Monday, July 28, 2008

The military-industrial-government-media complex

As the new time horizon for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq approaches, here’s a preview of what top U.S. officers will be training the Iraqi army to do:

  • Set up military-industrial complex.
  • Take over budget of civilian government.
  • Subcontract to private companies beyond reach of law.
  • Get hired by those companies at higher pay.
  • Find comfy post-military career in lobbying.
From Ironic Times
But it's time we changed that to military-industrial-government-media complex...


Cross-posted at The Galloping Beaver

3 comments:

West End Bob said...

But it's time we changed that to military-industrial-government-media complex

You got that right, Girl! The government and media are definitely composites of the dastardly group. Eisenhower rather neatly ties the government into the mix in his farewell address of Jan. 17, 1961:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.

Holly Stick said...

I'm not sure; maybe it should be military-industrial-political-media complex

Alison said...

Holly! ;-)

Well, certainly your version is the more elegant syntax, but maybe 'political' is so broad it includes the Green Party, which is not what I meant. I'm not sure either.
I was thinking about what Gore Vidal said of government 35 years ago in Matters of Fact and Fiction, one of my favourite quotes:

"The congressmen who give the generals the money they ask for will then be re-elected with money given them by the corporations that were awarded federal money by generals who, when they retire, will go to work for those same corporations."

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