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"War Is A Racket" by Marine Major General Smedley Butler

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On Friday, May 5th, the Associated Press headlined a report that military commanders have been warned to get troops in line.

The military brass are whingeing about the lack of discipline that has resulted in the burning of Korans, in photos of GIs urinating on dead Afghans, and the latest ones that show smirking GIs holding a suicide bomber's body parts.

 

Marine Commandant James Amos informed his subordinates: "The undisciplined conduct represented in these incidents threatens to overshadow all our good work and sacrifice."

 

Ditto for Army General Ray Odierno, Marine General John Allen, and "General" Leon Panetta.

 

The report goes on, "The incidents have reinforced the perception of Americans as unfriendly, or as occupying forces who do not understand the culture or religion of the people they are supposed to protect."

 

The oft-voiced complaint, however, by military personnel serving in Afghanistan is that they do not know why they are fighting there, whom to befriend and whom to kill. "What is the mission?" they ask.

 

If General Smedley Butler's "War Is A Racket" were required reading for all inductees, the mission would be clear. Butler spelled it out in his booklet:

 

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business , for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the  National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of IMG1 Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916 . I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

 

Speaking of oil, publications such as "Mother Jones" and "Counterpunch" have reported on the connections between the Taliban, Bush Jr, Dick Cheney, and UNOCAL, an oil and gas consortium based in California.

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Mary Wentworth Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Now retired and a writer, I am a feminist and political activist, a radical Democrat (have come to dislike the term "progressive"), and a blogger. Have done political tours of Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, West and East (way back when)Germany, (more...)
 

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