The Fleecing of America

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By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 7 of 11 page(s)

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The Department of Defense's 2007 Base Structure Report shows how large the Pentagon has become. Even with important information left out:

-- DOD is the world's largest landlord with over 577,500 (reported) facilities (buildings, structures and linear structures) on more than 5300 sites covering 32 million acres and 2.4 billion square feet of space in the US, its territories and overseas; these numbers are way understated and are, in fact, much higher.

-- including undisclosed ones, over 1000 overseas bases in over 150 countries; additional secret ones shared with or leased from host countries; of varying sizes and importance, including the largest Main Operating Bases (MOBs) for permanent combat troops; extensive infrastructure; command and control headquarters; and extensive accommodations in many places for families, including hospitals, schools and recreational facilities;

-- about 6000 homeland bases and military warehouses, and

-- from a DOD March 31, 2008 active duty personnel strength report, a total worldwide force of 1,373,000. Of that, 1,083,000 are US-based and in its territories; another 290,000 are abroad, and 195,000 are "in and around Iraq as of March 31, 2008, includ(ing) deployed Reserve/National Guard" forces; another 31,000 are in Afghanistan, including Reserves and National Guard; the US National Guard is a joint US Army - Air Force reserve component that numbered 460,000 as of December 31, 2007, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In his 1961 farewell address, Eisenhower warned about the "military-industrial complex." Its "grave implications" evident nearly 50 years ago. A "coalition of the military and industrialists who profit by manufacturing arms and selling them to government." The need to "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence....by the military industrial complex....The potential for the disastrous rise of (its) misplaced power...."

After the Vietnam War, its resurgence under Ronald Reagan. A prelude to George Bush's aggressive militarism. Ideologically driven. Waging "Global Wars on Terrorism." Exploiting 9/11 fears to pursue them. Disregarding budgeting constraints. Spending on all sorts of new weapons systems. The way Ian Mount, Matthew Maier and David Freedom described it on March 1, 2003 in Business 2.0 magazine. They called it "The New Military Industrial Complex To arm for the digital-age war, the Pentagon has turned to a new generation of defense contractors. The hardware is impressive. It's also deadly." The Pentagon refers to a "revolution in military affairs (RMA)." Building an unchallengeable high-tech arsenal. A new military-industrial complex.

The old one remains and gets huge contracts for new and more traditional weapons. The result of an influential "iron triangle" of Congress, the Pentagon and defense industry. Conservative think tanks also like:

-- the Project for a New American Century (PNAC); its "Rebuilding America's Defenses" scheme for US global hegemony;

-- the Center for Security Policy (CSP) headed by super-hawk Frank Gaffney; promoting a policy of "Peace through Strength" and perpetual wars for perpetual peace;

-- the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD); its hard right leadership and members; "fighting terrorism and the ideologies that drive it;"

-- the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP); its focus on defense issues; ties to the nuclear weapons industry; and

-- the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); emphasizing national security and "advancing (US) global interests;" specializing in crisis management and connected to the highest levels in government and the Pentagon.

Another element is hugely important and destructive to a free society. The nation's 16 intelligence agencies, including CIA, NSA, DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), FBI, Army, Navy and Air Force Intelligence, DHS (Department of Homeland Security), and Department of State. A multi-billion dollar funded, largely off-the-books, clandestine anti-democratic network. Interconnected with thousands of private contractors. Tied to world governments and their intelligence services. Hugely expensive. Powerful. A force unto themselves. Secretive by the nature of their work, and gaining strength from their own momentum.

Together they comprise a government-military-industrial-intelligence service-think tank colossus. Heading the nation toward insolvency, tyranny and ruin. Wrecking the remnants of a free society. Looting the public treasury. Pursuing a single-minded drive for empire. Mindless to its harmful effects. Masking it behind a democratic facade. Plagued by the same dynamic that doomed past empires unwilling to change.

For Chalmers Johnson: "perpetual war, the collapse of constitutional government, endemic official lying and disinformation, isolation, overstretch, the uniting of local and global forces opposed to imperialism, and in the end bankruptcy." Tyranny and ruin as well. The loss of personal freedom, and vital social safety net essentials. An ugly America few today can imagine. Arriving at flank speed after eight disastrous years under George Bush with scant hope for change under a new administration, Republican or Democrat.

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I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.

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