By the end of World War II, America possessed the strongest economy in the world. It was remarkable that only 10 years earlier unemployment had been 25 percent. Look how much good foreign war could do. A greater number of people in America enjoyed a higher standard of living than ever before. Hell, a few more wars and maybe everyone in America could be rich.
World War II was truly the beginning of the United State’s military-industrial complex. During the war, 100 big businesses got more than 70 percent of all the U.S. government’s contracts for defense-related production; it was called the “Arsenal of Democracy.” This arsenal of democracy grew enormously large over the preceding years.
Today, it is hard to imagine the U.S. engaging in war without the involvement of large corporations.
And in Iraq today, we employ a mutated and deranged version of the Arsenal of Democracy. Companies reap profits that teeter on the brink of the absurd. Halliburton is expected to make $13 billion in Iraq. The largest profits ever amassed by Exxon Mobil occurred earlier this year, during a period of high petrol costs. Our war on terror is making a lot of businesses and businessmen very rich.
A company making excessive profits during wartime is nothing new. It’s an American tradition. During the aftermath of WWII, we honored the fact that American industry won the war over fascism. Why do we feel different today?
There are three main reasons. First, is that the enemy today is elusive, and war not as justified. Secondly, we live in a country that knows all too well the negative impact of a war gone bad. Thirdly, the current decision-making government officials are more like corrupt tyrants.
Fighting a war on terror is difficult, if not impossible. How do you fight someone who has a fluid organization that spans an unknown number of countries? A good example is the fact that most Americans do not believe that there is any connection between the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq. It is not like 1939, when declaring war on Germany was obvious. They invaded Poland. It is not like 1991, when declaring war on Iraq was obvious. They invaded Kuwait. Today, the attacks by our enemies are not cut and dry.
Not only that, but military injustices such as acts of torture fly in the face of everything we are trying to achieve in Iraq and Afghanistan. How do you spread democracy when you treat human beings worse than farm animals? U.S. citizens will never support a military operation where this behavior exists.
Today, Americans are very apprehensive when we go to war in a foreign place for abstract motives. Sound familiar? It should, considering the current Iraq conflict is in many ways, similar to the Vietnam quagmire of our not-so-distant past.
There is no clear delineation between whom we are fighting and who we are fighting for. The U.S. military has no exit strategy, and the number of U.S. military causalities continues to grow everyday.
The similarities do not end there. In Vietnam we extended freedoms to foreigners, while those same freedoms became ever-so-limited or nonexistent in our own country. It does not make sense to invade a lawful citizen’s privacy in the name of freedom (i.e. wiretapping and the Patriot Act).
And now on to the three-ring circus: Dick Cheney the dancing bear, Condoleezza Rice the fire-eater, George Bush the human cannonball and Karl Rove the ringmaster. The Bush administration has made a mockery out of this country, but they are not as dumb as they’d like you to think.
How morally vacant do you have to be to put into power people who have strong ties to the oil and defense industry and then declare war in an oil-rich country? It’s a joke when you think about it. And these large corporations pay lobbyists big money to wine and dine many other influential politicians.
Let’s look at Dick Cheney for a quick second. The vice president was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton Energy Services. He still owns a crap load of stock in the company. It must be nice to know that you’ll cash in on a $13 billion oil contract through juicy dividends.
I feel bad for Condi though. But alas, all she had was a Chevron oil tanker bearing her name (Chevron renamed the tanker after the controversy).
So what does all this boil down to? What are the meat and potatoes of this dinner of disgust? In this case it’s not meat, or potatoes but rather tea, Texas tea — oil. The leaders of our country are mere carpetbaggers.
They don’t mind being bought by lobbyists of big firms or taking advantage of their own personal associations. They recognized the pure profit potential in the oil industry and — once in power — they capitalize on their unique situation. The U.S. price so far has been 2,729 dead and almost 20,000 wounded.
But be assured, it’s not a war for oil. It’s a war for gasoline.