"All the World's a Stage We Pass Through" – R. Ayana

Showing posts with label weaponsmiths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weaponsmiths. Show all posts

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Nuclear Experimentation Year 70: Playing With Madness


Nuclear Experimentation Year 70:
Playing With Madness

 nuclear bomb



by Ethan Indigo Smith


The recent “news” on the nuclear situation in Iran brings to light the madhouse of cards on which the postmodern world is built. Or rather, it would bring the madness to light if the major media outlets of the world were not bought up and sold out to the military industrial complex, and therefore completely misinformed on the actions and dangers of the nuclear experimentation industry.

The story is not just about how Iran wants to join the club of failed nuclear experimentation states, though that is certainly worthy of raising an eyebrow. This story is not just about the threat to nearby states, or the implications to global relations. The story is not just about how they could be so ill minded, and short sighted as to look for solutions in a dirty technology…

The real story is that playing with nuclear fire – the Pandora’s Box of nuclear experimentation – is a threat to all life on Earth, and yet today, blinded by an invisible threat, the rise of the nuclear state has become just another part of our collective ‘energy’ and ‘war’ narratives. The real story is that, in our collective madness, we fail to recognize that Iran’s engagement in nuclear experimentation is no different than our own — and that the sum total of all this nuclear madness is mutually assured destruction.

 

Total M.A.D.ness

 

Used to describe the inevitable outcome of any military nuclear action, the acronym M.A.D. stands for mutual assured destruction. The M.A.D. theory is that a balance of apocalyptic armament puts opposing nuclear nations in a stalemate, where it would be impossible for one to annihilate the other with nukes without facing annihilation themselves. If the accepted narrative is to be believed, the understanding of ‘mutually assured destruction’ on both sides is why the Cold War never went Hot.

Is it any coincidence that the industry acronym for the inevitable outcome of any military nuclear action is M.A.D.? By their own reckoning, mutual destruction is assured on all sides of the nuclear war machine in the event of a nuclear strike – yet nations continue to arm themselves, writing conventions to mitigate their liability while provoking other nations that arm themselves. In their ‘fight for peace’, they are scrambling down the rabbit hole to mutually assured M.A.D.ness.

If this M.A.D. balance was at all sustainable, one might even wish to see Iran armed, and believe that arming Iran would bring M.A.D. balance — because after all it is well known, but not officially recognized that Israel already has nuclear weapons. But therein is the opening into the madness of the situation; the reality is already so twisted that one might see it as a “solution” that an individual or institution to possesses a mechanism that instantly kills, maims and deforms en masse, and poisons ecosystems for countless generations to come, just because the institutions that threaten them have those same mechanisms, which kill and maim and deform and poison.

Make no mistake, this is a contrived polarity. The only way to end the M.A.D.ness is to disarm, not arm the opposition.

 

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8109/8530578388_7dd18962e3_k.jpg

 

 

Critical Thinking

 

When we investigate the reality of M.A.D., and the propaganda that accompanies nuclear experimentation (both military and power generation) we soon realize it IS absolute madness.

Firstly, the notion that nuclear experimentation is regulated is a fallacy. While eight States have detonated nuclear weapons, only the five member nations of the United Nations Security Council (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China) are considered to be “nuclear-weapon states” under by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. [1] However three other States that were not parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty have conducted nuclear tests since the NPT was enacted in 1970 (India, Pakistan, and North Korea).

Meanwhile Israel remains the nuclear white elephant in the room. Widely believed to have nuclear weapons, Israel continues to deny its nuclear status, casting further unknowns into the nuclear mix.

According to the Federation of American Scientists’ report Status of World Nuclear Forces:

More than two decades after the Cold War ended, the world’s combined inventory of nuclear warheads remains at a very high level: approximately 15,700. Of these, around 4,100 warheads are considered operational, of which about 1,800 US and Russian warheads are on high alert, ready for use on short notice.

Despite significant reductions in US, Russian, French and British nuclear forces compared with Cold War levels, all the nuclear weapon states continue to modernize their remaining nuclear forces and appear committed to retaining nuclear weapons for the indefinite future. For an overview of global modernization programs, see this 2014 article: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – Slowing nuclear weapon reductions and endless nuclear weapon modernizations: A challenge to the NPT.

The exact number of nuclear weapons in each country’s possession is a closely held national secret.

