America Owned by Its Army?

[DearAbby]

by William Pfaff

It is possible that the creation of an all-professional American army was the most dangerous decision ever taken by Congress. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected president.

Barack Obama has yet to declare his decision on the war in Afghanistan, and there is every reason to think that he will follow military opinion. Yet he is under immense pressure from his Republican opponents to, in effect, renounce his presidential power, and step aside from the fundamental strategic decisions of the nation.

The officer he named to command the war in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, demands a reinforcement of forty thousand soldiers, raising the total US commitment to over 100 thousand troops (or more, in the future). He says that he cannot succeed without them, and even then may be unable to win the war within a decade. Yet the American public is generally in doubt about this war, most of all the president's own liberal electorate.

President Obama almost certainly will do as the the general requests, or something very close to it. He can read the wartime politics in this situation.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/09-6

[anonymous171]

1. Obama is in charge of the military, so no. The CIA is 10x more terrifying. nt

[DearAbby]

4. JFK was known to have said

that he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds."
Yet in public fully supported the agency.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/jfk_cia.htm

Do you believe there are certain parts of the CIA that is so deep Black, it has no oversight via Congress or even the President, basically a rogue part of our government?

Back to the question: the age old, Military complex we were warned about by Eisenhower. Are they so large, it basically runs the country?

[jaksavage]

5. Yes and Yes.

[Sinti]

6. There is an odd angle you can look at

which gives me great pause. All of our weapons, and weapons systems are designed and built by multinational weapons manufacturing companies. These companies also sell weapons to arms merchants, who sell them to various groups, states and revolutionaries alike - with no concern for the purpose the buyer may have for such weapons. This is an entirely real scenario right now.

An unscrupulous weapons merchant and/or manufacturer could easily create conflicts, or the appearance of conflicts to drag you into and cause you to purchase more of their products. They arm both sides and make out like bandits, as long as you continue fighting.

These same people also own a large part of your media... just saying.

Do you believe there are certain parts of the CIA that is so deep Black, it has no oversight via Congress or even the President, basically a rogue part of our government?

This is not a matter for belief, when you see how open the CIA is with the congress it becomes obvious that they answer to no one. It has been that way all my life.

[msongs]

7. when your budget is more than HALF the US budget, you run the show. end of story nt

[DearAbby]

8. that is pretty scary.

They sell to anyone, with no concern for the purpose the buyer may have for such weapons...They can fund both sides of a conflict, just business. They become rich, those who fight become dead.

[ShortnFiery]

11. No he's not - KBR, Lockheed Martin, Xe, The Caryle Group and the Pentagon's other privatized

CONTRACTORS run our WAR MACHINE.

It will be fed ... just follow the money.

By God, the MIC, one way or another will get 30,000 more warm bodies to be sucked into the intake.

Those bombs are NOT going to blow themselves up son.

President Obama's in charge? Like Hell he is! :rofl:

[stray cat]

2. Americans use their military and abuse them and expect them to fight and die for them.

Americans pay the military to serve in our place - just like landholders used to do to the serfs. We are the overlords - not the serfs we hire.

[katandmoon]

9. Speak for yourself. I sure as hell don't expect the military to do a damn thing.

But by the same token, nobody forces any one to join the military. If they don't know when they sign up that they are risking being sent to a war zone, then that's on them.

It's their willingness to be cannon fodder that puts them in harm's way, not me. I think anybody who enlists is insane, and the whole military worship thing makes me sick.

[chrisa]

12. Which is why joining the military is the stupidest decision in the world.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. What precedent is there for a general to do what MethChrystal did? Publicly make a demand

of his president?

[classysassy]

13. MacArthur vs Truman

MacArthur pulled the same stunt but Truman gave him his pink slip." Old soldiers never die they just fade away"

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Oh horseshit, this has been going on long before the military was all volunteer

Any good historical account of the Cuban Missile Crisis will tell you that it was just as much of a battle between Kennedy and the Pentagon as it was between Kennedy and Khrushchev.