“Boys just love to play with their toys.”
That’s what Jackie Kennedy said when asked why the U.S. was stuck in a war her late husband had predicted would be “Hopeless.”
During the Viet Nam era, both Johnson and Nixon often personally reviewed daily bombing runs. Remember Operation Linebacker, Bomb the Shit Outa (BSO) North Viet Nam, then BSO Laos, then BSO Cambodia, then BSO parts of South Viet Nam … to keep them from going communist.
In Saigon, the daily press briefings for an unbelieving and increasingly hostile press corps became known as the “Five O’clock follies” as the White House continued spewing fantasy.
The fictional body counts, and lines such as “We had to destroy the village in order to save it” eventually cost the support of the press and of middle America. Were their sons really “Fighting and dying to make the world safe for democracy?”
Nam pretty much doomed both Johnson’s and Nixon’s presidencies, but neither could bring himself to stop playing. Neither had ever been in the military, much less in actual combat.
The U.S. has been at war in one form or another since about 1941, and the last time we actually won was about 1945. Korea … nope. ‘Nam … nope. Gulf … nope. Syria … nope. Afghan’ … nope. But the Military Industrial Complex (M.I.C.) Eisenhower warned us about has been and still is happily cranking out weapons to supply over 750 military bases in about 80 countries and territories around the world. You can Google that.
For the record, I understand the necessity for the military, but I am still very much ANTIWAR. I did six years in U S Army Intel. Top Secret with Cryptographic Access Security Clearance. I mostly defended Boston. A total waste of time, money and, in Viet Nam, lives.
In our latest military foray, not many actual Americans have died in combat (good) and the home team seems to be rallying after giving up some early points. This latest batch of war toys, I’ve got to admit contains some pretty cool stuff.
Satellites, drones, AWACs, J-STARS, and Growler aircraft can supply geo-coordinates without ever flying over enemy territory. Target info is downloaded to precision guided munitions that actually change course during flight (in case that target moves) and then bonks the bad guys from over 30 miles away. How cool is that? With kamikaze drones you see what the drone sees, before it destroys itself and the target while you watch the whole thing from the comfort of your living room.
YEA TEAM!
Yea M.I.C… with key operations located in key congressional districts.
With our key congressmen on key fact- finding tours, spending about 135 million/day in Ukraine.
Pictured above is Ukraine President Zelenskyy shaking hands with U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), senior member of the Appropriations Committee. Lockheed Martin (L. M.) the largest defense contractor at $40 Billion per year, has a large facility in … drum roll … Lexington, Kentucky. It employees over 3,000 people with a $150 million payroll, plus it keeps hundreds of in-state suppliers busy.
L. M. makes the HIMARS rocket system we’ve been hearing so much about too. Nice going, Mitch.
I wonder what Jackie would think of that toy?
Now this is the kinda war we know how ta fight. Actual bridges and buildings and airports to blow up. No more tunnels, mud huts, and caves, spending zillions to splatter. Enemy tanks … toasted. Ammo dumps … annihilated. Captured soldiers … caught on camera.
All our NATO “allies” are sending their 10- to 20-year-old stuff, lots of it originally supplied by Uncle Sam, to Ukraine. Tanks, guns, and aircraft, all on condition that Uncle re-supply those “allies” with our latest stuff at little or no cost.
Unfortunately the SEVENTY FIVE BILLION DOLLARS in weapons we left behind in Afghan’ will be staying there. Brown University estimates we spent $2.9 TRILLION during our stay there, and $5.8 TRILLION in the general area following 9/11. No hard numbers are (of course) available from the Pentagon.
The Pentagon gets about $800 BILLION to spend every year (Russia spends about $50 BILLION and China roughly $250 BILLION). One congressman describes it as “A fire hose of money that ya gotta spray somewhere.” And each fiefdom in the Pentagon has its own accounting system, purposely incompatible with the one down the hall. “It’s like having a house where each wall plug is a different voltage,” said the same congressman. “It’s a wonder anything gets done or winds up in the right place.”
The Pentagon is rife with stories of contracts that are automatically renewed, for stuff that hasn’t been used in 10 years, and for spare parts for which there is already a 20-year supply. Storage depots keep expanding, as it’s MUCH easier to store outdated material than it is to safely dispose of it.
Even Elon Musk is getting in on the action. One of the first things Vladimir Putin did was disable the internet connections of everyone in the area. Communication and geolocating are essential war fighting tools, just like the video game Call of Duty. Within two days, Elon had huge shipments of Starlink kits on the ground to reestablish internet access. Anyone with a small dish and a solar battery was now able to access one of over 2,000 satellites and send voice, video, and text to the whole world.
I wonder if the conversation went something like this: “Look Elon, I know yer a rich guy, but this is the Pentagon fer criss sake! We don’t have time for no contracts. Just do it. Tell us the number and we’ll cut ya’ a check.”
Perhaps it’s because President Zelenskyy was an actor in his previous job that he’s been able to keep the world’s attention for the last 6 months or so. No small feat. And every time he survives another week, President Sleepy Joe (P.S. J.) comes up with another “tranche” to send him. Does P.S. J. have a wad of petty cash somewhere (remember that fire hose)? We’ve sent over $54 Billion to Ukraine so far, and most of those bucks have or will come back to the M.I.C.
‘Cause they do make the best toys in the world.
Until next time, thanks for listening.
Duane