When it comes to nuclear weapons experimentation, transparency and accountability are non-existent — conditions in which corruption thrives.

While Israel defends its “strategic ambiguity”, its policy of denial has served not only as a misinformation tactic, it has inflamed tensions in the Middle East by highlighting obvious double standards in US policy in the region. While Israel denies itself to be a “nuclear-weapon state”, and the US continues to turn a blind eye, the governments of the both states are actively colluding to bypass a US ban on funding nations that proliferate weapons of mass destruction, ensuring Israel enjoys more than US$2 billion in aid from US taxpayers each year.

Israel, however, is not the only financial beneficiary of this nuclear deceit; the Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damageare designed to protect US nuclear interests from liability in the event of an accident, allowing them to make uncapped fortunes through nuclear energy generation without liability for their (inevitable) failures.

Despite all the public non-proliferation rhetoric of the nuclear experimentation industry, the nuclear-weapon States are clearly committed to retaining and continuing nuclear weapons programs. The illusion of non-proliferation serves only to delay genuine non-proliferation action. Not surprisingly, when it comes to the true nuclear agenda, even those scientists working ‘behind the security fence’ are subjected to this deception.

According to former government scientist turned environmental activist Dr. Andreas Toupadakis:

“[In 2000], I resigned from a permanent, highly paid, classified position in the Stockpile Stewardship Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. I went to LLNL believing that I would be helping to dismantle nuclear weapons and disposing of their deadly byproducts. That was my desire. Instead, very soon, I found myself expected to work on the maintenance of nuclear weapons. When I realized that within the Lab, environmental or nonproliferation work was but an illusion, I decided to resign. My conscience simply does not allow me to work for the development or maintenance of nuclear weapons.

“.. Purely academic projects are sustained in order to lure young scientists into the national labs. I heard this in plain language one Thanksgiving afternoon, sitting around the table with senior weapons scientists: “We need new blood to carry on our weapons research; we need new post-docs in purely basic research.” It was not a surprise that at that time a post-doc in academia was making around $18,000/year, but at Los Alamos National Lab I started with $35,000, certainly good bait to attract young scientists.”

Enshrined in secrecy even behind the security fence, the nuclear weapons and energy experiments are both conducted in the shadows, without transparency or accountability, at the expense of the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Nuclear Energy Experimentation

 

Ongoing events at Fukushima have highlighted the uncontainable dangers of nuclear energy experimentation. There are now over four hundred nuclear power generation experiments in operation worldwide, and more being built, each one representing another potential disaster.

In the 70 years since the first nuclear power generation experiment began at Oak Ridge in 1948, there have been countless (known) meltdowns at nuclear facilities around the world. The history of nuclear energy generation has proven itself to be equally as destructive (if not more) as nuclear arms programs. If one examines trends and contributing factors, there are bound to be more accidents, spills and ‘unprecedented events’ within the nuclear industry.

Now over 4 years on from the first meltdown, the ailing Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan is still spewing radioactive waste into our ocean’s and air, with no end in sight. In fact, reports of a fresh leak in February 2015 indicate a 70-fold increase in radiation levels. And while this disaster continues into its fifth year, the realities and failures of this and other nuclear experiments have become shrouded in propaganda and censorship, in an indefensible bid to protect the interests of the oligarchy – nuclear’s sole beneficiaries.

The Fukushima disaster has led to a practical elimination of free speech and free reporting of information from within Japan, with little to no opposition or indignation from global governments. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Designated Secrets Bill was written specifically to contain information about the Fukushima disaster; since authorities could not contain the radioactive leaks, the Japanese government instead enacted laws that subjected to punishment any individual who reports information about this undeniable disaster.

Again, the problem here is transparency and accountability. Like nuclear weaponry, nuclear energy experimentation cannot co-exist alongside freedom of speech or transparent access to information. It can only exist in a fascist state, which suppresses information and opposition.

But the ultimate truth of the nuclear energy experiment – the reason for the suppression and opposition – is that there the nuclear experiment is operated without a complete plan. Although it is touted as a ‘clean’ technology, the nuclear industry has no mechanism for disposing of the radioactive waste it generates, only mechanisms for containing it, storing it for the million years it takes to break down, and accumulating more each day. And that’s when all goes well…

When it all goes wrong, as history has shown, the destruction is permanent. Radiation kills, maims and deforms. That is why nuclear is the oligarchy’s weapon of choice, and exactly why it should not be used for energy generation. Radioactivity creates so vast and deep of an alteration of our ecology that now, as we reflect on ‘year 70′ of a million year waste cycle, it is obvious the causal implications of continuing the nuclear experiment have not been considered by the scientific community entirely, if at all.

