Eisenhower was right about the Military-Industrial Complex!

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” Eisenhower warned. “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.”

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Eisenhower MIC Speach

The phrase that would emerge as the most enduring legacy of what became, arguably, the most famous farewell address since George Washington’s

Eisenhower article

So how does a nation acquire a federal defense budget of approximately $660 billion dollars? (2010 figures)...In addition, this figure does not include emergency and supplemental monies for Iraq and Afghanistan. (maybe another 20 billion?)

The U.S. Department of Defense budget accounted in fiscal year 2010 for about 19% of the United States federal budgeted expenditures and 28% of estimated tax revenues. Including non-DOD expenditures, defense spending was approximately 28–38% of budgeted expenditures and 42–57% of estimated tax revenues

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Let's take a brief look. An article by DefenseSystems lists the Top 20 Defense Contractors.

1 Lockheed Martin Corp. $10,888,633,000

2 Northrop Grumman $8,212,891,000

3 Boeing Co. $5,051,984,000

4 General Dynamics Corp. $4,576,415,00

5 Raytheon Co. $4,095,309

6 KBR Inc $3,546,554,000

7 L-3 Communications Corp. $3,332,433,000

8 Science Applications International Corp. $3,280,980,000

9 DynCorp International Inc. $2,398,874,000

10 Hewlett-Packard Co. $2,344,325,000

11 Booz Allen Hamilton $2,344,325,000

12 CACI International Inc. $2,059,613,000

13 Harris Corp. $1,993,623,000

14 Computer Sciences Corp. $1,828,670,000

15 ITT Corp. $1,808,674,000

16 Fluor Corp. $1,742,216,000

17 BAE Systems Inc. $1,381,184,000

18 Dell Inc. $1,263,236,000

18 ManTech International Corp. $1,167,928,000

20 United Technologies Corp. $1,121,492,000

Source Link

Along a similar vein, has anyone heard of The China Lake Way? I think this helps demonstrate the Military-Industrial Complex in execution and form and function, although it did not last.

The China Lake Way, more formally known as Principles of Operation, was created in the late 1940s through the leadership of Vannevar Bush. The core principle of the China Lake Way was the partnership between civilian and military workers. "... make clear that civilian scientists worked in partnership with the military, not in subordination to it. The principles also made clear that top leadership was shared between a commander and a technical director, rather than having one report to the other."

Through this unique partnership a technical director and navy commander shared joint leadership of China Lake. These core principles provided the leadership during the early days of China Lake. The China Lake way of operations allowed flexibility thereby creating an environment where innovative weapons were developed quickly. "This highly effective leadership team is widely credited with providing the bureaucratic buffer which allowed the scientists and engineers at China Lake the flexibility needed to develop and deliver innovative products at unprecedented rates."

Through the years the China Lake Way, or operations model, has eroded. The principles were established in 1946; minor changes were made in 1955; followed by major changes in 1974. It was in 1974 when the military was placed in charge of the civilian workforce. In 1976 the China Lake principles of operation were eliminated. By 1980, the principles were rewritten but not reissued and in 1985 the China Lake Way was adopted as "operating principles."

NAWS China Lake

"Eisenhower was right about the Military-Industrial Complex!" Truer words were never spoken! George Orwell seen it coming, even if he was a few decades out!

reply to post by andy06shake

For some years past I have managed to make the capitalist class pay me several pounds a week for writing books against capitalism. But I do not delude myself that this state of affairs is going to last forever ...

He certainly did...

reply to post by Cosmic911


And to think that all this time I thought it was the social programs designed to help the elderly, the poor and the disabled that was breaking the bank.

Yup, Eisenhower definitely hit the nail on the head with that speech.

On the other hand, if we could eat bombs, we would be in great shape about now.

S&F

When Ike drafted his speech, he first wanted to call the MIC "military-industrial-congressional complex".

Richard Cummings, who has investigated the connections of leading Neocon-warmongers to military contractors has uncovered correspondence about a committee which existed in the 50s. The committee was called the Committee of the Military Industrial Complex. So in his famous predictive farewell speech Ike may have warned the United States not just from anonymous structures and developments, he may have had this committee and the people in it, in his mind.

