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FTR#1218 This program was recorded in one, 60-minute segment.
CORRECTION: Only one of the drugs in the drug cocktail discussed in FTR#1111 is used in the Pfizer Covid Pill, not two as Mr. Emory stated.
Introduction: Proof that big things can, indeed, come in small packages is Nick Turse’s impactful volume The Complex: How The Military Invades Our Everyday Lives.
Clearly written, brief and to the point, yet altogether revelatory, the book details the many ways in which what President Eisenhower termed “the military-complex” has come to dominate everyday life in the U.S. to an extent unrealized by even relatively aware citizens.
Continuing with the introduction to this remarkable tome, we read the concluding proportion of the program, in which the author compares the pervasive influence of the “Complex” to the popular science fiction movie The Matrix.
Further developing Turse’s comparison of the Pentagon to The Matrix, we highlight part of his conclusion to the introduction: “. . . . The high level of military-civilian interpenetration in a heavily consumer-driven society means that almost every American . . . is, at least passively, supporting the Complex every time he or she shops for groceries, sends a package, drives a car, or watches TV—let alone eats a barbecue in Memphis or buys Christian books in Hattiesburg. And what choice do you have? What other computer would you buy? Or cereal? Or boots? . . . .”
The remarkable profligacy of Pentagon spending is exacerbated by the fact that DoD has avoided audits! “. . . . Given such expenditures, it’s hardly surprising to find out that the Department of Defense has never actually undergone a financial audit. Speaking in 2006, Senator Tom Coburn (R‑Oklahoma) made special note of the DoD’s ‘inability to produce auditable financial statements’:
‘In other words, they can’t undergo an audit, much less pass one. If DoD were a privately-owned company, it would have been bankrupt long ago. In 2004, the Department set the goal of undergoing a full audit by 2007. That deadline has not been met, and in fact, has been moved to the year 2016 . . . . Americans are being asked to wait a full 10 years before their dollars are tracked well enough for the Department to fail an audit. And that seems to be the new objective of financial managers at Dod—to get to a place where DoD fan actually fail an audit. Passing the audit is a pipedream for some future date beyond 2016.’ . . .”
Some examples of stunningly exorbitant spending by DoD are chronicled by Turse, topped off by disclosure that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root charged the taxpayers for 10,000 meals a day. allegedly served to troops (ahem) serving overseas: ” . . . . Similarly, in 2007, it came to light that during the previous year the Pentagon paid another defense contractor “$998, 798 in transportation costs for shipping two 19-cent washers.” This was in addition to, according to the Washington Post, a “2004 order for a single $8.75 elbow pipe that was shipped for $445,640 . . . a $10.99 machine thread plug was shipped for $492,096 . . . [and] six machine screws worth a total of $59.94 were shipped at a cost of $403,463,” in 2005. The piece de resistance, [a wonderful pun—D.E.] however, was found in the testimony of the former food production manager at Halliburton’s subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), who told congresspersons that Halliburton charged the Department of Defense for as many as ten thousand meals a day it never served. . . .”
Program Highlights Include: Discussion of the profound links between DoD and academia; the enormous fuel and fossil fuel consumption of the Pentagon; the military’s role as the world’s largest individual landlord, including the acquisition of many inhabited islands, often in contravention of international law.
1. Continuing with the introduction to this remarkable tome, we read the concluding proportion of the program, in which the author compares the pervasive influence of the “Complex” to the popular science fiction movie The Matrix.
2. Further developing Turse’s comparison of the Pentagon to The Matrix, we highlight part of his conclusion to the introduction:
. . . . The high level of military-civilian interpenetration in a heavily consumer-driven society means that almost every American . . . is, at least passively, supporting the Complex every time he or she shops for groceries, sends a package, drives a car, or watches TV—let alone eats a barbecue in Memphis or buys Christian books in Hattiesburg. And what choice do you have? What other computer would you buy? Or cereal? Or boots? . . . .
3. The remarkable profligacy of Pentagon spending is exacerbated by the fact that DoD has avoided audits!
. . . . Given such expenditures, it’s hardly surprising to find out that the Department of Defense has never actually undergone a financial audit. Speaking in 2006, Senator Tom Coburn (R‑Oklahoma) made special note of the DoD’s “inability to produce auditable financial statements”:
“In other words, they can’t undergo an audit, much less pass one. If DoD were a privately-owned company, it would have been bankrupt long ago. In 2004, the Department set the goal of undergoing a full audit by 2007. That deadline has not been met, and in fact, has been moved to the year 2016 . . . . Americans are being asked to wait a full 10 years before their dollars are tracked well enough for the Department to fail an audit. And that seems to be the new objective of financial managers at Dod—to get to a place where DoD fan actually fail an audit. Passing the audit is a pipedream for some future date beyond 2016. . . .”
4. Some examples of stunningly exorbitant spending by DoD are chronicled by Turse, topped off by disclosure that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root charged the taxpayers for 10,000 meals a day. allegedly served to troops (ahem) serving overseas:
. . . . Similarly, in 2007, it came to light that during the previous year the Pentagon paid another defense contractor “$998, 798 in transportation costs for shipping two 19-cent washers.” This was in addition to, according to the Washington Post, a “2004 order for a single $8.75 elbow pipe that was shipped for $445,640 . . . a $10.99 machine thread plug was shipped for $492,096 . . . [and] six machine screws worth a total of $59.94 were shipped at a cost of $403,463,” in 2005. The piece de resistance, [a wonderful pun—D.E.] however, was found in the testimony of the former food production manager at Halliburton’s subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), who told congresspersons that Halliburton charged the Department of Defense for as many as ten thousand meals a day it never served. . . .
Discussion
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