Defense Industry Doesn't Have Much To Fear...Yet

Now that the Democrats are in full control of the government, what exactly does that mean to the behemoth military-industrial complex? Well, probably not too much at the moment. Obama seems fully committed to raising the stakes in Afghanistan, even if it comes at the expense of throwing money in the general direction of Iraq. The only thing they have to worry about is not getting a piece of the economic stimulus pie.

From RawStory:

Many in the industry would like to see an increase in money for the military included in the roughly $800 billion stimulus package proposed by President-elect Barack Obama.

Leaders in the industry realize the slim chances of that happening, however, and are focused instead on preventing cuts in defense accounts to make room for the growing stimulus.

"The defense industry’s main goal right now is to avoid being a bill payer," said Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a conservative think tank, and a consultant to defense contractors. "They know they are not going to get more money. They just don’t want to end up being the piggy bank for other projects."

Aww, if only I could muster a single, solitary tear for those poor, poor war profiteers. They have trouble realizing that their industry of death and destruction is a large part of the problem in our societ. Billions upon billions are wasted on not-so-smart weapons and other toys designed to kill people when a fraction of those projects could fund our public education system, universal health care, job training programs and so much more.

A Republican by the name of Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us of the potential power these companies could have 50 years ago. Though even Ike could not have imagined just how big they'd get. If he were in office today I'd have more hope of change in this regard. For now, I pray Obama will keep them where they're at, and then slowly but surely make war a less profitable and desirable business. Long ago merchants of war were universally despised....and it can happen yet again.

Army Wants To Clean Up Contracting, White House Tells Them Not To

With the army facing ridiculous contracting budgets, higher-ups in the force decided that something had to be done to stop the financial bleeding of the military branch. Coming up with ideas to stop the no-bid contracts, fraud, waste and organizational structure that has been depriving the troops sounds like a plan. Though when it comes to waste, the White House is the expert on making sure it doesn't stop, so they forced the Army to not do anything.

From The Huffington Post:

The Office of Management and Budget, President Bush's administrative arm, has shot down a service plan to add five active-duty generals who would oversee purchasing and monitor contractor performance.

The boost in brass was a key recommendation from a blue-ribbon panel that last fall criticized the Army for contracting failures that undermined the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, wasted U.S. tax dollars, and sparked dozens of procurement fraud investigations.

As the Army's contracting budget ballooned _ from $46 billion in 2002 to $112 billion in 2007 _ it had too few experienced people negotiating and buying equipment and supplies, according to the panel. Worse still, there wasn't a single Army general in a job with contracting responsibilities. That meant the profession had little clout at a critical time.

An approximate 200% increase in costs over five years is astronomical and the army is right to do something about it. Unfortunately the OMB rejected their proposal without even giving a reason. Perhaps they might find something not quite legit? Uncovering no-bid contracts and what prompted them maybe? Though honestly at this point they might as well let it be unearthed, because no one is courageous enough to prosecute anyone in the Administration for all the high crimes we know about already. Everybody knows Congress has given up their duty and right to be a co-equal branch, so why not just let it all hang out.

"War Made Easy"

Here's the trailer, see the whole thing. Learn how America has taken itself to war over the last few decades.

U.S. Foreign Policy: Everybody Should Kill Each Other

One of the biggest exports in the United States is death. It comes in the form of guns, bombs and all things military. The Bush Administration is a full-fledged supporter of this, and has recommended more than $20 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its neighbors to Congress. This is the same country that spawned 16 of the 19 September 11th villains that crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Why on Earth would we want to go through with this?

From The New York Times:

The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.

But administration officials remained concerned that the size of the package and the advanced weaponry it contains, as well as broader concerns about Saudi Arabia’s role in Iraq, could prompt Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the package when Congress is formally notified about the deal this fall.

In talks about the package, the administration has not sought specific assurances from Saudi Arabia that it would be more supportive of the American effort in Iraq as a condition of receiving the arms package, the officials said.

The brilliant thinking in the White House is that by selling all these arms, the growing strength of Iran can be mitigated. Of course that doesn't make any sense. All it does is give weapons to countries that want to see harm come to us. They are flush with cash from oil sales and this is how we get the money back? Its completely insane and can only bring more chaos to the region and to our troops that are stationed there.

Countering the pro-Israel critics with weapons for the little democracy on the Mediterranean is also crazy. The only thing that will happen is that there will be more for each side to kill each other with. Why would we want to sponsor death? It's simple, the Bush Administration does not care about the consequences, but they do care about the profits of defense contractors arms dealers