randomWalks

the question for me would be, "What would Custer do?"



A former West Point Grad himself, and a notoriously prolifigate gambler and drinker, partier, and prankster, Mr. Custer is known for a somewhat famous battle involving the death of a great many Native Americans. That same battle, "the Battle of Little Bighorn" followed some of the same precepts as this "impending battle" for Iraq, except in the end, cornered, on the bald face of a hill, Custer was killed, scalped, and vilified for his role in leading men into what some say was defeat before it even started.



West Pointers will give you that message of caution. That's what they're trained to do. They're trained in the philosophy of war, and it seems like they are just speaking their mind they way most college grads suddenly get all deep and appreciative of what they have the moment they leave those wonderful little gates, and, like a friend of mine who became a tank commander in the peace keeping mission in Kosovo, start being ablle to tell you about more emotional and cerebral impulses they have about the plight.



But these are West Pointers, from semi-upstate New York. A typical Marine from Parris Island, SC might say, "Yeah, that's great Lieutenant. Go polish your bars. KILL KILL KILL. First to go, last to leave.!!"

Except, of course, in the Vietnam War when your typical soldiers decided they would rather kill your typical West Point grad than your typical Vietnamese. http://www.marxists.de/war/geier/vietnam.htm

Douglas MacArthur was Commandant of West Point from 1919 to 1922.



MacArthur would certainly be against Bush's un-Christian and stupid pre-emptive action against Iraq. MacArthur spent the last years of his life advocating the abolition of war in general. As a civilian, he lobbied JFK to keep U.S. troops out of Vietnam.



MacArthur's last great address was given at West Point:



"The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint; they have gone glimmering throught the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reville, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams, I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful matter of the battlefield.



"But in the evening of my memory, I always come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes in my ears - Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you. But I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thought will be of the Corps; and the Corps; and the Corps. I bid you farewell."

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 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, a gangster for capitalism.



I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.



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.

Where have I seen the quote by Major General Smedley Butler before? It's been on t his site in another context, hasn't it?

http://www.randomwalks.com/discuss/9608148/2002_02_01_index.php

Yeah. I confess. I think that quote is amazing and think it is worth using again and again.

Oh, totally. I didn't find it at first, because the old post says "Bulter".

Smedley Butler led the 1932 Bonus March on Washington that MacArthur put down with U.S. Army troops using live ammunition.

Wow. I had never heard of this either. You know, the pro-war crowd likes to make a big deal out of the notion of anti-war protestors being "against soldiers." But if you look at events like this, the soldier's rebellion in Vietnam, the condition of VA hospitals in the US right now, the fact that soldiers are underpaid and many enlisted and reservists join because there are no other job or education prospects available to them and probably countless other examples, it seems to me that the U.S. government is the entity that's really "against soldiers."

This too must be said: Smedley Butler was a valiant fighting U.S. Marine son of a bitch and I love him.



US Marine Corps History Pages.

Here's his pamphlet War is a Racket.