Where Is Our Smedley Butler ???

"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."

MG Smedley Butler

Apparently that suspended animation not only affects our active duty generals and admirals, it continues well into their retirement. Almost none of them are speaking out about our futile forever wars which are bankrupting the nation:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176665/tomgram%3A_danny_sjursen%2C_why_no_retired_generals_oppose_america%27s_forever_wars/

I suppose this is due in part to what Donald Rumsfeld did to Major General Antonio Taguba after the general's report on Abu Ghraib became public:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/06/25/the-generals-report

... and no doubt in part to the lucrative gigs which compliant generals and admirals can receive after leaving the service:

https://www.salon.com/2020/01/23/how-the-military-industrial-complex-gets-away-with-murder-in-contract-after-contract_partner/

One would have thought our military leaders would have been more courageous than that, but it definitely appears they are not. The love of money is indeed the root of all evil, and war remains the worst of its rackets.

So, no Smedley Butler for us. Just a constant drumbeat to war after war, as the national treasury gets flushed down the toilet.