Socialist Action /January 1999
Fightback: Bill the Barbarian
By Sylvia Weinstein
Bill Clinton, president of the United States, just as Bush before him,
proved to the capitalist class that he was their man. He carried out a ruthless
war against a harmless people, Iraq, to prove that the United States can
bomb and march into any country, any time, without a moment's notice.
I read Major Gen. Smedley Butlers' speech delivered in 1931. He was the
former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. He won two Congressional Medals
of Honor. This is an excerpt of his speech, titled "War Is a Racket":
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something
that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside
group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very
few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a
nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America
is that when the dollar only earns six percent over here, then it gets restless
and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and
the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment
of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the
defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other
reason is simply a racket.
There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is
blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle
men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations,
and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of
it. Like all members of the military profession, I never had a thought of
my own until I left the military service. My mental faculties remained in
suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical
of everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests
in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City
Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen
Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street.
The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the
international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I bought light
to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China
I helped to see it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a
swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, and promotions. Looking
back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best
he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on
three continents.
Major Gen. Smedley Butler was absolutely right. He fought to keep U.S.
capitalist investments safe. And Bill Clinton is doing the same thing. When
they bomb Iraq they are telling the whole world what they can and will do
if necessary to save the profits of the multi-corporate interests of this
country.
Have a good new year and keep up the struggle against the modern pirates
of Wall Street.
Socialist Action /January 1999 |