Fifty two years ago the retiring President Eisenhower made this broadcast:
His warning about the dangers of the military industrial complex were profound, sincere and genuine.
This morning the Guardian reports:
The Ministry of Defence has stepped up its campaign to draw upon millions of pounds from Britain's aid budget by suggesting the Department for International Development (DfID) pays for flights on military aircraft, some navy patrols and body armour.
There was even a move to ask DfID to contribute to the cost of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers on the grounds they will be used for peacekeeping operations and for disaster relief — but that suggestion has now been dropped.
The military industrial complex now threatens the poorest.
And we have a duty to say no to its demands.
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I agree cutting military spend back will reduce the capability of the “Wallies at Westminster” to embroil us in any further “foreign adventures” like the war in Iraq.
The warnings of the dangers of the military industrial complex predate even Eisenhower, Richard. And they have always been real. But in a UK context this is far more than this. It is what I have started to refer to as the ugly face of the corporate public sphere. I don’t have time today to flesh this out further but will do so as soon as I can.
As a whole blog, please….
This is not unlike what was pointed out in that FT article (Drive for NHS to share pain of savings)that: “The ministers want to reclassify work done by their departments as “health spending” — thus shifting hundreds of millions of pounds of spending on to the budget of Jeremy Hunt’s health department.”
So we are going to see the spectacle of each government department trying to ‘bill’ every other department for its expenses. What next? The DoD billing the Diplomatic corps for overseas security? Or billing other authorities for security provided during sporting and cultural events,e.g. Olympics?
It’s a shame the military of not just the U.K. but also the U.S. didn’t adopt this philosophy when they took on overseas military operations to prop up corrupt foreign regimes or protect the interests of various MNCs. They would have made a motza!!
The Ministry of Defence must be hunting around for cash to fund their return to the “East of Suez”, after all, without conflict and needless military “foreign adventures” it would be a bleak Christmas for the military industrial complex and in turn, Tory campaign funds.