Interview of Richard Cummings on antiwarradio.
antiwar.com...

Article: Lockheed Stock and two Smoking Barrels - written by Richard Cummings. This article highlights how it were lobbyists and people with invested stock in the MIC, which were the ones most responsible for the wars.
www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org...

Defence contractors are shrewd. They spread their manufacturing bases all over the country. So whenever a Senator or Congressman promotes a cut in military spending, local forces can be mobilized to discourage him. Local lobbyists and unionists, who represent workers employed by the MIC will raise their voices and predict economic doom.

President Obama has recently threatened to rescind the "blank check" the Bush administration offered to big defence contractors. So now is the time when all that planning by Lockheed Martin and the other major arms manufacturers comes into play. One of that company's major weapons systems, the F-22 Raptor, is potentially on the chopping block. How convenient then that, in the midst of an economic meltdown, Lockheed just happens to have more than 1,000 parts suppliers for that jet carefully scattered across 44 states, all of which, as far as I know, have representatives in Congress. This is pretty typical.

www.tomdispatch.com...

One myth which strenghtens the MIC, is the claim, that the MIC a high-performance job motor. But this is wrong. Money spent on the MIC is the least effective way to create jobs. Only about 8555 jobs are created per $ 1 billion spent on the MIC.

In the Introduction
...A view is often expressed that the military budget is a cornerstone of the U.S. economy. The Pentagon is often said to be a major underwriter of, and stimulus to, important technical innovations. It is also often cited as a major employer, providing good jobs—jobs that are stable and at least decently paid—to millions of Americans.

In the Conclusion
...The U.S. government now operates with a military budget of nearly $600 billion per year. This is a 66 percent increase (in real dollars) relative to the level of spending in 2000. It amounts to 4.4 percent of GDP. An expenditure level of this magnitude will necessarily have a major impact in establishing the country’s policy priorities and overall economic trajectory. We have shown what are the employment effects of spending on the military in contrast with five domestic spending categories. Specifically, we have shown that spending on personal consumption, health care, education, mass transit, and construction for home weatherization and infrastructure repair all create more jobs per $1 billon in expenditures relative to military spending.

The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier

Things that cannot go on forever, won't. An insufficient stimulus effect of money spent on the MIC, combined with the threat of bankruptcy indicate, that the arms-spending spree cannot continue much longer. But even if it would be possible to sustain exorbitant military spending, it would be wrong. Politicians and generals will sooner or later want to use their new, shiny weapons - or they will sell them to countries which are eager for war. Killing people is just evil and wrong.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Martin Luther King Jr.

strange warning comeing from a man who ordered the death of MILLIONS . of germans after ww2 in interment camps chech it out on www .rense .com must have got scared by something

reply to post by Drunkenshrew


You are exactly right...they do not a significant amount of manufactoring jobs. They produce technical jobs...few and far in between.

Anytime a president threatens to reduce the defense budget any number of politicians run to the MSM and declare that our National Security is at risk. John McCain is doing that right now..."American interests are at risk..." Blah Blah Blah...sit down and shut up!

American tax dollars at work for the military industrial complex. ~$700 billion dollars.

Americans do not want to pay $10-$15 dollars per gallon of gas at the pump. They are much more willing to pay income taxes to the military industrial complex so that America can have huge bases (small scale cities) all over the world.


See Camp Bondsteel. en.wikipedia.org...

The post exchange (PX) is the largest military exchange in south eastern Europe and contains all the necessities and more that someone may need while in Kosovo, including TVs, phones, books, DVDs, CDs, small furniture, video games, computers, clothes, shoes, food, and more, all in its two story building.[1] The base also has, arguably, the best hospital in Kosovo; a movie theater; one gym; two recreation buildings that have phones, computers with internet connection, pool tables, video games and more;

The Laura Bush education center where classes are offered through the University of Maryland University College and Central Texas College; two cappuccino bars, a Burger King, Taco Bell, and an Anthony's Pizza pizzeria; one barber shops; one laundry facilities employing local nationals who do the laundry for those living on base; one press shops; a sewing shop; My Thai massage shops employing mostly Thai women who conduct various massages and are regulated by military officials;

These huge military bases have allowed the domestic American economy to enjoy gasoline prices that are around ~$4.00 per gallon.

