When General Smedley D. Butler (1881-1940) died mysteriously, he was the most decorated Marine in US history. By the end of his 34-year career, Butler had received 16 medals- five for heroism – after taking part in military action in the Philippines, China, Central America, the Caribbean, and France.
In 1935 Butler wrote “War Is a Racket”, where he explained: “A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.
“In the World War a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their income tax returns no one knows. How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dugout? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried the bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?
“Millions and billions of dollars would be piled up. By a few. Munition makers. Ship builders. Manufacturers. Meat packers. Speculators. They would fare well. Yes, they are getting ready for another war. Why shouldn’t they? It pays high dividends. But what does it profit the masses? What does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit the men who are maimed? What does it profit their mothers and sisters, their wives and their sweethearts? What does it profit their children? What does it profit anyone except the very few to whom war means huge profits?”
26 years after Butler denounced war as being for “the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many”, US President Dwight Eisenhower, just before leaving office in his farewell address on 17 January 1961, warned his country of the grave implications of the influence that the military industrial complex (MIC – the armaments industry) was having on every aspect of American life.
He saw it as a threat to democracy. “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
From MIC to MICIMATT
Since Eisenhower’s warning 64 years ago the “unwarranted influence ….of the military industrial complex” on American life has continued to grow. James Der Derian has proposed an alternative term – the “Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment-Network” – to define the symbiosis between the military-industrial complex and the entertainment industry. Der Derian shows that the military-industrial complex and Hollywood have a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship. The Pentagon provides filmmakers with production funds and with access to military resources in exchange for script oversight and narrative approval. “This collaboration helps to promote a heroic image of the military, justify defense spending, and align public perception with Pentagon policies.”
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern has extended this concept to Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex, MICIMATT. A 2022 survey by The New York Times found that 97 Republican and Democrat lawmakers (one in five) or their families bought and sold stocks that directly intersect with their work on congressional committees, including in Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and other top 30 armaments contractors in the world. These lawmakers cash in on weapons industry stocks at the same time Congress receives updates on the wars in Ukraine and Israel and sets the Pentagon’s annual budget, half of which goes to military contractors every year.
Nick Cleveland-Stout has analysed the list of 378 non-governmental witnesses who, from 2021 to 2024, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House body that oversees foreign assistance, war powers, and arms exports, among other key foreign policy-making decisions. He found that just over one third of those witnesses — 137 of them — came from the world of think tanks.
According to ‘Quincy Brief’: “In that same period, the top 100 armaments companies have contributed more than $34.7 million to the top 50 think tanks. The top donors include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Mitsubishi, which provided $5.6 million, $2.6 million, and $2.1 million, respectively, to the tracked think tanks between 2019 and 2023. The Atlantic Council, Center for a New American Security, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies were the top recipients of Pentagon contractor money: $10.2 million, $6.6 million, and $4.1 million, respectively.
Of the at least 380 former high-ranking Department of Defence (now renamed more honestly Department of War) officials who went through the revolving door to become lobbyists or senior executives in 2018, around one quarter joined the top 5 defence contractors, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman. 90 years ago General Smedley D. Butler said why he felt compelled to write ‘War is a racket’: “For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds again gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.”
Times of Malta 26 September 2025
