Military Madness

BY BOB MCCLOSKEY

“Military madness is killing your country,

So much sadness, between you and me,

War, war, war, war, war, war.”

—Graham Nash 

War Abroad and at Home Against the Poor

As empires collapse from overzealous military action abroad, the militarization at home intensifies, as the historical record of empire building shows. The criminalization of our brothers and sisters living on the streets of Fresno is a manifestation of this fact. Effective Sept. 23, when the new “no sit, no lie, no sleep ordinance” takes effect, the Fresno Police Department will begin the process of profiling people and ticketing with fines of $1,000 and possible arrest with up to one year in jail.

The over-policing by an already militarized police of the poorest of poor people is warfare. Warfare is the City’s reaction to the results of the failure to implement rent control and to build affordable housing.

Again, it must be pointed out that empirical evidence shows that poverty and the high cost of housing are the foremost factors that drive homelessness.

The failure to adequately fund and build affordable housing could be solved if the United States did not fund endless war and mass murder abroad. According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the United States has provided $175 billion in funding to Ukraine since February 2022. U.S. taxpayers have also funded the genocide in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, with $12.5 billion in military aid provided to Israel.

Since its inception in 1948, U.S. taxpayers have provided $310 billion in military aid to Israel (CFR). In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, covering the period from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2028. The MOU provides a total of $38 billion in military aid over the 10 years: $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense systems.

Military Industrial Complex Raking It In

The Watson Institute report called the Costs of War cites Pentagon spending of more than $14 trillion since 2001 when war was declared on Afghanistan. One-third to one-half of the $14 trillion went to just five military contractors: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (RTX), Boeing, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman.

On June 28, Reuters reported that the Biden administration has sent Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the war in Gaza.

The Reuters article states that “between the war’s start last October and recent days, the United States has transferred at least 14,000 of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs [made by General Dynamics], 6,500 500-pound bombs [made by General Dynamics], 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles [made by Lockheed], 1,000 bunker-buster bombs [made by Boeing], [and] 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs and other munitions, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.”

An American Friends Services Committee investigative report states that, in addition, Raytheon/RTX-made GBU-28 5,000-pound “bunker buster bombs, AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles, AIM 9X missiles, AIM-120 Sidewinder missiles and TOW long-range missiles are being shipped to Israel and are being deployed in Gaza.”

Israel is the first international operator of the Lockheed F-35 joint strike fighter, considered the most technologically advanced fighter jet ever made. Israel is in the process of buying 75 F-35s and—as of last year—had taken delivery of 36, paying for them with U.S. assistance.

Citing two examples of war profiteering for defense contractors and their shareholders, in 2023, Lockheed generated net income of $6.97 billion against revenue of $67.69 billion—that’s about a 10.3% profit/stock price gain. RTX generated $3.19 billion in net income against revenue of $67.09 billion.

Military Madness 2024

Since Oct. 7, 2023, 42,000 people—40,972 Palestinians, more than 14,000 of them children, and 478 Israelis—have been killed in the Israeli-Gaza conflict. These numbers do not include people who have died from disease or starvation. The prestigious Lancet Medical Journal predicts deaths upward of 185,000 from more disease, lack of medical treatment and starvation in the near future.

In the United States–funded war in Ukraine, there have been 80,000 military personnel killed on the Ukrainian side. Russia has had more than 43,000 troops killed in action. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 17, citing undisclosed sources and Western intelligence estimates, that “roughly one million Ukrainians and Russians have been killed or wounded” since war broke out in February 2022.

It seems madness has become well established in 2024. Madness on the part of politicians and apathy on the part of the public. Majority Congressional support for the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza is madness.

Continuing financial support for the ongoing catastrophic war in Ukraine is madness. Governor Gavin Newsom “ordering” statewide crackdowns and the jailing of the unhoused residents of California is madness.

The nasty scapegoating and attacks on immigrants by Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance and candidate Donald Trump are madness. It’s not just the morally bankrupt politicians who have lost their minds, it’s many of the people of America and it might be the culture of America that is a causal factor.

“Cultural and social factors contribute to the causation of mental illness, yet that contribution varies by disorder,” reported the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1999.

“Mental illness is considered the product of a complex interaction among biological, psychological, social and cultural factors. The role of any one of these major factors can be stronger or weaker depending on the disorder.”

Renowned physician, author and expert on human illness and behavior, Dr. Gabor Maté, said in the acclaimed book The Myth of Normal: “Disconnection in all its guises—alienation, loneliness, loss of meaning and dislocation—is becoming our culture’s most plentiful product. No wonder we are more addicted, chronically ill and mentally disordered than ever before, enfeebled as we are by such malnourishment of mind, body and soul.”

Certainly, a lack of compassion for the people of Gaza, the lack of empathy for unhoused Californians and the ignorant scapegoating of immigrants are manifestations of mental disorders.

However, there is hope, hope in resistance. Resistance to the collective insanity we are all living in. Resistance to the status quo and the idols of money and war. There is hope in knowledge and the ability to grow as human beings. There is hope in our empathy and compassion for others. There is hope every day the sun rises if we never forget who we are.