the real business of the War

[barbara100 at jps.net]

I think the immediate answer is tell as many people as we can about the real
business of war.  Then when we have peoples' attention, we can ask again,
collectively, what the answer is.

Most of us don't have two coins to scrape together let alone the means to
invest them online any time of day. I wonder how many of us other 6 billion
even have electricity?  I don't think any of us here can appreciate how
little little is for the "little guys."




----- Original Message -----
From: <Bandwraith at aol.com>
To: <millison at online-journalist.com>; <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 5:20 PM
Subject: Re: the real business of the War


> A- and now with the proliferation of well diversified
> investment funds, 24 hr online brokerage services
> and the power to move money around with a few
> clicks of the mouse, even the little guys can get in
> on the profits. Last time I checked, all those corps
> you listed were publicly owned. So what, beyond
> asking the question, is the answer?
>
> In a message dated 9/18/02 10:00:27 AM, millison at online-journalist.com
writes:
>
> << "In July, the world's top defense contractors gathered in the United
> Kingdom for the Farnborough International Air Show, which convenes CEOs,
> generals, and heads of state every two years. At the last show $52 billion
> in orders were announced. Although contractors didn't anticipate that much
> this time around, they were keen to show off the latest developments in
> antiterror weapons and homeland defense. Raytheon showcased its role in
> missile defense and precision strike munitions. Boeing exhibited its
> tried-and-true 767 tanker transport, its C-17 Globemaster, and its
JDAM-all
> of which have been on display in Afghanistan. TRW, Northrop Grumman,
> Lockheed Martin, and Boeing all focused on new approaches to developing
> unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), another star weapon of the Afghan war.
The
> big boost in the defense budget is good news for major Pentagon
> contractors, who were among the few companies to show increases in their
> stock prices when the market reopened after the September 11 attacks.
Among
> the top gainers for the week of September 17-21, 2001, were military and
> space contractors like Raytheon (+37%), L-3 Communications (+35.8%),
> Alliant Techsystems (+23.5%), and Northrop Grumman (+21.2%). ....The
> geopolitical reach of the defense megafirms is reinforced by millions of
> dollars in campaign cash. In 2000 the top six military companies spent
over
> $6.5 million in contributions to candidates and political parties. In
> addition to these hefty campaign donations, defense contractors spent an
> astonishing $60 million on lobbying in 2000, the most recent year for
which
> full statistics are available."
> Foreign Policy in Focus
> http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol7/v7n10arms.html
> Post-9/11 Economic Windfalls  for Arms Manufacturers
> Volume 7, Number 10
> September 2002
>
>
> "Don't forget the real business of the War is buying and selling. The
> murdering and the violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to
> non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many
ways.
> It serves as spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War.
It
> provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be
> taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more
> prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a stimulus to just
> ordinary folks, little fellows, to try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while
> they're still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of
> markets."
> Gravity's Rainbow p. 105
>