In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation warned the United States of the growing threat to our democracy by the “Military-Industrial Complex.” Shortly after Eisenhower retired from his presidential office, the consortium of the war industry, the military and America’s political structure led the United States into a devastating war in Viet Nam. More than 58,000 Americans lost their lives and nearly 154,000 were wounded. Over 1 million North Vietnamese and Vietcong lost their lives.
The Viet Nam War was the last that the United States would fight with conscripted soldiers. The lesson the Military-Industrial Complex took away from that war was if you wish to prosecute a war without masses of the American population in protest, you must go to war with volunteers only. America would professionalize its armed forces and thus avoid outrage over the death of young men and woman who were forced into battle. The average American who did not have a son or daughter fighting in America’s wars would be less likely to voice outrage over war policy.
As the armed forces became professionalized, so, too, did the means of war. Modern technology allowed for pinpoint accurate bombings from high-flying aircraft. Eventually, this evolved into even more accurate bombings by drones piloted from computer desks half a world away. The carnage of war escalated for America’s so-called enemies with untold numbers of military personnel as well as civilians suffering death and bodily wounds. The carnage would affect America’s soul in yet-to-be-revealed ways.
The perception of war also became a product of the Military-Industrial Complex’s ability to manipulate information about war. During Viet Nam, Americans on the home front viewed the war in all its horror on television’s evening news. The lessons of Viet Nam led to control of the media’s ability to accurately report on the realities of war. Largely, these sanitized versions celebrated America’s technological prowess as though the prosecution of war was a globalized video game.
With America’s latest so-called "War on Terror," occasionally the reality of war would sneak to the surface. The Abu Ghraib scandal, with photos of U.S. military personnel behaving in an inhumane way toward prisoners of war, shocked not only Americans, but also much of the world. The incident was explained away as the actions of rogue service personnel. Few would demand an inquiry into the supposition that participating in war dehumanizes even the most professional soldier. America, freed from the necessity of a conscripted citizen army, could be satisfied with the “rogue” explanation. Those responsible are someone else’s children, not ours.
In Afghanistan, the image of U.S. Marines urinating on enemy Taliban fighters also has been dismissed as an element of war’s reality perpetrated by “rogue” marines. It is an issue most American’s would just as soon ignore. Americans also wrote off Afghan outrage over the supposedly accidental burning of Korans as a fanatical response by Islamic radicals. Ten years of war in that country has led to the inability of people on all sides to appreciate the humanity of others. Accidents are no longer possible and outrage is considered an act of aggression.
The latest expression of war’s horror has surfaced with the case of Staff Sergeant Robert Bales who, according to reports, snuck off his base in the southern province of Kandahar and shot and killed 16 civilians, including women and children. Early inquiries indicate Bale had been a competent professional soldier. He volunteered for duty after 9/11 as a way to “make a difference” in America’s War on Terrorism. He served in three deployments to Iraq, where he had been wounded and was the victim of trauma to the brain. In spite of all this, he was deployed a fourth time to Afghanistan. War, apparently, has taken its toll on Sgt. Bale’s psyche.
War has taken its toll on the psyche of America. Investigations will take place, explanations will be suggested, and Bale, if found mentally competent, will most likely be indicted and tried for his crimes. There will be plenty of mitigating circumstances that will be presented in his defense.
What we can most assuredly surmise is this event will likely, like most other such incidents, be ascribed to “rogue” behavior. It also will most likely lead to a more rapid disengagement in the Afghanistan War. Americans will want to put the war there behind us. We do not wish to face the possibility of corporate culpability in the Bale case; neither do we desire to confront the wounds the war has caused to our national soul.
The Military-Industrial Complex, with its professionalization of war and the dehumanizing of the participants in war, has made war foundational to America’s existence. We must “support our troops” at all costs and to speak out against America’s wars is considered an affront to those who fight in our name.
Patriotism has become defined by our willingness support America’s militarism. Even as we disengage from Afghanistan, the drumbeat of war is heard as we set our eyes toward Iran. The propaganda machine proclaiming the evils of Iran is operating at full throttle, and voices of reason are rejected as either soft-hearted, soft-minded or traitorous. War with Iran will most likely come unless forces for peace in Iran and, of course, in Israel allow for the influences of their better angels.
President Eisenhower, the wise old soldier, witnessed the reality of war’s horror in the World War II. He also saw how economic interests would cause war-making to be a profitable enterprise. He had a perception into the realization such a course would wound America’s soul.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist,” Eisenhower warned in his farwell address.
“We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
It has been over 50 years since President Eisenhower issued his warning. In the face of the disastrous consequences of our war efforts, it is time to revisit and heed his wise counsel.
