War Profiteers

I've always suspected that something like this was at hand...

--ryan



The Enemy Within:
How U.S. Corporations Profit From The Deaths Of U.S. Soliders
©2004 Michael A. Schiller; Written by Mike Schiller


There are numerous reasons why the war in Iraq has dragged out as
long as it has. One of the most likely reasons has been overlooked by
both lawmakers and the media. Throughout history, many corporations
have exploited wars for profit. There is extensive documentation
available to the public on the internet, and in libraries, which
proves this. Most people know about the companies which benefit from
rebuilding contracts and defense spending. Those companies are
usually heavily scrutinized by the media, and sometimes also by
congress. What people don't know is that there are other companies
which also profit from war but which are rarely scrutinized. These
are the companies which sell basic necessities to the military.

When a US military vehicle transporting supplies to a base gets
attacked, it's bad for the soldiers, bad for their families, and bad
for the military. Unfortunately, it is not bad for the companies
which manufactured the supplies which were destroyed in the ambush.
The US federal government has no choice but to purchase more supplies
any time a supply transport is destroyed in battle. These companies
are the only people in America who actually celebrate when US
military bases or supply convoys are destroyed. To them, it means
more money in the bank. Many of these companies are large
corporations with various brand imprints. They make things like
toilet paper, toothpaste, razors, pencils, food, soap, shampoo,
anything universal which all people need. When a company like that
sells supplies to the military, sometimes they even have access to
otherwise confidential pieces of information - such as when and where
the supplies are going to be delivered.

It is widely known that as far back as the Revolutionary War, some of
the biggest corporations in what was to become America, were actively
bribing and coercing military leaders on both sides. They went as far
as tipping off the locations of encampments- to both sides- in an
effort to increase both armies' spending on supplies. The more
ambushes, the more deaths, the more destruction, the more money these
companies made. Any time any needed items were destroyed along with
the soldiers, these companies profited. To increase the amount of
money they made, they constantly engaged in treason. This was also
done during Vietnam, the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.
Most of the individuals within these companies which engaged in these
treasonous acts of betrayal and manipulation- were never punished.

Some of the companies did face charges after the fact, once the war
was over. Others were sued by war victims, after the fact, once the
war was over. Unfortunately, the harm done by these companies was
irreversible. When a company tips off battalions on both sides in
order to lead them into a confrontation, just so that the army is
forced to replace all the equipment lost, nothing can bring those
soldiers back to life. When a general or commander accepts bribes
from a company in exchange for sending troops on a supply transport
mission that was nothing more than a death trap designed to create a
need for the army to purchase more supplies, those troops cannot be
brought back to life. When a company uses its clout to manipulate
media pundits, lawmakers, and the public at large into believing more
troops are needed, or that there is a shortage of new recruits, in
the hopes of getting congress to reinstate a draft- just so the
military is forced to purchase more supplies, nothing can reverse the
deaths of the additional troops which were sent there. When a company
hires private operatives to launch attacks against soldiers or
civilians, burn down buildings, or sabotage vehicles- nothing can
bring back to life the people who die.

None of that matters to these companies. They don't want either side
to win, because that would mean the end of the war. They don't care
if their own fellow countrymen are getting killed, they actually want
their own fellow countrymen to get killed. The more troops die, the
more troops are sent to war, the more supplies the army buys. These
companies will resort to any number of tactics to ensure as many
troops as possible are killed, on both sides of the war. They will
use their influence and money to coerce media outlets, lawmakers, and
the public in ways that suit their agenda. They are usually also the
first companies to hide behind a false image of patriotism, so that
the public thinks they support the war effort and doesn't suspect
them of wrongdoing. Yet the truth is, they support only the state of
war. They do not support the idea of either side winning, nor do they
support the idea of either side withdrawing or signing a treaty. In
fact, they will conduct huge propaganda campaigns to prevent any
peaceful resolution from being reached. A truce would bring the
company's sky high profits to a screeching halt.

These types of corporations are as much the enemy of the troops as
the other side's army is. The unfortunate problem is that many of
these corporations use their money to buy off military leaders,
elected officials, and the media. Due to the amount of influence the
companies wield, the troops on both sides have no idea that many of
the battles they're engaged in were actually orchestrated by these
companies. Not all companies which sell products to militaries engage
in this kind of behavior- but a very large number of them do. There's
no way for anyone to know which companies are doing this, unless they
are all subjected to intense scrutiny and investigations. Most of
them are discreet about what they do. They are not partisan. They
manipulate and influence people of all political persuasions,
religious affiliations, races, and genders. Companies which have no
loyalty to their country do not have loyalty to demographic groups.
They try every angle. They spread misinformation everywhere, anything
which serves the purpose of convincing individuals on either side of
the war- inside and outside the military- to say or do things which
prolong the war or increase the amount of destruction and harm done
by the war.

It's interesting that despite the extensive documentation of
corporate manipulation of war-related events and decisions, the
general public at large does not know much about this. Even those who
know about the past instances of this type of activity tend to
believe that companies have "changed" since then. That's a ridiculous
and dangerous assumption to make. There has not been one war over the
past 300 years in which no company has engaged in this type of
behavior. In fact, it's usually been a group of 10 or 20 companies,
all influencing the events in different ways, to suit similar yet
separate agendas.

For some strange reason, despite the mountains of documentation- in
countless books about economics, world history, and political
science; in court records, in congressional archives- the public at
large is largely unaware of the fact that so many corporations
actively engage in treason in pursuit of financial gain. Very few
people know this. Our soldiers do not know this. Their families do
not know this. All they know is what they're told by people they
trust- and too many of those people are not worthy of their trust. If
our soldiers' first responsibility is to protect their country, their
country should take the necessary steps to protect the soldiers- by
investigating these companies and pursuing criminal charges against
the corporate leaders who are involved in these schemes.

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Mike Schiller is an editorialist, poet, and the author of one
book, "Sentences I Freed From The Ropes They Tried To Weave Around Me"

Permission automatically granted to reprint and/or republish this
article, as long as the article is not edited and the authorship
information remains intact.

©2004 Michael A. Schiller