PENTAGON AS CASH COW

I heard someone say the other day that the Pentagon is no longer a scared cow. That statement made me realize things have changed. Almost nothing ever changes from black to white in nation politics it takes time. It takes time. It is like landscape amnesia. If we see something everyday we do not pay attention, suddenly, we realize great changes have taken place. The snowcap on Mount Hood and the hemline of teenage dresses have changed dramatically, for example.  The First World War primed the Pentagon for the Second World War. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor to start the Second World War, the Pentagon blossomed. Historians metaphorically related what happened to “awaking a sleeping giant”. Regardless of the verbiage, it was a remarkable phenomenon. Following the “war to end all wars”, we started to go to sleep. Even the skirmishes in Korea was not enough not wake us up. Eisenhower pointed out the dangers of military spending and mission creep with his historic “Military Industrial Complex” warning. Then came Ronald Reagan, the first and the worst in a line of Republican presidents who saw glory in war—I do not include George H.W. Bush—of course, none of them saw actual combat: Reagan, Nixon, or George W. Bush.

Reagan saw the Pentagon as a campaign money machine.  By that I mean he used chauvinistic “tough guy rhetoric” in support of the military while awarding huge contracts to military industries, companies that in turn rewarded him with donations. I do not mean to imply that he made up his military stance for the campaign financing. He truly felt he was a tough guy; the epitome of the Marlborough cowboy. Pentagon hype was all part of his Republican persona. Unfortunately, you cannot have team practice without playing a game. We had a massive invasion of Granada and we had the U.S. Army and marines sneaking around the jungles aiding contras in Nicaragua supporting death squad John Negroponte—as much as you can have a Blackhawk helicopters sneak anywhere as manifestations of a greatly bloated Pentagon with a plethora of high paid generals and admirals.

However, when the disgust of the American people at the military waste and fraud perpetuated in the Iraqi war piled on top of the Lyndon Johnson Vietnam fiasco, it was too much. George W. Bush had not learned that the Reagan years were the halcyon years because the dirt the military did was done dark and dirty while all the martial music, flag waving, and glory was front page. Beirut, Lebanon for example; our solders marched in to headlines as great saviors, were car bombed, and snuck out. A suicide bomber bombed our embassy on April 18^th, 1983. In contrast to the recent Benghazi attack, 63 people, not four, mostly embassy staff, military, and CIA were killed. This was the beginning of attacks on our embassies; yes, the first Islamist attacks on U.S. installations were under Reagan’s watch just as 9/11 happened on Bushes watch. The president saw glory in sending in the Marines to intervene in the Lebanon’s civil war—boots on the ground; the tough Marlborough cowboy gets down off his horse to beat up the guy that is misbehaving. April 18^th of that year, 220 Marines and 21 other people died from a truck bomb. February of that year, the Marines pulled out. This proved to the cowboys that we had to dump more money into the Pentagon because people did not like us and we as loyal American have to make them fear us so they won’t attack us. Is there something about Lebanon they don’t understand?

The American people were watching while Bush #1 invaded Iraq. Like Granada, it was quick and easy; it was very expensive but quick and easy. Bush #2 engineered an invasion of Iraq. This time the objective was to turn this oil rich country into a cash cow—Paul Bremer was assigned the task.  Money poured into Halliburton and Blackwater type companies. American contractors, under the direction of the military, started to rebuild of the country at taxpayer’s expense and private contractors were stuffing their pockets full of money—friends of generals and politicians. The American taxpayer watched in disgust. They did something; the cut in the Pentagon budget in the so-called sequester was the cut greatest ever to “defense” spending. It could be that large because the budget was so bloated. The reason that a cut of any size could happen is that the Pentagon is no longer a sacred cow. I am prone to say that Bush #2 did nothing for the country but I have to admit he did give us cause to start to butcher at least one sacred cow. Everyone knows we need the military. However, the Pentagon gobbles down 20% of the entire United States budget when it should be no more than 5%. 

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