDP,

1 United States 663,255,000,000 4.3%

2 China 98,800,000,000 2.0%

3 United Kingdom 69,271,000,000 2.5%

4 France 67,316,000,000 2.3%

5 Russian Federation 61,000,000,000 3.5%

6 Germany 48,022,000,000 1.3%

7 Japan 46,859,000,000 0.9%

8 Saudi Arabia 39,257,000,000 8.2%

9 Italy 37,427,000,000 1.7%

10 India 36,600,000,000 2.6%

11 South Korea 27,130,000,000 2.8%

12 Brazil 27,124,000,000 1.5%

13 Canada 20,564,000,000 1.3%

14 Australia 20,109,000,000 1.8%

15 Spain 19,409,000,000 1.2%

16 Turkey 19,009,000,000 2.2%

17 Israel 14,309,000,000 7.0%

18 Greece 13,917,000,000 3.6%

19 United Arab Emirates 13,052,000,000 5.9%

20 Netherlands 12,642,000,000 1.4%

When you look at the kind of money being spent on military, by country, and then you look at the eternal wars we are constantly engaged in, be it the cold war, the war on terror, whatever necessary ideological nonsense or lies that we need to be fed to go to war. It gets a little scary doesn’t it?

You start to wonder,” well damn war is profitable”. This huge military industrial complex surely does not want Presidents, Prime Ministers and others that would not support war. “Peace is incredibly unprofitable” don’t you know.

When you consider the amount of money involved, are governments and politicians and presidents above or more powerful than those who sell them the weapons? I don’t think so, I honestly don’t. To be a politician is transitory, the arms industry never goes away.

Eisenhower was right. We failed to monitor this, we listened, too often unquestioningly to the excuses to murder innocents and “liberate” and in the process, sell a whole shitload of weapons. We allowed centres of power and democratic processes to be corrupted, manipulated and worse, a whole bunch of people probably died unnecessarily.

Ike must be spinning in his grave.