FIRST IN A SERIES

The film “Why We Fight,” which I highly recommend to everyone, alleges that in every decade since WWII, the American public has been told a lie to bring it into war to fuel the military-economic machine, which in turn maintains dominance in the world.

On January 17^th,1961, outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell speech to the nation which has been proven, to this day, to be extremely prophetic, accurate and frightening. In it, Eisenhower spoke of the changing world that we were living in, warning the American people, declaring:

“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry…. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Remember that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a career Army man who rose to the level of five-star general and oversaw the Allied forces in Europe, including the famous D-Day invasion of France in 1944. His experience in the military and then politics at that very critical turning point in the history of our nation and the world, gave him a unique perspective and certainly the credentials to make those statements in his farewell address. He continues by saying:

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.

Editorial Note: I had originally intended to write an extended article on the rise of and abuses by the now fully entrenched ‘Military Industrial Complex’ using the warnings in President Eisenhower’s speech  as a focal point. After paraphrasing some of that speech I realized that DDE’s words were powerful enough to stand alone and give us all an abundance of food for serious thought.

This is the first in a series of articles you will see in The Lang Report on the many facets of the “Military (an now Disaster) Industrial Complex.”