And yet, the world’s “nuclear weapon states” insist on marching toward M.A.D.ness, relying on faulty logic, one-eyed scientism and good old fashioned fear-mongering to justify it.

Their motive becomes clearer when we take into account the increasing amount of radiation, and the cumulative effect of radiation, electromagnetic pollution and geoengineering (chemtrails and HAARP) operations simultaneously contaminating our atmosphere. Interacting with radioactive and heavy metals in our atmosphere, electromagnetic energy has been shown to interfere with the human body and brain, which itself is electrical — in particular it disrupts cell growth, neural activity, cardiac function, hormone production and fertility [source] This toxic atmospheric cocktail creates the conditions for a global health crisis of unprecedented proportions. Enter the pharmacological industry to treat the symptoms but never the cause.

The effects of nuclear, chemical and electromagnetic programs amount to an assault on our health, our consciousness, and our very existence.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5489/11191129216_a93f745beb_k.jpg

 

 

The Way Out

 

On considering the entirety of the nuclear experiment, one can’t help but to acknowledge the distorted modes of thinking, hidden agendas and damaging outcomes inherent in its operation.

It is time to get real. Power-brokers are playing political games with our planet and our health. As history continues to prove, the nuclear experiment cannot continue without dire physical and spiritual consequences, and we cannot consider ourselves the peak of evolution or enlightenment on Earth while also being responsible for its ongoing devastation.

It’s time we start thinking outside the narrow confines of the political convention and formality that led us here. What we need is a revolution.

We are not the 99% among the 1%, we are in fact the 99.99999999999999% — but we have been bullied into quietly observing the will of the bourgeois 0.0000000000000001% and accepting our biological and spiritual degradation as an unavoidable part of “postmodern living.”

It turns out that in order to solve the nuclear problem and stake a claim for our environmental future, we have to face the biggest bully on the block.

Nuclear experimentation is the biggest issue of our time, and of all time. Just as every piece of plastic we create will be with us for the next 10,000 years, every bit of radioactive waste we have ever produced and will ever produce (leak or no leak) will be with us for the next million years — that’s 40,000 human generations — poisoning everything it touches in perpetuity. That is a fact.

It is our collective ego that allows such a devastating program to continue unopposed; our unwillingness to examine the complex and confronting detail in front of us, our inability to see beyond our own lives and our own lifetime, and our ultimate decision to submit to the will of nuclear/military industrial complex.

The greatest trick ‘the devil’ ever played was not tricking the world into thinking he doesn’t exist but tricking the world into thinking he was not dangerous. Like all oligarchical power structures, this is also true of the nuclear war/energy oligarchy.

In his 1961 farewell address to the nation, President Eisenhower, the last military President of the U.S.A., warned us of the coming military industrial complex and, specifically, of the dangers of increased military spending with government contracts being given to private military manufacturers. His warning went unheeded.

Unless we confront the complex reality of the military industrial complex, we will forever be stuck in a permanent state of war – a war on individuals, individuality, and consciousness itself. The “leaders” of nuclear nations have shown they have no intention to make peace but to make power plays and deals that profit their masters.

Nuclear arms cannot bring peace, and nuclear energy cannot bring sustainability. With the M.A.D.ness of nuclear experimentation constantly looming, there can be no peace.

The only way to stop the madness is to organize ourselves, and confront the institutions that run these programs. Until we begin to dismantle the nuclear arms and energy industries, nothing will change. Nothing will change, but the radiation levels in our air and water which will continue to go up. Nothing will change but the increased toxicity and degradation of our ecology. Nothing will change but the increased threat of Mutual Assured Destruction.

Radiation knows no bounds or borders. Until we all come together in a true brotherhood of humanity, where all colors and cultures, all hues of humanity, come together in clarity to save ourselves and our planet from the grim future we’re currently creating. We must demand that the institutions responsible for our energy, environment and security, that our policy, in word and deed, reflects our true role as custodians of the planet humanity calls home. It’s up to all of us.

