George W’s war in Iraq has not been good for the thousands of Americans killed and maimed there, nor for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed or forced to flee their country. Bush’s war has not been good for America, either, for our global reputation has been trashed and we are more vulnerable to terrorist attack than before.
In fairness, though, I must concede that George’s Iraq attack has been awfully good for one group: Pentagon contractors. For the makers of weapons, profits are up, stock prices are soaring, taxpayer dollars are gushing their way, and there is no end in sight for the “good times” that they are enjoying.
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For example, in the past year, such war corporations as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and General Dynamics have seen their stock prices jump by about a third as Wall Street investors have turned giddy about the financial prospects of the war machine. And why wouldn’t war speculators be giddy? Bush says he’ll bog us down in that civil war for years to come, even escalating our military presence and asking congress to dump another $100 billion into Iraq this year. While war is hell, Pentagon contractors see this news as manna from heaven.
But what about those pesky Democrats who’ve won control of congress and are making noises about a staged withdrawal and threatening to investigate war profiteering? No problem – corporate lobbyists note that Democrats, like Republicans, take campaign funds from these same contractors, and that such presidential hopefuls as Senator Hillary Clinton don’t want to appear “soft” on defense – so they expect the war funds to keep flowing and maybe even increase. As one industry analyst smugly puts it: “I think Democrats will be on good behavior as long as the war continues.”
This is Jim Hightower saying… “Good behavior?” To push Democrats to stand up for the American people instead of Bush and his war profiteers, call Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities: 212-243-3416.
Sources:
“Heady Days For Makers of Weapons,” The New York Times, December 26, 2006.
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