Reply #40: The US military has almost nothing at all to do with "defense." It is a [View All]

private "enforcer" (in the Mafia sense) for US capital, & always has been, as marvelously described by Gen. Smedley Butler some 70 years ago. The function of the military is primarily to use violence to make the world more profitable for US corporations.

The Pentagon also lies at the very heart of the US economy, & controls the flow of enormous sums of money. This mechanism serves to transfer trillions of dollars from US taxpayers into the hands of well-connected contractors. Cost is socialized; profit is privatized. The waste & corruption involved is legendary.

The US military is basically a gangster operation. It robs US taxpayers, giving them wars and military bases all over the world instead of health care, quality education & a clean environment. When it fights abroad, it is almost never a matter of "defense" - it's OFFENSE, usually murdering innocent helpless people & permanently poisoning their countries with chemicals & radioactivity.

The individuals serving in the military, at least at lower levels, can't really be blamed for this, because they generally don't understand what they are participating in. As an institution, however, the military is a central part of a hideously corrupt system. It would be a significant gain for the mental health of this pathetically confused society, if the military were to be more widely seen for what it really is.