Mark Small

I shall address in a separate blog, more fully and soon, the positions on military advanced by Rev Beckwith and other GOP candidates in the May 5 primary. For now I want to address economic aspects of Rev Beckwith’s positions on the military. 18/36

His catch phrases have been used to rationalize expenditure of American lives to guard profit margins of U.S. corporations, but: 1) Framers had dim view of corporations (see Boston Tea Party) 2) A lot of corporate stock now is owned by non-U.S. people and entities. 19/36

+ Jan 11 comment by current occupant of Oval Office - our troops are used as mercenaries. He said of Saudi: you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us.... they already deposited $1B in the bank. 20/36

I previously wrote we R hated - very much - by people from other counties because WE KILL A LOT OF PEOPLE for reasons that have nothing to do with freedom & democracy. In Vietnam we propped up a dictatorship as corporations raked in cash. 21/36

Some areas of Vietnam were off limits to U.S. military, e.g., our people could not enter the forests of rubber trees owned by Michelin, the French tire manufacturer. Viet Cong and NVA forces - of course - then hid in those forests. 22/36

Our support to Saudi Arabia, a dictatorship, was partly the reason the 9/11 terrorists - all but two of whom were Saudi nationals - attacked us. In Saudi, a protestor may be beheaded. The royal family cannot be voted out of office. 23/36

When ppl R ruled by dictator & can’t protest/vote, they’ll use politics by other means, except their rulers have all the weapons, gratis us. If they sought solace in their religion, in Gulf War I, at their rulers’ invitation, our military set foot on their holy land. 24/36

9/11 was awful. Terrorism never is justified, but despotism tends to create terrorists. We need to cut our military budget by half. That will make us more secure. 25/36