25 May 2010
By Bill Quigley
US law officially proclaims Memorial Day “as a day of
prayer for permanent peace.”
However, the US is much closer to permanent war than
permanent peace. Corporations are profiting from wars
and lobbying politicians for more. The US, and the
rest of the world, cannot afford the rising personal
and financial costs of permanent war.
Number
One in War
No doubt, the USA is number one in war. This coming
year the US will spend 708 billion dollars on war and
another $125 billion for Veterans Affairs – over $830
billion. In a distant second place is China which
spent about $84 billion on its military in 2008.
The US also leads the world in the sale of lethal
weapons to others, selling about one of every three
weapons worldwide. The USA’s major clients? South
Korea, Israel and United Arab Emirates.
Our country has 5 percent of the world’s population
but accounts for more than 40% of the military
spending for the whole world.
Harm
Our nation does not respect our soldiers by engaging
in permanent war. War is grinding up our children. The
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost over 5000 US
lives and tens of thousands more lives of people in
those countries. Over 20% of those in our military who
served in these two wars, 320,000 people, have
war-related traumatic brain injuries. Suicide rates
are up by 26 percent among 18 to 29 year old male
veterans in the latest Veterans Administration study.
Mental health hospitalizations are now the leading
cause of hospital admissions for the military, higher
than injuries. On any given night, over 100,000
veterans are homeless and living on our nation’s
streets.
Rising
Costs of War
Since 2001, the US has spent over $6 trillion (a
trillion is a million millions) on war and
preparations for war. That is about $20,000 for every
woman, man and child in the US. Iraq and Afghanistan
alone have cost the US taxpayer over a trillion
dollars since 2001.
No End
in Sight
Earlier this month, Marine General James Cartwright,
the Vice-Chair of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff,
told the Army Times that the US can expect continuing
war “for as far as the eye can see.”
In the name of this perpetual war against terrorism
the US still jails hundreds without trial in
Guantanamo, holds hundreds more in prisons on bases
and in secret detention world-wide, tries to avoid
constitutional trials for anyone accused of terrorism,
admits it is trying to assassinate an American citizen
Muslim cleric in Yemen, and launches deadly drone
strikes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen
killing civilians and suspects whenever we decide.
Who
benefits from permanent war?
One support for permanent war is that there are
corporations in the US which openly lobby for more and
more money to be invested in war. Why? Because they
profit enormously from government contracts.
President Dwight Eisenhower, who believed in a strong
military, warned the US about just this in his
farewell address to the nation in 1961.
“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.”
War is
Big Business
War is very big business. People know that private
companies are doing much more in war. In January 2010,
the Congressional Research Service reported that there
are at least 55,000 private armed security contractors
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and maybe many more - as many
as 70,000 in Afghanistan alone.
But much bigger money is available to defense
contractors. In 2008 alone, the top ten defense
contractors received nearly $150 billion in federal
contracts. These corporations spent millions to lobby
for billions more in federal funds and hired
ex-military leaders and ex-officials to help them
profit off war.
For example, look at the top three defense
contractors, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop
Grumman. They demonstrate why perpetual war is
profitable and part of the reason it continues.
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is the largest military contractor in
the world with 140,000 employees, taking in over $40
billion annually, over $35 billion of which comes from
the US government. Lockheed Martin boasts that they
have increased their dividend payments by more than 10
percent for the seventh consecutive year – perfectly
in line with the increase in war spending by the US.
Its chairman, Robert Stevens, received over $72
million in compensation over the past three years.
Lockheed’s board of directors includes a former Under
Secretary of Defense, a former US Air Force Commander
of the U.S. Strategic Command, a former Deputy
Director of Homeland Security, and a former Supreme
Allied Commander of Europe. These board members
receive over $200,000 a year in compensation. Its
political action committee gave over a million dollars
a year to federal candidates in 2009, and is
consistently one of the top spending PACs in the US.
They appeal to all members of Congress because they
strategically have operations in all fifty states.
And, since 1998, Lockheed has spent over $125 million
to lobby Congress.
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman is a $33 billion company with 120,000
employees. In 2008, it received nearly $25 billion in
federal contracts. Its chairman, Ronald Sugar,
received over $54 million in compensation over the
past three years.
Northrop’s Board includes a former Admiral of the
Navy, a former 20 year member of Congress, a former
chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former
commissioner of the Security and Exchange Commission
and a former U.S. Naval officer. The members of its
board of directors received over $200,000 each in
2009. Its Pac is listed as making over $700,000 in
federal campaign donations in 2009. Since 1998, it has
spent over $147 million lobbying Congress.
Boeing
Boeing has 150,000 employees and took in over $23
billion in federal contracts in 2008. With revenues of
$68 billion in 2009, its chair, James McNerney, was
paid over $51 million over the past three years. Its
board members are paid well over $200,000 a year.
Boeing’s directors include a former U.S. Secretary of
Commerce, a former White House chief of staff, a
former vice chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and a former U.S. Ambassador and U.S. Trade
Representative. It hosts the 10th largest political
action committee, giving away more than one million
dollars to federal candidates in 2009. Since 1998, it
has spent $125 million lobbying Congress.
Time
to Terminate the Permanent War
These corporations take billions from the government
and profit from our perpetual state of war. They
recycle some of that money back into lobbying the same
people who gave it to them, and hire ex-military and
government officials to help smooth the process. Their
leaders make tens of millions off this work.
The trillions of dollars that it costs to wage
permanent war are taxing the US economy. Yet where are
the voices in Congress, Democrat or Republican, that
talk seriously of dramatically reducing our military
spending? President Obama and the Democrats are
effectively continuing the permanent war policies of
the Bush years. It is past time for change.
Remember this Memorial Day that, while thousands have
been laid in their graves and hundreds of thousands
wounded, private military contractors are prospering
and profiting as the business of war booms.
The US should not only remember its dead but work to
reverse the profitable permanent war that promises to
add more names to the dead and disabled in this
country and around the world.
By Bill Quigley.
Bill is Legal Director at the Center for
Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans. Quigley77@gmail.com
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