How Much Are You Making on the War, Daddy?

Columnist Paul Krugman has described Bush’s melding of political hardball and economic favoritism as “crony capitalism,” while Senator John McCain calls it war profiteering. George W. Bush’s approach to military spending is a higher-priced version of what went on under the Suharto regime in Indonesia, when corporations connected to the military and the president’s inner circle had the inside track on lucrative government contracts. The military budget has increased from 300 billion to more than 400 billion annually since George W. Bush took office. The Iraq invasion and occupation will cost at least another 200 billion over the next three to five years. U.S. policy is now based on what’s good for Chevron, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Bechtel, not what’s good for the average citizen. Dick Cheney’s ties to conglomerate Halliburton are the tip of the iceberg since at least thirty-two top officials in the Bush administration served as executives or paid consultants to top weapons contractors before joining the administration. In George W. Bush’s Washington, it has reached the point where you can’t tell the generals from the arms lobbyists without a scorecard. This book provides that scorecard, in a style designed to provoke action for change.