A Weapons Industry Run Amok

In two recent films, Iron Man and War, Inc., villanous characters were high-level executives of American corporations that manufacture advanced weaponry, and/or make obscene profits from war. They were portrayed as amoral and consumed by greed. Is this an outlier viewpoint coming from the far-left in “LA-LA land”? Not quite. An increasing number of well-read, open -minded people around the globe are taking a hard second look at the actions of this humongous, very powerful collection of industries.

In the early 60’s, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned that the Military Industrial Complex, without rigorous oversight, could use its “unwarranted influence” to promote policies that were inconsistent with America’s long-held values.

In a recent highly-praised book titled “Rogue Nation”, former high-level diplomat (and conservative Republican) Clyde Prestowitz sums it up concisely. When traveling extensively abroad, he found that even our close allies held the view that “America tries to create enemies, to help boost its war machine.”

There is considerable evidence to support this view. Just a few months ago, the New York Times broke the story that during the runup to the Iraq war in ‘02 - ‘03, a group of “military experts” who were continuously interviewed on CNN, Fox, etc. were actually on the payroll of the large weapons manufacturers. Their task: go out to the media and ‘sell’ the Iraq war by intentionally overstating the threat posed by Saddam. Once the war started, and corporate profits increased, these propagandists were rewarded with lavish bonuses, which some used to purchase luxury second homes. And this, at the exact same time that U.S. troops were dying, and innocent Iraqis were being killed, tortured and raped.

What could possibly be more perverse?!

Another sick practice undertaken by weapons manufacturers is ‘double-dealing’ : selling similar armanents to both sides of a conflict. The most infamous example came during the Reagan Administration, when Col. Oliver North sold offensive weaponry to Iran, at a time when Iran was at war with Iraq (which was then considered a US ally). Admittedly, in some cases the corporations were not aware of who the final customer would be, but big profits were made, so who cares? In the shadowy world of global arms wholesaling, it seems that very few questions are asked.

In order to restrict the double-dealing practice, the government of Britain in 2006 proposed a U.N. sponsored amendment which would closely regulate the flow of armaments to developing nations, especially those involved in regional conflicts. When it came up for a vote, only one nation, out of 166, voted “no”. That’s right: the Bush administration’s U.N. envoy cast the only “no” vote. No wonder Clyde Prestowitz chose that title for his book!

In sum, I know firsthand that the immense weapons manufacturers often hide behind ‘patriotic’ slogans such as “we’re keeping America safe”, and “we’re protecting the troops”. In reality, their immoral policies are making us hated worldwide, and therefore, more likely to be attacked by extremists. And counting the badly injured, we’ve had over 40,000 military casualties in Iraq alone, due to an invasion/occupation that never should have happened. The true goal of the U.S. weapons industry is for each organization to boost its bottom line profits, and for the employees to enhance their careers. America should have listened more closely to the words of Gen. Eisenhower.

Mike Waters De Luz
Former Marine Officer / member, Veterans for Peace