Tag: Defense Contracts

The World Of The “Deep State”

Now there is a term that is being used way too much these days…..just a decade ago it was used mostly by people that did analysis for think tanks….but thanks to this past election it has made its way into the main stream.

The problem is there are not many Americans that are aware of what this term actually means…..

There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The former is traditional Washington partisan politics: the tip of the iceberg that a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power

Source: Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State | BillMoyers.com

What got me to thinking about the term “Deep State” was a post I read on Washington Blog……

I have long held that America’s Deep State–the unelected National Security State often referred to as the Shadow Government–is not a unified monolith but a deeply divided ecosystem in which the dominant Neocon-Neoliberal Oligarchy is being challenged by elements which view the Neocon-Neoliberal agenda as a threat to national security and the interests of the United States.

I call these anti-Neocon-Neoliberal elements the progressive Deep State.

If you want a working definition of the Neocon-Neoliberal Deep State, Hillary Clinton’s quip–we came, we saw, he died–is a good summary: a bullying, arrogance-soaked state-within-a-state pursuing an agenda of ceaseless intervention while operating a global Murder, Inc., supremely confident that no one in the elected government can touch them.

Source: Trump Aims to Cut the Neocon Deep State Off at the Knees

The Deep State has been a fixture that most Americans were unaware of in the past……It will be interesting to see if Trump has it in his playbook top neutralize this group.  It has even invaded the political parties (if we call them that)…..

Crooked elections and wars with nuclear-armed countries are not supported by the base of either party, nor are they part of any party’s platform.  Whose agenda are they serving?

I had been hearing, off and on, about the Deep State, so I Googled and found an essay from 2014 on Moyers & Company called Anatomy of the Deep State by former Congressional staffer Mike Lofgren.

Source: U.S. Political Parties and the Deep State – LA Progressive

I am guessing that we will become far more familiar with the term “Deep State” in the next 4 years…..

Rise of the American Mercenary

From time to time my friends at Ace News Room will publish an op-ed of mine…..below is one that I have been ranting about for a decade now…..

I have been very verbal on what I think of private “security contractors” or what they really are…mercenaries……

But first….a mercenary?

The word “mercenary” comes from the Latin “merces,” which means “wages” or “fee.” Thus, taken literally, a mercenary is any person who serves merely for wages. Although this definition could apply to many of us in the working world, it’s most closely associated with the professional soldier, or someone who is hired by a political entity to fight in a conflict. That conflict could be a war, a coup attempt or a prohibition campaign designed to reduce illegal drug trade.

(read on……)

Source: Rise of the American Mercenary | Ace News Room

The Demise of Anti-War Liberals?

After my stint in Vietnam I returned home to a society that did not like me much (deep down they still do not like the Viet vet very much)….I also became an antiwar activist because I did and do not think that war is a good thing…it usually creates more problems that it solved…..

I have noticed that the antiwar movement does not have the same impact it use to…..especially within the ranks of so-called liberals…..one reason is because war nowadays only effects 1% of the population…..basically there is NO shared experience and the media used to control ALL info about our numerous wars……

The liberals aka Dems, are now as entrenched with the money of the “defense” industry that they have turned a blind eye to anything resembling right……

This last election proved this point…..and a little historical perspective at the liberals and the antiwar movement…….

Senator Sanders may now have sounded the death knell for the liberal anti-war movement.

During the post-World War II period, opposition to U.S. militarism and involvement in dubious military conflicts has usually been stronger on the political left than the right.  Left-wing, anti-war sentiment reached its peak during the Vietnam War, when groups opposed to that conflict could sometimes mobilize tens of thousands of demonstrators.  Opposition to subsequent U.S. military crusades was less robust, but even as late as the Iraq War, there were sizable anti-war demonstrations in the streets.

There have been warning signs for some time, though, that opposition to unnecessary armed conflicts has lost its appeal to much of the political left.  For one thing, there was always a partisan bias to anti-war movements.  Even during the heyday of resistance to the Vietnam War, the criticism became more intense after Republican Richard Nixon took over the White House than it had been when Democrat Lyndon Johnson occupied the Oval Office.  The bias was even more apparent in later decades.  There was far more criticism of Republican George H.W. Bush’s Persian Gulf War than there was of Democrat Bill Clinton’s wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.  Indeed, a distressing number of prominent liberals found reasons to praise Clinton’s military crusades in the Balkans.

Source: The Demise of Anti-War Liberals? | Cato @ Liberty

Americans need to pay more attention to the wars we start and why….if for no other reason than it could be a family member that has to fight the battles…..

