In an interview with Abby Martin on Breaking the Set, former Senator Ron Paul explained the rationale for what he calls our “bellicose” policy in the Middle East, and explains that the military-industrial complex is the only clear winner:
Abby Martin: . . . You were put in the middle of this, where you have the Establishment basically pushing us, giving us these two options, this false dichotomy—either arm rebels or bomb people. I mean, why is it that those are the two options when it comes to solving problems in the Middle East?
Ron Paul: They are bellicose, you’re right about that. They must have an incentive. I do not believe it’s their concern about the defense of America. . . . Their motivations are, only they could explain them, but there’s probably quite a few. Some people like to sell a lot of weapons. The other day when I saw the first primary responsibility of our Air Force when they went back in there was to break up all the American weaponry, and I thought, “Well, I guess the military-industrial complex will like that!”
You know, we were putting weapons into Syria as well as Iraq, and they end up in the hands of ISIS, so we have to go in and blow them up. It makes no sense unless you have people back here saying, “Hey, we get to build these weapons again.”
Indeed, Dr. Paul. On a side note, why doesn’t anyone else in government make as much sense as this man? Sheesh.
Another article from Fortune magazine says basically the same thing Ron Paul did:
New fights mean new stuff, after all. And following the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan—and the belt-tightening at the Pentagon imposed by steep budget cuts—military suppliers are lining up to meet a suddenly restored need for their wares.
This is honestly just despicable. You think the military-industrial complex isn’t pushing for war, selling weapons to both sides and hoping for new conflicts? Count on it. And as long as the civil government continues to be a puppet-for-hire for the lobbyists with the deepest pockets, I don’t see this changing any time soon.