Peace on Earth, only for real.

Ethan.



For more information about nuclear weapons see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/nuclear%20weapons
For more information about weapon manufacturers see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/weapon%20makers  
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Friday, 10 April 2015

Blood Money: These Companies and People Make Billions of Dollars from War


Blood Money: These Companies and People Make Billions of Dollars from War 

 war money


by Lily Dane



War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.
– George Orwell



The late United States Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler is perhaps most famous for his post-retirement speech titled “War is a Racket”. In the early 1930s, Butler presented the speech on a nationwide tour. It was so popular that he wrote a longer version as a small book that was published in 1935.

Butler points to a variety of examples, mostly from World War I, where industrialists whose operations were subsidised by public funding were able to generate substantial profits essentially from mass human suffering.

The work is divided into five chapters:

1.    War is a racket
2.    Who makes the profits?
3.    Who pays the bills?
4.    How to smash this racket!
5.    To hell with war!

It contains this summary:

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

What Butler was candidly describing was later referred to as the “military-industrial complex” by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned Americans of its existence in his farewell address in 1961:

Butler went on to say…

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few — the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.

Butler also exposed the Business Plot, an alleged plan to overthrow the U.S. government. In 1933, Butler told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialist businessmen (including individuals from General Motors, Prescott Bush, grandfather of George Bush Jr., J.P. Morgan, and the Rockefeller dynasty) were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to other Fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, and the media ridiculed the allegations, calling them a “gigantic hoax.”

A final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed some of Butler’s testimony.
****

Despite warnings of its existence and imminent expansion, the military-industrial complex (or military-industrial-congressional complex) remains in operation today. It is an iron triangle that comprises the policy and monetary relationships which exist between legislators, national armed forces, and the arms industry that supports them. These relationships include political contributions, political approval for military spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and oversight of the industry.

It is a major reason we are stuck in a perpetual war.

****

In their article titled Companies Profiting the Most From War, Thomas C. Frohlich and Mark Lieberman listed the 10 companies profiting the most from war. To identify them, they examined the companies with the most arms sales based on information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Arms sales, including advisory, planes, vehicles, and weapons, were defined by sales to military customers as well as contracts to government militaries. Also considered were each company’s 2013 total sales and profits, the total number of employees at the company, as well as nation-level military spending, all provided by SIPRI.

From the article:

U.S. companies still dominate the arms market by a large margin, with six among the top 10 arms sellers. In the top 100 arms-producing companies, 39 are based in the United States, and U.S. companies accounted for more than 58% of total arms sales among the top 100. U.S. company arms sales in the top 10 alone made up 35% of total arms sales among the top 100. By contrast, Western European companies, which make up the rest of the top 10 arms producers, accounted for just 28% of the total top 100 arms sales.


 

Here are the top 10 war-profiteering companies and their political ties.


10. Thales Group (Paris)

Arm sales 2013: $10.4 billion, profit: $800 million
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $0
LOBBYING: $520,000 (2014), $460,000 (2013) (ranks 614 of 4,065 in 2014)
REVOLVING DOOR: 9 out of 10 Thales Group lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
For a list of bills Thales Group has lobbied, click here.
Chairman Henri Proglio’s salary is rumored to be $436,128 USD.
CEO Patrice Caine’s salary has not been published.

9. Finmeccanica S.p.A. (Italy)

Arm sales 2013: $10.6 billion, profit $100 million
Not only is this company a top war profiteer, it is a huge U.S. political campaign contributor.
From OpenSecrets.org:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $446,850 (ranks 696 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $1,754,000 (2014), $1,965,500 (2013) (ranks 303 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $342,550 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $18,100
Contributions to parties: $86,200
Contributions to 527 committees: $0
Contributions to outside spending groups: $0

For a list of bills Finmeccanica S.p.A. has lobbied, click here.
Here’s some additional information on this company:
The total of contributions to candidates from Finmeccanica SpA PACs is 24 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 21 out of 34 Finmeccanica SpA lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
CEO Mauro Moretti’s “wage packet” is said to be $1.2 million USD.

