Here is a little background on a couple of the leading war-mongers (including the president). Why are We the People giving awesome political power to company CEO's and career politicians? Do you honestly think that the lives of the sons and daughters of working men and women mean any more to them than the aspirations (and the retirement plans) of wage-earners mean to stock-holders and top executives of large corporations?
Donald Rumsfeld - Secretary of Defense
Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon, and a member of the President's Cabinet (1969-1972)
From 1977 to 1985 he served as CEO, President, and then Chairman of G.D. Searle & Co., a worldwide pharmaceutical company. From 1985 to 1990 he was in private business. Chairman and CEO of General Instrument Corporation from 1990 to 1993. Until being sworn in as Secretary of Defense, he was Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Dick Cheney - Vice President
CEO of Halliburton Co. (1995-2000), a Texas construction and engineering company that services oil companies. Cheney went to Washington in 1969 as special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld in the Richard M. Nixon administration. Cheney was a steadfast supporter of Regan's "Star Wars" program. He also backed military funding of the Contras. Ironically, he served as vice-chairman of the committee that investigated the Iran-Contra scandal (sound like a fox in the henhouse?). After three months of hearings in 1987, he concluded, "there is no evidence that the president had any knowledge of the diversion of profits from the arms sale to the Nicaraguan democratic resistance." (surprised?)
From a speech by President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1961):
"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
