On Jan. 17, 1961, in his farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower stated, “We must guard against unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. We must never allow the weight of this combination to endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”
Eisenhower said that to avoid disaster, an alert and knowledgeable citizenry would be a necessity.
While we were watching “The Swan” and “American Idol,” while America slept, President Eisenhower’s prediction of catastrophe has materialized.
You have been robbed, plucked clean, and you certainly should know who did it. You children and your grandchildren will have to pay off at least a trillion-dollar debt for a war of aggression on our part against a nation that was no threat to us, a nation that had no weapons of mass destruction, a nation that did not harbor terrorists, a nation that had no Air Force, no Navy, and an inept Army that collapsed in a matter of a few weeks.
Where did all of your money go?
The Associated Press advises us that 10 companies have been awarded contracts for billions of dollars for the reconstruction of Iraq and for supplying some kind of “services” to our military.
These same companies have been charged with bid rigging, fraud, delivery of faulty military parts, and damage to the environment.
Collectively, they have paid $300 million in penalties, but not one of these industrial giants of the military-industrial complex has been barred from further business in Iraq.
You know that Dick Cheney’s company, Halliburton, earns $1 billion a month in Iraq and has been charged with ripping us off for millions by overcharging us for gasoline and food services.
Halliburton has already paid a $2 million fine for cheating us on a maintenance contract. A few of the other corporations getting rich, but caught with their pants down, are Bechtel, Fusor Corp, Northrop-Grumman and American International Contractors.
I served 35 years in the Department of Defense, and even back in the 1960s I could see the military-industrial complex begin to feed off each other. Typical scenario: My commander, a two-star general, holds his retirement on Friday. We all attend. On Monday, he is rewarded with a top job at Raytheon, which is our prime contractor.
Boys and girls, I know only two wars that are deep in my heart, World War II and the Korean War.
During those wars, we had a name for war profiteers. We called them “Blood Merchants,” and they were despised. My wars, World War II and the Korean War, were “clean” wars.
We did not let big corporations to join us on the battlefield and get rich at our expense. We had organizations that built our bridges and airfields in a matter of days. They constructed MSR’s or Roads for us. They were the Seabees (Navy construction battalions), and the Army Corps of Engineers, and they were paid substantial wages.
In Korea, we did not pay contractors (big business) to provide security by charging us $100,000 a year for a half-trained civilian to ride shotgun in a war zone. In Korea we combat soldiers were the “security.” We were only paid $65 a month, as I recall, but we were “damn good.”
Pay Halliburton millions of dollars for food services in Iraq! Outrageous! We had an Army cook. If the situation was hot and our cook couldn’t get to us, we would tie wire around a “C” ration can, drop it down the exhaust pipe of a tank, and — voila! — a hot meal.
When you hear the word “contractor” in reference to Iraq, think big business. What is big business doing in Abu Grahib prison?
In my day, we the people were the government. And when the government did something, it was done well, and nobody got rich doing it.
H. Adrian Osborne retired from the office of the secretary of defense after 35 years of service. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney awarded him the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service. Osborne has an master of arts degree from the University of Chicago.
