“War Is a Racket”
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 19 Oct 2015
James Albertini – TRANSCEND Media Service
James “Jim” Albertiini
The Record U.S. Military Budget!
President Obama has been responsible for the largest U.S. military budget since the Second World War. This is documented in the U.S. Department of Defense’s annual “Green Book.” The U.S. military receives more funding than the rest of the 10 largest militaries in the world combined (China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.K., France, Japan, India, Germany & South Korea). For more details see http://warisacrime.org/content/record-us-military-budget
These figures do not include additional military-related spending by the VA, CIA, Homeland Security, Energy, Justice or State Departments, nor interest payments on past military spending, which combine to raise the true cost of U.S. militarism to about $1.3 trillion per year, or one thirteenth of the U.S. economy.
In addition, over the next 10 years the U.S. is planning to spend up to a TRILLION DOLLARS (1,000 Billion dollars) to modernize its nuclear weapons arsenal that can already destroy the world many times over..
Most people are unaware of a rapidly expanding part of the U.S. Empire called military “Special Operations.” These secret forces now number 70,000 and are deployed in an astounding 135 countries around the world. For more details see https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/09/u-s-special-ops-forces-deployed-in-135-nations/
What United States Marine Corps Major General and two time Medal of Honor recipient Smedley D. Butler, said decades ago remains true today: “War Is a Racket.” Butler said:
“It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious… It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
End All Wars! Save Dollars, Lives & the Planet! Fund Human Needs!
- Mourn all victims of violence.
- Reject war as a solution.
- Defend civil liberties.
- Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
- Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Hilo Peace Vigil (Oct. 23, 2015 – 735th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM Downtown Post Office
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James Albertini is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, and director of Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action – P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760. Phone (+ 808) 966-7622 Email: ja@malu-aina.org Website: http://www.malu-aina.org/
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Your chart tells the story brilliantly.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” -Eisenhower, January 17,1961 Farewell to the American People Albertini’s illustration shows the ridiculousness of the U.S. War budget where the military receives more funding than the rest of the 10 largest militaries in the world combined (China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.K., France, Japan, India, Germany & South Korea (one more missing)), more than what we spend for Health, Housing and Education combined. Nicholas Davies writing for War is a Crime.org says: Whoever we elect as our next President must therefore be ready on day one to start dismantling this infernal war machine and building a “permanent structure of peace”, on a firm foundation of humanity, diplomacy and a renewed U.S. commitment to the rule of international law. http://warisacrime.org/content/record-us-military-budget Yes, Congress as well as the office of the President has now joined in the mantra of switching from the Peace Dividend to the Power Dividend! Perhaps we should switch back the name of the Defense Department to its original name, the War Department so there will be no more misunderstanding and pretence of what that department is all about, and perhaps finally, the people will understand the true nature of the Department of “Defense” and begin the march back to sanity!.