Posted on 05/13/2005 10:08:38 PM PDT by CHARLITE
There has been no hesitation in the historical record to refer to industries producing armaments as "war profiteers". Generally, that label had been reserved for industries or individuals that benefit from the inevitable shortages of necessities consequential to a protracted and destructive conflict. The implication is that branded industries and individuals have an interest in promoting war for gain and opposing efforts for peaceful resolution. Liberals have given us a new breed of war profiteers as well as retaining some of the old. In the best tradition of the New York World and the New York Morning Journal, it was the left-wing media that promoted intervention in Kosovo through sensationalism and outright fabrications. Unlike their predecessors, whose primary objective was to sell newspapers by printing inflammatory and often fabricated stories about Spanish atrocities, the new media also sought to prop up the seriously flawed character of an American president. The media war profiteers bolstered their circulation and Clinton's reputation, if only temporarily.
But armed conflict isn't the only place where liberals have indulged in war profiteering. Liberals gave us the War on Poverty, the first and foremost in a series of "wars" to transform this nation into a socialist state directed by the conscience of an elitist corp. The war profiteers have profited handsomely in the War on Poverty, which rages on unabated if you believe their propaganda. The "poverty" warriors include battalions, brigades and divisions of social workers, attorneys, accountants, social scientists, and every fashion of bureaucrat you can imagine. Their field commanders are politicians and poverty pimps, who would have neither power nor wealth if the war were concluded.
The War on Poverty has been such a success in profiteering that every other "War on" uses the same model. Every "War on" has been launched with an appeal to an emotional issue implicit in the very name of the war itself. The War on Drugs, the War on Crime, the War on Homelessness, the War on AIDS, the War on Illiteracy, and relative newcomer, the War on Fat all follow the War on Poverty model. Not all of these "wars" were gifts from the left, but they have all been fully embraced by the left as an opportunity for profit, whether political, monetary or otherwise. Legions of bureaucrats and armies of service industry workers are engaged in wars they hope will never be won.
Unfortunately, the War on Terror is yielding to the same fate. The legal skirmishing over Zacarias Mossoui is defining the tactics and strategy that lawyers, judges and politicians will use for war profiteering on a scale so enormous that this war could be lost through national bankruptcy or incapacitation. Multiply Mossoui by tens of thousands and it should be apparent the logistics of this war are beyond our means. Joining the fracas and certain to profit if the War on Terror continues unfold as it is, are the ACLU, ICRC, Amnesty International and every similar organization determined to kill and then strip the corpse of the United States. Empowering terrorists increases their power.
The war profiteers are out there and are writing the rules to maximize their gains. The number of dead Americans it takes to purchase a clear conscience and make a buck for the left is of no consequence.
Tony Rubolotta lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife Ana Maria and youngest son Igor Carlos. Tony is a loss control consultant and director of software development for a fire protection engineering firm. A former resident of New Jersey, he is graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.
Comments: trubolotta@yahoo.com
Thanks for the post!
Open your phone book to the blue pages and you will see an endless list of predators who profit from these wars. Then try calling some of them and asking for help. You will find out that they have no money to actually help anyone, but have budgeted only for salaries and overhead. They will, however, give you three more useless numbers to call.
Maybe some day when there are no articles posted on FR and I am in a sunny disposition, I might conduct that experiment.
;-)
Now, add in the factor that waring countries always make sure their enemy is well supplied with weapons, food and the other basics. It costs a lot of money to start a war. The costs subside when the goal is just to keep it going. Iraq is costing us a billion bucks a day but it is keeping us from having a depression.
The US and North Viet Nam used to hold 'Peace Talks' everytime the NVA was getting low. The Russians and Chinese would resupply the North and the fighting would continue.
We give $300 million+ to the Palestinians every year to make sure they can continue fighting Israel.
Wars are like rapidly growing companies, full of profit for the suppliers, all the way down to the funeral homes and coffin builders.
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