Robert Higgs of The Independent Institute on Suppose You Wanted to Have a Permanent War:
The war-on-terrorism rationale has proved congenial to the American public, who have swallowed bogus government assurances that the so-called war is making them more secure. Much of this acceptance springs, no doubt, from the shock that many Americans experienced when the terrorist attacks of September 11 proved so devastating. Ever alert, the president’s national security adviser Condoleeza Rice asked the National Security Council immediately afterward “to think seriously about ‘how do you capitalize on these opportunities’ to fundamentally change American doctrine and the shape of the world in the wake of September 11.” The president’s most powerful and influential subordinates–Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and their coterie–then set in motion a series of actions (and a flood of disinformation) to seize the day, measures that culminated in the military invasion and conquest first of Afghanistan and then of Iraq, among many other things. Public opinion polls continue to show exceptionally high approval ratings for “the job the president is doing,” so at the White House everyone is merry indeed.
Likewise, the military component of the MICC has entered into fat city. During the fiscal year 2000, before George Bush had taken office, Department of Defense outlays amounted to $281 billion. Just four years later, assuming that Congress gives the president what he has requested for fiscal year 2004, the department’s budget will be at least $399 billion–an increase of 42 percent. No wonder the generals and admirals are dancing in the corridors at the Pentagon: all this loot and wartime citations and promotions to boot!
I won't take this time to repeat that WAR IS A RACKET.
Nope, I'll just refrain from such obvious statements unless I hear otherwise from Herr Ashcroft and his bossman. I am their obedient little drone.