Bush's military-industrial complex

[JEDI]

President Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex: the collusion of big corporations and bad government to exploit the working class, here and abroad, for their own gain and in the process deprive citizens of their liberties.

Haliburton anyone? Wetlands? Drilling in the artic wildlife refuge? tax breaks for the rich while having record deficits and national debt?

 

[burnedout]

Haliburton anyone?

From factcheck.org

As for Halliburton, it's true the company is under investigation (by Bush's Pentagon) for a variety of allegations of possible overcharging in connection with the Iraq war. And it's also true that Vice President Richard Cheney once headed the company. But it is false to imply that Bush personally awarded a contract to Halliburton. The "no-bid contract" in question is actually an extension of an earlier contract to support US troops overseas that Halliburton won under open bidding.

In fact, the notion that Halliburton benefitted from any cronysim has been poo-poohed by a Harvard University professor, Steven Kelman*, who was administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Clinton administration. "One would be hard-pressed to discover anyone with a working knowledge of how federal contracts are awarded . . . who doesn't regard these allegations as being somewhere between highly improbable and utterly absurd," Kelman* wrote in the Washington Post last November.

*I know Dr. Kelman and collaborated with him two years ago on a technical proposal. No cookies, please.

 

[biostud]

BTW, from the speech:
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial 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. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.


I've always wondered why it was so *hush* *hush* to speak about. As soon as anybody mentions national security you can more or less do as you like. And it works fine both under democratic and rep. government.