I can still remember my parents singing a somewhat cleaned-up version of the World War I-era song “You’re in the Army Now.” (“You’re in the Army now, You’re not behind a plow; You’ll never get rich, you son of a bitch, You’re in the Army now.”) As it happens, though, that song no longer applies, not if you’re in the upper ranks of the U.S. military, where you can “retire” directly onto the boards of top military contractors in the industrial part of the military-industrial- congressional complex that are making eternal fortunes off the Pentagon budget. If you don’t believe me, check out Lloyd Austin’s career. He retired as a four-star Army general and joined the board of Raytheon before Joe Biden appointed him secretary of defense (as Donald Trump had appointed a retired Marine four-star general, serving on the board of General Dynamics, to the same post). It should be shocking. It should be a crisis. It should be investigated. But no such luck.
Still, as retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, historian, and TomDispatch regular William Astore suggests today, as far as anyone in power is concerned, who cares if the U.S. military couldn’t win a war when it’s a veritable budgetary goldmine? And don’t even dream of doing anything but adding to that if you hope to succeed in Congress. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders has proven the rarest of exceptions for opposing and even calling for cuts to what he’s termed a “bloated” Pentagon budget (which is expected to hit a trillion dollars annually in the next few years). But no such luck. Far too many congressional representatives are literally in thrall to defense contractors. In fact, did you even know that Sanders had done so?
With that uniformed nightmare first-class in mind, settle in for a ride to hell with Astore, whose Bracing Views newsletter is (to my mind) a must-read. ~ Tom Engelhardt
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