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter

Americans do not want to pay $10-$15 dollars per gallon of gas at the pump. They are much more willing to pay income taxes to the military industrial complex so that America can have huge bases all over the world.

I think its more accurate to say this of American Politicians, not American citizens...the distinction should be made...

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter

The post exchange (PX) is the largest military exchange in south eastern Europe and contains all the necessities and more that someone may need while in Kosovo, including TVs, phones, books, DVDs, CDs, small furniture, video games, computers, clothes, shoes, food, and more, all in its two story building.[1] The base also has, arguably, the best hospital in Kosovo; a movie theater; one gym; two recreation buildings that have phones, computers with internet connection, pool tables, video games and more

This is typical of any military base. I don't think this is the issue. If you were stationed somewhere overseas I don't think video games, clothes, shoes, food, tvs, phones, or DVDs is too much to ask. The billions spent on F-22's and the iconic $500 hammers is the issue. The politicians claiming America is at risk because a president proposes a $30 billion dollar reduction in the defense budget is the problem. Lobbyists and special interest groups are a problem.

reply to post by Cosmic911


Ok Cosmic I'll agree on that technicality, however, we have a military industrial complex that costs ~$700 billion per year and anyone could agree that access to cheap oil keeps the American economy 'zipping' along, any spikes of US domestic gasoline prices *will be immediately passed onto the consumer* in every circumstance.

For example, if gas was $10/gal. that price would be cascaded to consumers for bread, milk, wine, milk, cheese, etc you get the picture. All essential items would have the higher cost of transport included in it, ie, the cost would be doubled.

By subsidizing the cost of domestic gas in the USA the Americans have merely shifted the cost structure to: the military industrial complex. That's why we have these large bases (small scale cities) in foreign countries. The mission of these bases is not to keep the peace but to ensure the flow of cheap oil is maintained from other regions of the world.

Ike was right about the Military-Industrial complex. He should know because he built the North American highway system in the 1950's as a service to the M-I-C.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, Interstate Freeway System or the Interstate) is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America.

Eisenhower gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II.

As one of the components of the National Highway System, Interstate Highways improve the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals, and other military bases. Interstate Highways also connect to other roads that are a part of the Strategic Highway Network, a system of roads identified as critical to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Ike did a good thing by warning us about the M-I-C but he is also guilty when it comes to serving them. Since he held office the M-I-C has pushed America into foreign conflicts and his fateful warning has come true.*

*I agree with the premise of your OP.

Originally posted by Cosmic911

This is typical of any military base. I don't think this is the issue. If you were stationed somewhere overseas I don't think video games, clothes, shoes, food, tvs, phones, or DVDs is too much to ask. The billions spent on F-22's and the iconic $500 hammers is the issue. The politicians claiming America is at risk because a president proposes a $30 billion dollar reduction in the defense budget is the problem. Lobbyists and special interest groups are a problem.

I will wholeheartedly agree with your complaints about the politicians and the lobbyists.

But Camp Bondsteel is not a typical American foreign military base, it is ideally situated and it was purposefully built in that location for a reason :

Camp Bondsteel and America’s plans to control Caspian oil
By Paul Stuart
29 April 2002
Camp Bondsteel, the biggest “from scratch” foreign US military base since the Vietnam War is near completion in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. It is located close to vital oil pipelines and energy corridors presently under construction, such as the US sponsored Trans-Balkan oil pipeline. As a result defence contractors—in particular Halliburton Oil subsidiary Brown & Root Services—are making a fortune.

Source : www.wsws.org...

This article has a lot of info on Camp Bondsteel. Most Americans don't even know it exists.

Originally posted by geobro
strange warning comeing from a man who ordered the death of MILLIONS . of germans after ww2 in interment camps chech it out on www .rense .com must have got scared by something

Eisenhower has violated international law and should have been punished for it. He shares responsibility for the CIA coups against Guzman (Honduras) and Mossadegh (Iran). The installed puppet regimes in Iran and Guatemala have murdered tens of thousands men, women and children.

