The military industrial complex

Eisenhower farewell address

In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial
complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed
forces posed a threat to democracy
. Judged 50 years later, Ikes
frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern
systemand the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on.

... The national-security state continues to grow in size, scope, and
influence. In Ikes day, for example, the CIA dominated the field of
intelligence. Today, experts refer casually to an intelligence community,
consisting of some 17 agencies. The cumulative size and payroll of this
apparatus grew by leaps and bounds in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Last July, *The**Washington Post* reported that it had become so large, so
unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how
many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how
many agencies do the same work. Since that report appeared, U.S. officials
have parted the veil of secrecy enough to reveal that intelligence spending
exceeds $80 billion per year, substantially more than the budget of either
the Department of State ($49 billion) or the Department of Homeland
Security ($43 billion).
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-tyra
nny-of-defense-inc/308342/
....

With all this sleuthing, they could not discover that Saddam Hussein did
not have weapons of mass destruction. Could not this money be better used?
Selvaraj

In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed
a threat to democracy
. Judged 50 years later, Ikes frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern systemand the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on.
... The national-security state continues to grow in size, scope, and influence. In Ikes day, for example, the CIA dominated the field of intelligence. Today, experts refer casually to an intelligence community, consisting of some 17 agencies. The cumulative size and payroll of this apparatus grew by leaps and bounds in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Last July,
The
Washington Post
reported that it had become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. Since that report appeared, U.S. officials have parted the veil of secrecy enough to reveal that intelligence spending exceeds $80 billion per year, substantially more than the budget of either the Department of State ($49 billion) or the Department of Homeland Security ($43 billion).
http://www.theatlantic.com/mag
azine/archive/2011/01/the-tyra
nny-of-defense-inc/308342/
....
With all this sleuthing, they could not discover that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. Could not this money be better used?
Selvaraj