THE PENTAGON AND STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORITY

President Eisenhower warned us about the Military Industrial Complex but failed to warn us about the Military Political Complex. The Military Industrial Complex is all about money while the Military Political Complex is all about some so-called tough guys (hawks) controlling United States foreign policy. Obviously, these are two different but overlapping things. Politicians involved evoke defense as a reason for military strength. The truth is something different. It goes beyond strength and enters the category of status: hierarchy dominance. The same only DNA thing we find in a flock of chickens. As one who believes our politics is in our DNA, a conservative mindset is to be the top chicken—always and at all costs. Like Reaganomics, they tell us good things ‘trickle down’ if they have all the power.

What does all of this have to do with the Pentagon budget? Let me tell you a couple of anecdotes. I lived in Belize for years —a former British colony—and knew the workings of that government and its standing in the world of governments. This country has an army referred to as the Belizean Defense Force (BDF). This well trained force protects the country as much as protection has to do with border security, illegal immigration from neighboring Guatemala, and illegal drug trafficking. As one might expect, the principle ally of Belize is England; training equipment, supplies. U.S. aid stands out like a white elephant.

Two separate events called my attention to something unexpected. I was driving down an 11-mile stretch of highway when I came upon a large obviously military crew of road builders. Neither they nor their support vehicles had the usual Union Jack insignias. I pulled up next to one of them and asked where they were from. This uniformed individual responded in an unmistakable southern drawl “We are Louisiana National Guard”.  The second incident evolved a newspaper article.  It reported that the Secretary of Defense of the United States had given six-pickup new pick up trucks to the Belizean Defense Force. The author of the article went on to say the U.S. Secretary of Defense was on his way to Formosa China.  I assume he was bearing gifts as well but also assumed they were proportionately larger.

These things brought to mind a series of questions “Was this a legitimate activity for the Department of Defense? Shouldn’t the State Department and not the Defense Department be doing these things? Why is our government spending money to fix roads in a foreign country that has no strategic value to the U.S.? Now, with the so-called “sequestration” looming ahead, what was happening in Belize should remind our citizens of two things: the Pentagon has too much money and, two; they were using it to usurp State Department authority. Senators and congressional representatives, conservative hawks, to be sure, would rather spend this money to drive our foreign policy in a way that has nothing to do with our defense and cut social programs instead. The bottom line; they use the Pentagon surplus to dominate the State Department and not to keep the BDF from attacking us. Cut this money out of their budget and put it to use building U.S. infrastructure even if the Louisiana National Guard has to build roads in Minnesota.