But James Bacque's sensationalistic story about hundreds of thousands POW who have died from starvation, dehydration or exposure to the weather elements in the Rheinwiesenlager has been taken apart by Austrian and German historians.

After WW II about one million German soldiers were missing in action, who never made it back. The standard 2 explanations for the missing million are: They have fallen at the eastern front or they have perished in Soviet camps. James Bacque gave another explanation. He found a high number of documented “other losses” while researching documents about the Rheinwiesenlager.

But the high number of documented “other losses” are not losses in the sense that these prisoners have died. “Other losses” were those prisoners, who were either deemed relatively harmless (Hitler Youth, women) or deemed necessary for the rebuilding of Germany. They were the first prisoners, who were released after the war.

Millions of German soldiers survived the Rheinwiesenlager. They have AFAIK never lobbied for justice and never mentioned a gigantic death count. No prisoner mass-graves have been found. If hundreds of thousands or even a million POWs would have died in those camps, their surviving co-prisoners would have recognized this and told this story.

See also:
Die “vermisste Million”: Zum Schicksal deutscher Kriegsgefangener nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
by Arthur L. Smith
(a readable e-book version is available as open source material. The book is in German)

Originally posted by Cosmic911
Anytime a president threatens to reduce the defense budget any number of politicians run to the MSM and declare that our National Security is at risk. John McCain is doing that right now..."American interests are at risk..." Blah Blah Blah...sit down and shut up!

During his presidency, Eisenhower was never strong in his oppostion to the MIC. But he made a genuine attempt to stop the arms race with the Soviet Union. But his attempt was sabotaged by the unauthorized, downed U2 flight (1960 U2-incident). Perhaps this incident influenced his farewell address. I believe, the admonitory farewell address from a five-star general and war hero gave his successor the chance to turn away from the Cold War.

According to newly released documents this is exactly what his successor JFK tried to do. JFK started as a Cold Warrior, but during his presidency he turned from a Cold Warrior towards peace. JFK didn't follow his military advisors during the Bay of Pigs invasion who called for war. He ordered the withdrawal from Vietnam (NSAM 263), signed the nuclear test ban treaty and secretly opened private diplomatic channels with Castro and Khrushchev. JFK wanted to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds”. He denied Lyman Lemnitzer (Operation Northwoods) another term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and fired the CIA director Allen Dulles. But Dulles had the last laugh. He was a member of the Warren Commission which determined, that the murdered Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who was responsible for JFK's assassination.

reply to post by Drunkenshrew


Nice! Drunkenshrew just unleashed the motherlode of MIC conspiracies Please continue! What part did Richard Nixon play as Ike's VP?

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter

Which part of my post did you find ridiculous? Although I may be biased by my sources and interpretation, there are supporting documents for everything I posted (Khrushchev's and Kennedy's secret correspondence, JFK tapes, NSAM263, polls and documents which show how Kennedy completely changed public and political opinion about the test ban treaty, the testimonies of Daniel, William Attwood and Lisa Howard about the back-channel diplomacy with Castro, RFKs informal meetings with the Soviet ambassador during the Cuban missle crisis etc.)

An excellent book which describes JFK's turning is "JFK and the Unspeakable" by James Douglass. The book contains hundred pages of footnotes, many link to recently declassified or overlooked official documents.
www.amazon.com...

Here is a video of a speech James Douglass gave in 2008


And here is the take of Colonel Fletcher Prouty on the U2-incident. During the time of the U2-incident Prouty served at the Air Force Headquarters. There he directed the creation of an Air Force worldwide system for "Military Support of Clandestine CIA Operations". I think he is qualified to provide a very well informed opinion about the U2-incident.

reply to post by SayonaraJupiter


Great post! Thanks for the substantial post in this thread.
You made some great points here!

reply to post by Drunkenshrew


Great post my friend! Great post!

You listed all three reasons that led to the assassination of JFK. I've always thougtht that any country that can murder its own president is a scary place to live!!

JFK, like Eisenhower, realized the CIA was running the county at that time. I think Eisenhower felt defeated once that U2 was shot down.