Sunday, November 11, 2018

Saluting the Vet who said "War is a Racket"


The vet Critical Eye wants to salute is Smedley Darlington Butler. Butler was a Marine general, and the highest decorated soldier of his time, unequivocal and unassailable on the topic of war.  Here are a couple choice quotes from him:
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street…”
 "Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. This was to be the "war to end wars." This was the "war to make the world safe for democracy." No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits…”

Lots more at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/115545.Smedley_D_Butler  or get his book called War is a Racket. We need to reconnect with Butler, then get our critical eyes and ears on and ask questions like: What did George Bush, Donald Trump et al do while ordinary boys were dying in Vietnam and elsewhere?

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