From the Independent:
The US arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Obama.
Employees of the top five US arms manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon – gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to the Republicans. "The contributions clearly suggest the arms industry has reached the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed," said Thomas Edsall, an academic at Columbia University in New York.
After her election to the Senate, she became the first New York senator on the armed services committee, where she revealed her hawkish tendencies by supporting the invasion of Iraq. Although she now favours a withdrawal of US troops, her position on Iran is among the most warlike of all the candidates – Democrat or Republican.
This week, she said that, if elected president, she would not rule out military strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear weapons facilities. While on the armed services committee, Mrs Clinton has befriended key generals and has won the endorsement of General Wesley Clarke, who ran Nato's war in Kosovo. A former presidential candidate himself, he is spoken of as a potential vice-presidential running mate.
The War Party, as I've said many times before, likes elections which it cannot lose: a Presidential election between Guillani and Clinton would be such a contest, as would a British general election between New Labour and the equally pro-war Conservatives. Believing that a Democrat win in 2008 is inevitable, big money and big armaments, are doing all they can to ensure that Hillary the Hawk gets the party's nomination. In the interests of world peace, let's hope the Clinton bandwaggon can yet be derailed.
2 comments:
Who now remembers that it was Dwight D Eisenhower, in his farewell address from the White House, who first warned of "the military-industrial complex"? Today, that complex is a full-blown political party, the War Party, effectively the One Party in the One Party States of America.
And Hillary Clinton is giving that War Party what it wants most: an election which it cannot lose. So it is giving her what she wants most: the money to win that election.
Instead, the Democrats should draft Jim Webb, or he should stand as an Independent. And win. Failing that, the Republicans should nominate Ron Paul, for all his faults economically. And if they don't and Webb doesn't stand either, then he should stand as an Independent. And win.
Here in Britain, we have long had two pretendedly distinct manifestations of the War Party, and the third party removed its Leader in order to make way for one who had wanted to support the Iraq War (like the previous Leader, who had cheered on the War Party's dismemberment of Yugoslavia and been rewarded with the absolute monarchy of Bosnia-Herzegovina for a time).
Now he too, has been removed, and the contest to succeed him is between two War Party stalwarts from among the economic neoliberals and, correspondingly, geopolitical neoconservatives who are the coming force among the Liberal Democrats. So that's three War Parties. Out of three?
No, because Britain does also have a peace party. See my blog. I'm in it. Neil is in it. So, dear reader, are you in it? If not, why not?
Clinton is no less of a warmonger than Bush and all the idiots who vote for her thinking things are going to be different are going to be mightily disappointed.
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