When Fletcher Knebel and Charles Bailey wrote Seven Days in May they meant it as a cautionary tale of what could happen in the United States if the military decided that the civilians just weren't smart enough to run this country. It was written in 1962, just a couple of years after Ike warned against just such a thing.
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 have not heeded Eisenhower's warning. Witness the lobbying efforts of defense companies between 1998-2004 -- $221,170,615. Northrop-Grumman alone spent $83,405,691 during that period. Or look at oil and gas companies. For the same period, they spent $343,896,623 trying to influence government.
I don't think there's any doubt that part of the reason we're involved in a messy war in Iraq is to preserve access to oil. The fact that we have to use material produced by the defense industry in order to do that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, either.
I wonder what Knebel and Bailey would have to say about the Iraq War?
Posted by Linkmeister at April 15, 2006 01:56 PM | TrackBack