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Thread: Scandal In The Pentagon: A Challenge To Democracy

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    iustitia's Avatar Senior Member
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    Scandal In The Pentagon: A Challenge To Democracy

    I was doing some research and came upon some references to this small book from 1969. And my Lord, it is one of the most insightful things I've ever come across in my life. Reading this confirms that nothing has changed since its publication regarding the military-industrial complex.

    It's obviously no longer in print and you'll find almost nothing about it online. It's not on PDF anywhere and there are no reviews that I've found. As such I'll either post snippets from each chapter for you all to enjoy or I'll attempt to straight up type out the whole thing. There's about 182 small pages.

    If you want to order it you can get a copy for less than a dollar here: http://www.amazon.com/Scandal-Pentag.../dp/B0006CJIQ4

    Otherwise I'm going to order as many copies as I can to preserve them. They're that important to me. I'm working on many projects at any time and the information contained in this book is extremely important for relaying the narrative of the military-industrial complex, from the politicians to the contractors to the folks at the bottom relying on it for sustenance.

    I'll leave you with this paragraph: "We have witnessed the results of this process over the past quarter of a century: a wholly disproportionate investment of the nation's resources in the expensive paraphernalia of the warfare state; a series of military misadventures culminating in the costly and tragic intervention in Vietnam; a pervasive spread of military influence into the civilian institutions of private and public life; an increasing disposition on the part of government to rely on secrecy and deceit in its dealings with the people who, in a democracy, are supposed to exercise ultimate control over the direction of policy; a tendency to neglect or at least defer even the most pressing nonmilitary needs of the society; a growing trend toward alienation - or open rebellion - on the part of the youth against a system they regard as indifferent, if not openly hostile, to fundamental humane principles."
    Last edited by iustitia; 01-12-2016 at 02:27 PM.
    "Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing." -Herodotus



    "Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes every day, because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called the American Dream, 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it. " -George Carlin

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    Ethereal (01-12-2016)

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    Chapter 1: The Armed Society

    The warning President Eisenhower chose to deliver as the dominant theme of his farewell address was probably the most perceptive public utterance of his long career. To caution Americans in 1961 against the perils posed by the growth of "an immense military establishment and a large arms industry" was a distinguished public service, particularly since the alarm was sounded by the most widely admired public official and the most respected military leader of our time.

    But to repeat that warning today, as it is being repeated almost daily in the halls of Congress, is a redundancy and almost an evasion. The military-industrial complex is no longer a potential threat to America but a deeply entrenched reality. It had already acquired a dangerous degree of influence in the dozen Cold War years preceding Eisenhower's speech. Its power has grown and multiplied at a colossal rate in the decade of the 1960s.

    Fueled by huge and virtually uncontrolled appropriations that constitute the lion's share of the federal budget, defense contractors have assumed a dominant role in the nation's economy. Lured by almost limitless public subsidies, many of the country's best scientific minds have been persuaded to devote their time and talent to the development of new devices of death and destruction. Encouraged by the easy availability of government grants, universities have lent their faculties and facilities to programs of military research. Seduced by the expanding payrolls of defense-related industries, labor leaders have acquiesced willingly--cheerfully--in the headlong militarization of American society. Supported by a people searching frantically for "security" in an age of constant nuclear danger, the military have steadily extended their power within the Federal Government and their influence in the body politic, exercising increasing jurisdiction even in such traditionally civilian preserves as the formulation of the foreign and domestic policy.

    ...
    "Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing." -Herodotus



    "Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes every day, because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called the American Dream, 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it. " -George Carlin

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    maineman (01-25-2016)

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