8. United Technologies (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $11.9 billion, profit $5.7 billion
United Technologies might be the lowest ranking of the U.S. companies in this list, but don’t let that fool you. OpenSecrets bestowed the company with the label “heavy hitter”, which means it is “one of the 140 biggest overall donors to federal elections since the 1990 election cycle, as compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.”
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $2,105,245 (ranks 124 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $15,738,000 (2014), $13,900,373 (2013) (ranks 13 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $1,769,400 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $199,250
Contributions to parties: $124,470
Contributions to 527 committees: $10,625
Contributions to outside spending groups: $1,500

For a list of bills United Technologies has lobbied, click here.
Here’s some additional information on this company:
The total of contributions to candidates from United Technologies PACs is 19 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 52 out of 70 United Technologies lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
24 Congressional members own United Technologies shares (for the list, click here).
CEO Gregory J. Hayes has a reported annual salary of $949,583 and an annual bonus of $1,600,00, for a total annual compensation of $2,549,583.

7. Airbus Group (France/Netherlands)

Arm sales 2013: $15.7 billion, profit $2 billion
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS:  $365,752 (ranks 855 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $3,288,178 (2014), $3,749,750 (2013) (ranks 156 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $259,322 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $83,500
Contributions to parties: $22,930
Contributions to 527 committees: $0
Contributions to outside spending groups: $0

For a list of bills this company has lobbied, click here.
Additional information about Airbus Group:
The total of contributions to candidates from Airbus Group PACs is 4 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 42 out of 57 Airbus Group lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.

6. General Dynamics (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $18.7 billion, profit $2.4 billion
OpenSecrets labeled this company a “heavy hitter”, which means it is “one of the 140 biggest overall donors to federal elections since the 1990 election cycle, as compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.”
General Dynamics is one of the nation’s top defense contractors, assembling virtually every type of military machinery engaged in modern combat. The company builds warships, nuclear submarines, tanks and combat jets, not to mention the command and control systems that link all of these technologies together. The company has lobbied hard to encourage lawmakers to step up appropriations for the Navy, one of the company’s biggest clients.
It has fought attempts to shrink the nation’s fleet of submarines and warships, thereby helping block Defense Department attempts to shift that money to other facets of the nation’s land and air defenses.
Details:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $1,974,599 (ranks 140 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $10,720,923 (2014), $11,066,974 (2013) (ranks 27 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $1,405,525 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $401,300
Contributions to parties: $162,974
Contributions to 527 committees: $4,350
Contributions to outside spending groups: $5,450

For a list of bills this company has lobbied, click here.
More information about General Dynamics:
The total of contributions to candidates from General Dynamics PACs is 6 times larger than contributions from individuals.
6 Congressional members own shares in this company (click here for the list).
REVOLVING DOOR: 96 out of 133 General Dynamics lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
CEO Phebe Novakovic earned nearly $19 million in total compensation in fiscal 2014.

5. Northrop Grumman (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $20.2 billion, profit $2 billion
We’ve got another heavy hitter here:
Northrop Grumman is the fourth largest defense contractor and the world’s largest builder of naval vessels as of 2010. As a member of the miscellaneous defense industry, Northrop Grumman specializes in aerospace systems, electronic systems, information systems, ship building and technical services.
Northrop Grumman focuses much of its efforts securing government defense contracts and earmarks. During the 2008 election cycle, people and political action committees associated with Northrop Grumman contributed more than $2 million to federal candidates and committees, favoring Democrats slightly.
Details:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS $4,050,624 (ranks 45 of 16,793)
LOBBYING $10,216,960 (2014), $20,590,000 (2013) (ranks 28 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $2,613,112 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $1,194,560
Contributions to parties: $231,602
Contributions to 527 committees: $6,000
Contributions to outside spending groups: $5,350

For a list of bills this company has lobbied, click here.
More information about Northrop Grumman:
The total of contributions to candidates from Northrop Grumman PACs is 9 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 32 out of 49 Northrop Grumman lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
6 Congressional members own shares in this company (for the list, click here).
CEO Wesley G. Bush’s total pay package, including the change in the value of his pension, was $18.6 million in 2013, reports The Washington Post. His salary and stock awards remained steady at about $1.5 million and $8 million, respectively.

