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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat a Waste, the U.S. Military
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176126/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_what_a_waste%2C_the_u.s._militaryAll of that came rushing back as I read TomDispatch regular William Hartungs latest post on waste at the Pentagon. It didnt just happen in Kabul and Baghdad; its been going on right here in the good old USA for, as Hartung recounts, the last five decades. Theres only one difference I can see: in Kabul, Baghdad, or any other capital in the Greater Middle East and Africa, if we saw far smaller versions of such waste indulged in by the elites of those countries, we would call it corruption without blinking. So heres my little suggestion, as you read Hartung: think about just how deeply what once would have been considered a Third World-style of corruption is buried in the very heart of our system and in the way of life of the military-industrial complex. By now, President Dwight Eisenhower must be tossing and turning in his grave....
From spending $150 million on private villas for a handful of personnel in Afghanistan to blowing $2.7 billion on an air surveillance balloon that doesnt work, the latest revelations of waste at the Pentagon are just the most recent howlers in a long line of similar stories stretching back at least five decades. Other hot-off-the-presses examples would include the Armys purchase of helicopter gears worth $500 each for $8,000 each and the accumulation of billions of dollars' worth of weapons components that will never be used. And then theres the one that would have to be everyones favorite Pentagon waste story: the spending of $50,000 to investigate the bomb-detecting capabilities of African elephants. (And heres a shock: they didnt turn out to be that great!) The elephant research, of course, represents chump change in the Pentagons wastage sweepstakes and in the context of its $600-billion-plus budget, but think of it as indicative of the absurd lengths the Department of Defense will go to when whats at stake is throwing away taxpayer dollars.
Keep in mind that the above examples are just the tip of the tip of a titanic iceberg of military waste. In a recent report I did for the Center for International Policy, I identified 27 recent examples of such wasteful spending totaling over $33 billion. And that was no more than a sampling of everyday life in the twenty-first-century world of the Pentagon.
msongs
(67,415 posts)associated with it. his best friends at Lockheed might get a bit touchy tho
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)...Bernie Sanders shows up as one of the few people in congress that opposed the merger of defense industry giants which he termed "Payoffs for Layoffs". I read the entire link and can assure you there is no evidence there that either Clinton ever opposed the MIC...
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)neverforget
(9,436 posts)catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)...should take the time for a full reading. K&R
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)We can't afford single payer health care for all at a nominal fee.
Our priorities are beyond screwed up, aided by the dumbing down of a huge number easily dumbed down folks.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,005 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)They don't care. And when it is time to make more money, they just toss aside their old billion dollar toys for new ones that net them a few yachts and a few shell accounts.
Greatest theft in human history. Our wonderful War Machine. Waste like no other nation on earth.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)For some reason, none of this ever quite makes the ads or the brochures or the buddy-buddy patter of the recruiters who have unrestricted access to our children in public schools.
Also, we can't make sure we have breathable air, drinkable water, drivable roads or modern schools, because those things cost too much!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... just what is it the defense budget is defending.