Svært gammel, dessverre ikke gått ut på dato: Major General Smedley Butler – WAR IS JUST A RACKET

Utdrag fra en tale Smedley Butler holdt i 1933. Les også hans kjente stykke War is a Racket.

***

Major General Smedley Butler: War is Just a Racket

“I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.”

“. . . I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. . . . 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, a gangster for capitalism. . . .”

“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.”

“During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

– Major General Smedley Butler (USMC), War is Just a Racket, 1933

***

75 år er lang tid. Tusener av år enda lenger. Når skal menneskeheten lære? Vil den lære? Kan den i det hele tatt lære?

Økende undring dess mer jeg lærer.