4. Raytheon (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $29.9 billion, profit $2 billion
OpenSecrets has identified Raytheon as a heavy hitter:
Raytheon is a major American defense contractor that specializes in defense and homeland security technology. As the world’s largest producer of guided missiles, Raytheon specializes in manufacturing defense systems and defense electronics.
A member of the defense electronic industry, Raytheon is most active lobbying on defense, homeland security and federal budget appropriation issues. Until 2008, individuals and political action committees associated with Raytheon had favored Republicans in campaign contribution giving, but after Democrats won both chambers of Congress and the White House, the defense firm favors Democrats, giving 55 percent of campaign contributions to Democrats and 45 percent to Republicans in 2008. Considering that access is needed when securing large government defense contract, it’s of little surprise that Raytheon spends millions of dollars each year lobbying the federal government. Raytheon is the primary manufacturer of Tomahawk cruise missiles, dozens of which have been used by U.S. and British military forces in strikes against targets in Libya during 2011.
Details:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle:
CONTRIBUTIONS: $3,588,668 (ranks 58 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $6,250,000 (2014), $7,650,000 (2013) (ranks 65 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $2,131,300 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $1,212,783
Contributions to parties: $236,498
Contributions to 527 committees: $6,037
Contributions to outside spending groups: $2,050

For a list of bills Raytheon has lobbied, click here.
More information about this company:
The total of contributions to candidates from Raytheon PACs is 11 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 51 out of 67 Raytheon lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
8 Congressional members own shares in this company (click here for a list).
CEO Thomas A. Kennedy made $5,324,743 in total compensation for fiscal 2013.

3. BAE Systems (U.S./United Kingdom)

Arm sales 2013: $26.8 billion, profit $275 million
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $1,360,369 (ranks 210 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $3,920,000 (2014), $4,635,000 (2013) (ranks 124 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $931,389 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $301,750
Contributions to parties: $120,980
Contributions to 527 committees: $5,500
Contributions to outside spending groups: $3,250

For a list of bills BAE Systems has lobbied, click here.
More details:
The total of contributions to candidates from BAE Systems PACs is 9 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 27 out of 36 BAE Systems lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
CEO Ian King’s total annual compensation is $3,826,308.

2. Boeing (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $30.7 billion, profit $4.6 billion
Boeing has been labeled a heavy hitter by OpenSecrets:
Boeing is the world’s top manufacturer of commercial airplanes, including well-known aircraft such as the 787 and the 747. The company is also a leading military supplier, making fighter-bombers, transport planes and the Apache helicopter.
Along with rival Lockheed Martin, the company regularly lobbies Congress to win military contracts and increase defense spending. Boeing is a major supporter of free trade, especially in Asia, where it has focused on selling more planes. The company also lobbies on environmental rules and transportation regulations, among other issues. Boeing is also a large recipient of government loan-guarantees, primarily coming from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Details:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $3,227,934 (ranks 67 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $16,800,000 (2014), $15,230,000 (2013) (ranks 10 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $2,536,149 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $398,276
Contributions to parties: $252,685
Contributions to 527 committees: $33,749
Contributions to outside spending groups: $79,325

For a list of bills Boeing has lobbied, click here.
More information on this company:
The total of contributions to candidates from Boeing PACs is 6 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 83 out of 115 Boeing Co lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
17 Congressional members own Boeing shares (click here for the list).
CEO W. James McNerney Jr. made $23,263,562 in total compensation in 2013. Of this total $1,930,000 was received as a salary, $12,920,972 was received as a bonus, $3,763,503 was received in stock options, $3,763,534 was awarded as stock, and $885,553 came from other types of compensation. He earned $23.5 million total in 2014.

1. Lockheed Martin (U.S.)

Arm sales 2013: $35.5 billion, profit $3 billion
As the top war profiteer on this list, it should be no surprise that Lockheed Martin is ranked as a heavy hitter by OpenSecrets:
Lockheed Martin is the nation’s top defense contractor, the brains behind such high-tech military hardware as the F-16 jet fighter and a variety of land and sea missiles. In 2001, the company landed the biggest defense contract in history when it was named the main contractor for the Joint Strike Fighter.
Considering that access is the name of the game when securing such lucrative contracts, it’s no surprise that Lockheed splits its campaign money equally between Democrats and Republicans. All told, NASA and the Defense Department account for roughly 80 percent of the company’s annual sales.
Details:
Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
CONTRIBUTIONS: $4,132,497 (ranks 44 of 16,793)
LOBBYING: $14,581,800 (2014), $14,516,226 (2013) (ranks 16 of 4,065 in 2014)
Contributions to candidates: $3,001,928 (for a list of recipients, click here)
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $897,425
Contributions to parties: $219,086
Contributions to 527 committees: $5,585
Contributions to outside spending groups: $10,373

