Remembering Smedley Butler

[BanzaiBonnie]

http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm

Smedley Butler on Interventionism

-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of 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 masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

[Gregorian]

1. If I owned this forum, this would be a sticky at the top of every page.

[w8liftinglady]

2. My very good friend belongs to the Smedley Butler chapter of VFP

The truth hurts,doesn't it.. you f+cking neo-con bastards?

[Electric Monk]

3. k&r for explaining the war in Iraq ~70 years ahead of time

[FourScore]

4. This quote will always get a k/r from me. n/t

[leftstreet]

5. K&R

[Bigmack]

6. And I always post a companion quote...

`I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these (Third World) nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the `haves' refuse to share with the `have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don’t want and above all don’t want crammed down their throats by Americans.' –

Gen. David Shoup, United States Marine Commandant.. Medal of Honor recipient. 2 Purple Hearts (Gen Shoup was my commandant during the first part of my time in.)

Two men... 3 Medals of Honor between them, and 10 purple hearts... who hated war.

[Selatius]

7. He witnessed how the interests on Wall Street crushed so many fledgling democracies.

See here what he said at the end:

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

[Dystopian]

8. KandR.

There are those who should learn from him.

A great man.


peace~
edit: midnight grammar