MERCHANTS OF WAR

Make no mistake about it, there are those companies like Halliburton, who has played this game for awhile, and Black-Water, who sprang up during Iraq, who profit huge from war.  Think about Iraq, for example, we come in, nuke the site for morbid, become the victors and to the victors go the spoils.  That Country has to be rebuilt and the budget for rebuilding and security is basically limitless because it is based on the good faith and credit of the United States of America.  There are no bigger construction or security projects on the face of the planet and not even a handful of companies that could handle it.  Halliburton has no competitor and newly-created Black-Water now has the edge in the security field should the need arise again under the same or similar circumstances.  The eating is good during times of war for companies such as these and they can afford to hibernate during peacetime and live off of the fat they accumulated during War, but sooner or later they must feed again.

The Pentagon is of course the bureaucratic partner of the private-sector “merchants of war”.  Like any good bureaucracy, once a budget is established for it, it must consume that budget and continually request more, or face the fact before Congress that perhaps they did not require as much as was budgeted and risk losing their allotment.  Any attempt by a President or Congressman to argue for cuts in the Pentagon’s budget will be met with loud and effective opposition, which will label them “anti-American”, “Socialist”, “Communist” and “a risk to the very security of our Country”.  We are there now since the “Super Committee” failed to reach a budget compromise and one of the triggers is deep cuts in the Pentagon’s budget, yet everyone knows it will not happen.  We just pulled out of Iraq and already we hear a drumbeat and a few voices suggesting war with Iran.  In the news today we hear Russia claiming they seized nuclear materials which were headed for Iran, which reminds me of the similar claim about Iraq in our buildup to that war and the Intelligence Community’s ability to plant stories.

Chicano Channel Magazine