 

Greed & War

I am always going on about the Military-Industrial Complex (M-IC)….how it is this sector of American industry that controls our foreign policy especially when an armed conflict is called for…..

Wars are fought with profits as the bottom line….not ideology……”an used weapon is a useless weapon” sort of thing……

President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his most powerful speech as he left office in 1961. He warned the American people about an emerging military-industrial complex, a complex that was already beginning to erode democratic rule in America. Originally, Ike had Congress as a collaborator with and enabler of that Complex, but he deleted the reference in the final version, apparently deciding that by alienating Members of Congress, he’d only push them further into the Complex’s corner.

The military-industrial complex, the Complex for short, has only grown in power over the last half-century. Today, more than half of Federal discretionary funding goes to it. With the post-9/11 addition of Homeland Security and more and more intelligence agencies (seventeen of them at last count), the Complex continues to grow like Topsy. It consumes roughly $750 billion each and every year, a sum likely to grow whether Trump or Clinton wins the presidency. (Trump has promised to rebuild an allegedly shattered military; Clinton, meanwhile, is a steadfast supporter of the military as well as neo-con principles of aggressive foreign interventionism.)

Source: Greed-War: The Power and Danger of the Military-Industrial Complex – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

We were warned about the effects of the M-IC on our country and the world….we chose to ignore it and now we have war and death as a daily reminder of our ignorance.

Why the Military-Industrial Complex Loves Hillary

Since the American voter is too lazy to look for alternatives we will probably get another Clinton as president….and because of that we will have a country and a foreign policy run by the M-IC.

What does that mean?

More war and more interventionism across the globe…..because the M-IC loves them some Hillary….

Military contractors are overwhelmingly favoring Hillary Clinton for president with their political contributions this year. Though Republicans normally enjoy a slight fundraising advantage here, she currently leads Donald Trump 5-to-1 among donations from employees of the top 25 firms in this extremely lucrative, highly government dependent industry.

An article in Politico last week tried to put a good face on this for Clinton. One consultant called Trump a “totally unknown quantity” and “scary.” Unnamed “defense watchers” say that Clinton “offers what weapons makers crave most: predictability.”

Source: Why the Military-Industrial Complex Loves Hillary | The American Spectator

Wait! Speaking of defense contractors…..

President Barack Obama announced last month that he plans to further delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, leaving at least 8,400 forces in the country after January instead of honoring his most recent pledge to cut numbers to 5,500.

Now, a new report compiled by the Congressional Research Service, which produces reports for members of Congress, reveals that the number of U.S. service members in Afghanistan is dwarfed by the nearly 29,000 Department of Defense private contractors in the country, outnumbering American troops three to one.

Source: In Afghanistan, Defense Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops 3 to 1 | Alternet

We have at least 4 more years to look forward to more interventionism, confrontation and war…

You voted for it….you got it!

It Is Always About The Money

I have been an outspoken foe of the idea of private armies used to do the nation’s bidding…..these people even though they will not admit it are mercenaries…..they fight for cash if there were another reason then they would not be around every corner…..organizations like Blackwater or is it XE or did they change the name again to confuse the situation?

Where do their loyalties lie?  Is it ideology or is it the money?

I bring this up because of something I read a day or so ago…….

The United States Department of Defense has released details of an agreement with a private intelligence contractor, which experts believe involves the provision of services to American Special Forces working clandestinely inside Syria. Theannouncement, made on the Pentagon’s website, is believed to be the first public admission of the use of a private intelligence contractor by the US government in Syria. In the brief press release, the DoD identifies the contractor as Six3 Intelligence Solutions, a McLean, Virginia-headquartered company that specializes in intelligence, biometrics and security.

Six3 Intelligence Solutions is a subsidiary of CACI International Inc., one of the largest defense, security and intelligence contractors in the US. According to The Daily Beast, CACI purchased Six3 Intelligence Solutions in 2013 for $820 million, in what a CACI media statement said was “the biggest deal” in the company’s 50-year history. Public records indicate that Six3 Intelligence Solutions is already fulfilling a $30 million contract with the Pentagon, involving the provision of nondescript “intelligence services” to American troops stationed in Afghanistan. The latest contract, worth $9.5 million, was announced on July 27. It is a no-bid contract, otherwise known as a ‘sole source contract’, which means that the government believes that only one company can provide the services required. Thus, the process by which a no-bid contract is awarded is non-competitive.

The Pentagon’s July 27 announcement states that, under the contract, work by Six3 Intelligence Solutions personnel “will be performed in Germany, Italy, and Syria”. There is no mention of the precise nature of the work, though it is generally assumed that it will support the operations of US Special Forces troops that are currently stationed in Syria. American troops have been active in Syria for at least a year. Nearly 300 US Special Forces members are believed to be presently operational in the war-torn country, working with officers of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Daily Beast said it contacted CACI and the DoD about the recently announced contract, but received no responses.