For a list of bills Lockheed Martin has lobbied, click here.
Additional information about this company:
The total of contributions to candidates from Lockheed Martin PACs is 7 times larger than contributions from individuals.
REVOLVING DOOR: 69 out of 109 Lockheed Martin lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs.
CEO Marillyn Hewson earned $25.16 million in 2014. Of this total, $1.34 million was base salary, $8.16 million was stock awards, $5.98 million was from incentive plan compensation, $9.41 million was in pension earnings, and other compensation was $238,150.

****

As you can see, many companies and individuals – including politicians – stand to profit greatly from perpetual war.

And we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $312,500 for cost of military action against ISIS.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $10.17 million for cost of war in Afghanistan.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $365,297 for cost of war in Iraq.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $10.54 million for total cost of wars since 2001.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $8.43 million for Homeland Security Since 9/11.

Every hour, taxpayers in the United States are paying $58 million for the Department of Defense.

For a live ticker showing how much we have paid to date in each of the categories above, please visit the National Priorities Project site. You also can use the site’s trade-off tool to see what else those dollars could buy.

****

The full costs of war cannot simply be measured in dollars. It is impossible to place a monetary value on the tremendous loss of life (both military and civilian) caused by perpetual war.

Since 2003, U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan total 2,356. UK military deaths total 453, and there have been 677 coalition military deaths from other countries.

Since 2003, U.S. military deaths in Iraq total 4,489. UK military deaths total 179, and there have been 140 coalition military deaths from other countries.

There have been 136,495 – 154,378 documented civilian deaths that resulted from military intervention in Iraq since 2003.

In Iraq, 1,487 contractor employees have died. 348 journalists have been killed. 448 academics have died.

To view information on 6,840 U.S. service members who have perished in Afghanistan and Iraq, please see Faces of the Fallen.

Deaths don’t only occur in combat. An unusually high percentage of young veterans have died since returning home, many as a result of drug overdose, suicide, and vehicle crashes, reports Costs of War. The suicide rate doubled in the Army during the first decade of the wars among both the deployed and the non-deployed.

In many ways, the people of Afghanistan and Iraq are worse off now than they were before U.S. military invasion. Both countries are considered more authoritarian, more corrupt, and more repressive than they were before.

****

In his piece titled A State of Perpetual War, David A. Love makes a fitting comparison:

In the George Orwell classic 1984, there is a state of perpetual war between the nations of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The enemy in the conflict is ambiguous, and the battlefield exists in an elusive and distant land. The enemy could be Eurasia one day, and Eastasia the next, but that location is really insignificant.

The mission of perpetual war for these superpowers is to justify psychological and physical control over their populations, to keep their people busy, fearful and hateful towards the enemy. The perpetual war also serves as an excuse for a nation’s failings and shortcomings. The economy, the labor force and industry are all centered around war rather than consumer goods. People live a miserable existence with poverty and no hope of improving their standard of living.

Love points out that there are bigger problems we should be concerned about:

…there are many domestic threats that seem to pose a greater risk to national security, including the U.S. economic system itself.

He concludes with:

If we are to have a perpetual war, it must be a war against injustice and deprivation at home and abroad. We need to get our own house in order, rather than demolish and rebuild other nations that did not invite us there. And as far as the so-called terrorism problem is concerned, maybe we should stay out of other folks’ backyards and it will go away.

Indeed, the authorities would like us to believe that “fighting for our freedoms” in lands thousands of miles away is a necessary evil.

In War is a Racket, Butler suggested the following three steps to smash the war racket:

1.    We must take the profit out of war.
2.     
3.    We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war.
4.     
5.    We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.
6.     
Butler concluded his speech with the following exclamation:


TO HELL WITH WAR!

That seems like an appropriate conclusion here as well.


Additional Resources:

Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War by James Risen
Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World by Tom Engelhardt
National Security and Double Government by Michael J. Glennon
Lords of Secrecy: The National Security Elite and America’s Stealth Warfare by Scott Horton
The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group by Dan Briody
Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare by Gareth Porter




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