Honor Smedley Butler on Veteran's Day

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC,

• 1881 - 1940
  
• Two-time recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor

"I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force--the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was part of a racket all the time. Now I am sure of it." -- Smedley. D. Butler

How to Stop Wars of Empire:

"A few profit – and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can't end it by disarmament conferences. You can't eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can't wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war." -- Smedley. D. Butler

It is for this reason that the US Congress must investigate, without immunity, war profiteering during the Bush years. The findings must be prosecuted. The ill-begotten profits, tax-payer dollars, must be clawed back and returned to the US Treasury. I urge veterans to join the broad-based movement to make this happen.

Famous Butler Essay: War is a Racket

Post Script: Smedley Butler also exposed a group of wealthy industrialists who plotted a military coup to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934 [1].

Sources:

History Today, An American coup d'etat? (plot against Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1934) November 1, 1995, vol.45, Issue 11, Clayton Cramer.