Source: Intelnews.org

Again….mercenaries that will do what money tells them…..is that advisable for an intel gathering group?  Where will their loyalties lie?

Do you want the future of this country in the hands of mercenaries?  Think Snowden who was one of these “defense contractors”…..

I think this is a mistake……what say you?

What Would Pres. Trump Mean To M-IC?

I realize that most people think I do not like Mr. Trump…..well they are correct.  Not from some political ideological point but rather that he will not be good for this country on so many levels.

He, Trump, may be a successful (debatable) businessman but his rhetoric could do damage to our defense industry (it needs to be shaken up a bit)….now that could be a good thing it could help us get out of the war business…….but it could also be disastrous to our economy.

Say what?

As Mr. Trump closes in on the GOP nomination for 2016 there is a massive attacks of panic, especially around the Military-Industrial Complex (M-IC).  I’m sure that most that read IST realize that the biggest and most profitable industry in the US is the manufacturing of weapons and weapon systems.

Mr. Trump has promised to bring back jobs to America and to make this country prosperous again.  Unfortunately is his rhetoric has the M-IC running a bit worried…..

This is a piece written by Sierra Rayne for the American Thinker……

Donald Trump’s views on immigration and Islam are not just polarizing public opinion and the media, but also causing waves within the American defense sector.

Defense One reports that “if Trump wins, expect thousands of defense jobs to move to Europe[.] … The GOP frontrunner’s anti-Muslim comments could prompt U.S. allies to shop elsewhere for arms.”

According to Byron Callan, an analyst with research firm Capital Alpha Partners, “President Trump may prove offensive to Islamic states and those countries could seek alternative sources of weapons systems.”

Another defense industry lobbyist was quoted as saying “anti-Muslim rhetoric absolutely does not help when you’re trying to sell to the Middle East.”

Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, broadened the issue to other nations for which arms exports are important: “Trump’s nationalistic comments could have ripples beyond the Middle East. ‘Do you really think that Europeans, or Asians, or Latin Americans are going to be any more trusting?’”

This rhetoric could be for the benefit of the election and Mr. Trump is not this nationalistic.  Or it could be the corner stone of his foreign policy and if it is then many American jobs will be lost and the industry will suffer if he is elected to the presidency.
The question now is, if he wins the nomination will the rhetoric tone down or will he stick to his guns (no pun intended) and ruin America’s most profitable industry?
This is your chance to defend or condemn.

Money Well Spent….(Sarcasm)

I enjoy writing about the money that is wasted on the defense contracts and the F-35 is one of the biggest wastes of all times……this plane was never wanted by any in the military but to satisfy the special interests it was foisted upon our troops……I have been railing against this lump of expensive metal since it started its trials…….

This worthless lump of metal is to replace the A-10 Warthog, a stupid idea that NO one in the military signs on to, but do not take my word of how useless this piece of crap is……check out the list of things that are wrong with this “brick”…….

The Pentagon’s top testing official has weighed and measured the F-35 and found it wanting.

Source: The F-35’s Terrifying Bug List – Defense One

The Pentagon:  The Golden Age Of Spending

I have written many times about the wasteful spending of the Pentagon on all the crooks on the take with their defense contracts……projects like the F-35, a gas station in Afghanistan, roads not built even while they have been paid for in advance…..the list goes on and on……this country have been wasting money with all the defense contracts since the 1960’s…..and Congress it is favor for favor….the taxpayer is being screwed and yet no one in Washington wants to change a thing…….

I read a good report about the spending history of the Pentagon in  US News and World Report…..(check it out….)

Ridiculous Pentagon spending may be reaching historic levels.

Source: The Pentagon Could Reach a Historic Level of Wasteful Spending – US News

Nation is paying a heavy price for knee-jerk military spending

My readers do not need to employ a mystic to tell them that I am a devout opponent of the Military-Industrial Complex (M-IC)……wars will always be fought but I despise the idea of this action being a money making proposition……

I am also an opponent of knee-jerk reactions to world affairs and that is what we have had in our foreign policy for damn near 50 years…..and this election is built on knee-jerk reactions to situation and issues……

I write a lot of op-eds deriding war……and when I find someone that has a cogent opposition I like to pass it on to my readers….and I found a pretty good article recently……..actually it is an op-ed…..

The US is reacting to a situation…..there is little to no professionalism in any of the decisions……

Source: My Turn: Nation is paying a heavy price for knee-jerk military spending | Concord Monitor

Any opinions?