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#4413077 - 03/27/18 11:30 AM War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler  
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No Fear Offline
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Happened to come across this old short book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket

''War Is a Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book, by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General and two-time Medal of Honor recipient.''

Quite interesting in my opinion and worth a read.


Stupidity is invincible.

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#4413649 - 03/30/18 03:16 AM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: No Fear]  
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It is awesome and true! I wish more people read that book.


"I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."
1stLt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC
in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918
#4413918 - 03/31/18 03:39 AM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: VMIalpha454]  
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Originally Posted by VMIalpha454
It is awesome and true! I wish more people read that book.


I agree.

In this book the author doesn't just criticize and complain, but also offers steps and measures to be taken as a solution.But remember it was written back in 1935.

A must read for sure.


Stupidity is invincible.

#4414088 - 04/01/18 03:20 AM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: No Fear]  
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Smedley Butler was actually approached about leading a coup of the US Government but declined and instead turned the plot over to the authorities. Just an interesting anecdote.

The book may have been written back in 1935, but war itself hasn't changed much if at all since then in regards to how it is exploited for profit. Makes me think of escorting KBR tractor trailers when I was in Iraq back in 2006. Taking empty trucks from one place to another, or concrete barriers or loaded hesco barriers...it was maddening. Then someone explained that KBR got paid for every truck that left the wire, regardless of its cargo or whether it reached its destination. Lightbulb went on. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton, also. The racket is alive and well.


"I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."
1stLt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC
in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918
#4414117 - 04/01/18 11:11 AM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: VMIalpha454]  
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Originally Posted by VMIalpha454
Smedley Butler was actually approached about leading a coup of the US Government but declined and instead turned the plot over to the authorities. Just an interesting anecdote.

The book may have been written back in 1935, but war itself hasn't changed much if at all since then in regards to how it is exploited for profit. Makes me think of escorting KBR tractor trailers when I was in Iraq back in 2006. Taking empty trucks from one place to another, or concrete barriers or loaded hesco barriers...it was maddening. Then someone explained that KBR got paid for every truck that left the wire, regardless of its cargo or whether it reached its destination. Lightbulb went on. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton, also. The racket is alive and well.


I mentioned the fact that the book was written back in 1935 to imply that the General's suggested solutions (although good for that time) would probably be obsolete today.Although he did make suggestions as to how war could stop being a racket,I guess he wasn't heard.

Reading his book I get the feeling that the General wasn't really anti-war.He,having experienced the horror of war,just didn't like the fact that some profit from it and others die or suffer in various ways.He wanted it to be a ''fair game'' instead of a ''fixed one''.

PS Didn't know about the coup story.Thanks for that.


Stupidity is invincible.

#4414280 - 04/02/18 12:03 PM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: No Fear]  
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Don't want war exploited for profit?

Make all armaments production state owned and state run like what you had in the USSR.


There you go, problem solved.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4414282 - 04/02/18 12:18 PM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
Don't want war exploited for profit?

Make all armaments production state owned and state run like what you had in the USSR.


There you go, problem solved.



Having read some of Gen Butler's pamphlet (I don't think it qualifies as a book) that's pretty much his end goal. There is no doubt of the man's courage but the ideas espoused in his writing are naive and simplistic.


"In the vast library of socialist books, there’s not a single volume on how to create wealth, only how to take and “redistribute” it.” - David Horowitz
#4415118 - 04/07/18 02:09 AM Re: War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler [Re: F4UDash4]  
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Originally Posted by F4UDash4
Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
Don't want war exploited for profit?

Make all armaments production state owned and state run like what you had in the USSR.


There you go, problem solved.



Having read some of Gen Butler's pamphlet (I don't think it qualifies as a book) that's pretty much his end goal. There is no doubt of the man's courage but the ideas espoused in his writing are naive and simplistic.


I don't think he was calling for state owned industry. He just wanted to remove the incentive for war profiteering. It isn't clear to me in his discussion of the pre-war and wartime "profits" exactly what he is saying. For instance, he could be referencing total income. He could also be comparing actual profits. If it was the latter, there was an egregious problem. An 1,150% increase in profits indicates some serious gouging, while an 1,150% increase in income could just show a much greater demand for the product.

A more accurate evaluation of his goal would be to eliminate crony capitalism, which is something I personally agree with.

Regardless, the treatment of WWI servicemen was pretty atrocious by every account I have ever read. Remember My Forgotten Man.


"I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold."
1stLt. Clifton B. Cates, USMC
in Belleau Wood, 19 July 1918

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