Adjusted for inflation, US national security spending has more than doubled since Eisenhower left office. Year after year, the defence budget seems to rise – irrespective of whether the country is actually fighting major wars, regardless of the fact that the Soviet Union, the country’s former global adversary, has ceased to be, and no matter which party controls the White House and Congress.
One common thread however exists: the military-industrial complex, or perhaps (as Eisenhower himself described it in a draft of his speech that was later amended) the military-industrial-congressional complex. Others have referred to the beast as the ‘Iron Triangle’ ...
According to the specialist website of the same name that tracks US defence spending, the total value of contracts issued by the Pentagon since October 2006 exceeds $1.1 trillion, while total military spending in that period tops $2.5 trillion. The Independent online article 17th January 2011, ‘Ike Was Right All Along: The Danger of the Military Industrial Complex’
Those in power are blind devotees to private enterprise. They accept that degree of socialism implicit in the vast subsidies to the military-industrial-complex, but not that type of socialism which maintains public projects for the disemployed and the unemployed alike. William O Douglas, former US Supreme Court Justice, 1969
When Frank Carlucci came on board he was coming straight from the Pentagon as Secretary of Defense. Reagan’s term had just finished. And Carlucci retired. He came on board and really took them in a completely new direction. Into defense ... A year, two years later the Gulf War hit. And everybody knows war time is boom time for the defense industry. Dan Briody
The Iron Triangle is in some ways a uniquely American phenomenon. It’s the confluence of the military, big business and politics. Dan Briody
Welcome to Wall Street, the epicentre of financial power in America. Perhaps the money capital of the world … These financial firms are trying to undo the regulations and new laws governing them imposed by the Congress. Who Rules America? I, Press TV 2015
The focus is on political personalities not the forces they represent. ibid.
‘A power elite: an interlocking set of connections of people in business, in politics, in the military, who pretty much determine the parameters of possible change.’ ibid. Eric Foner, Columbia University
There seems to be corporate forces in addition to Wall Street that essentially help guide our political and economic direction. ibid.
A complex system that’s evolved over the years. ibid.
The activists Occupy Wall Street are continuing the fight for independence and economic injustice. Who Rules America? II
The unresolved history of conflict in the United States between those who own and control its resources and those who want economic equality. ibid.
Fifty years later, on the Warning’s anniversary, President Eisenhower’s own granddaughter Susan documented how the military industrial complex had grown. She wrote: ‘In less than ten years our military and security expenditures have increased by 119%’. Who Rules America? III
Years earlier an auto executive turned defense secretary Charles Wilson said, What’s good for General Motors is good for America. He saw no distinction between an elected government and an unelected corporation. ibid.
‘We’ve undergone coup d’etat. We live in a corporate state.’ ibid. Chris Hedges
From the earliest days freedom of press was what defined America … Today our newspapers seem to be fading in importance in a multimedia world that is largely owned and controlled by a handful of large media corporation. Who Rules America? IV
US-based media became a transnational force. The US media companies are themselves owned in large part by hedge funds, mutual funds and finance companies. ibid.
Media attention still tends to revolve around a political elite with authority. ibid.
‘Where does the money come from? … One per cent of the donors are giving 64% of the money. This is a tiny elite.’ Who Rules America? V Sheila Krumholz
‘The largest contributors to political campaigns in America are the financial institutions.’ ibid. Michael Hudson
Journalist: What are we fighting for?
Boy: Freedom. Why We Fight, 2005
Our government did not want the forensic question asked, What were their motives? ibid. commentator, of 9/11
We live here in the United States of Amnesia. ibid. Gore Vidal
We are the new Rome – that’s their strategy on 9/11. ibid. commentator
We are on the side of decency and democracy and liberty. ibid. Eisenhower
Today the United States spends more on defense than all the other discretionary parts of the federal budget combined. ibid. caption
It’s known as the revolving door and people cash in all the time. ibid. commentator
It’s basically economic colonialism. ibid.
A belief that the public doesn’t need to know. ibid. Dan Rather
I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators. ibid. Cheney
The military system is to a substantial extent … a mechanism by which the general population is compelled to make a subsidy to high technology industry … There are many truths like that and we don’t face them. Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, Youtube 1992
Brezhnev remained devoted to the interests of the military complex. Secrets of War s5e10: Brezhnev’s Kremlin, History 1999
But you – you need to keep the Russian myth alive to maintain your military-industrial complex. The Good Shepherd 2006 ***** starring Matt Damon & Angelina Jolie & Robert de Niro & Alec Baldwin & William Hurt & Joe Pesci & John Turturro & Billy Crudup & Michael Gambon & John Sessions & Tammy Blanchard & Timothy Hutton et al, director Robert de Niro, defecting spy
What also resulted was corruption on a huge scale: more than $350 billion has been sent to Iraq for reconstruction. Adam Curtis: The Trap III: We Will Force You to be Free, BBC 2007
No-one expected that in his farewell address he [Eisenhower] would identify and oppose the emergence of a new power constellation – the Military Industrial Complex. Who Rules America: The Military Industrial Complex, short Youtube 24.28 2020
Hartung says these companies in effect dictate our foreign policy. ibid.
‘The people who rule America are the large corporate entities which are supra-national … They are planning a global neo-fuedalism. ibid.
A global structure of corporate culture, politics and power. ibid.