-- adam
On 10/5/05, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [I usually think Rooney is a bit of a horse's ass, but it's pretty
> amazing he's ranting like thos.]
>
> Ike Was Right About War Machine
>
> Oct. 2, 2005
>
> (CBS) The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by
> <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13495.shtml>CBS
> News correspondent Andy Rooney.
>
> I'm not really clear how much a billion dollars is but the United
> States - our United States - is spending $5.6 billion a month
> fighting this war in Iraq that we never should have gotten into.
>
> We still have 139,000 soldI'm not really clear how much a billion
> dollars is but the United States - our United States - is spending
> $5.6 billion a month fighting this war in Iraq that we never should
> have gotten into.
>
> We still have 139,000 soldiers in Iraq today.
>
> Almost 2,000 Americans have died there. For what?
>
> Now we have the hurricanes to pay for. One way our government pays
> for a lot of things is by borrowing from countries like China.
>
> Another way the government is planning to pay for the war and the
> hurricane damage is by cutting spending for things like Medicare
> prescriptions, highway construction, farm payments, AMTRAK, National
> Public Radio and loans to graduate students. Do these sound like the
> things you'd like to cut back on to pay for Iraq?
>
> I'll tell you where we ought to start saving: on our bloated military
> establishment.
>
> We're paying for weapons we'll never use.
>
> No other Country spends the kind of money we spend on our military.
> Last year Japan spent $42 billion. Italy spent $28 billion, Russia
> spent only $19 billion. The United States spent $455 billion.
>
> We have 8,000 tanks for example. One Abrams tank costs 150 times as
> much as a Ford station wagon.
>
> We have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons - enough to destroy all of mankind.
>
> We're spending $200 million a year on bullets alone. That's a lot of
> target practice. We have 1,155,000 enlisted men and women and 225,000
> officers. One officer to tell every five enlisted soldier what to do.
> We have 40,000 colonels alone and 870 generals.
>
> We had a great commander in WWII, Dwight Eisenhower. He became
> President and on leaving the White House in 1961, he said this: "We
> must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
> sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential
> for the disas trous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
>
> Well, Ike was right. That's just what's happened.iers in Iraq today.
>
> Almost 2,000 Americans have died there. For what?
>
> Now we have the hurricanes to pay for. One way our government pays
> for a lot of things is by borrowing from countries like China.
>
> Another way the government is planning to pay for the war and the
> hurricane damage is by cutting spending for things like Medicare
> prescriptions, highway construction, farm payments, AMTRAK, National
> Public Radio and loans to graduate students. Do these sound like the
> things you'd like to cut back on to pay for Iraq?
>
> I'll tell you where we ought to start saving: on our bloated military
> establishment.
>
> We're paying for weapons we'll never use.
>
> No other Country spends the kind of money we spend on our military.
> Last year Japan spent $42 billion. Italy spent $28 billion, Russia
> spent only $19 billion. The United States spent $455 billion.
>
> We have 8,000 tanks for example. One Abrams tank costs 150 times as
> much as a Ford station wagon.
>
> We have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons - enough to destroy all of mankind.
>
> We're spending $200 million a year on bullets alone. That's a lot of
> target practice. We have 1,155,000 enlisted men and women and 225,000
> officers. One officer to tell every five enlisted soldier what to do.
> We have 40,000 colonels alone and 870 generals.
>
> We had a great commander in WWII, Dwight Eisenhower. He became
> President and on leaving the White House in 1961, he said this: "We
> must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
> sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential
> for the disas trous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
>
> Well, Ike was right. That's just what's happened.
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>