[PEN-L:7258] Vulgar military industrial complex motives for war

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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CB

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The headline of an article on page 1 of the business section of the NY
Times of May 19 states: "Weapons makers seek rise in Pentagon spending."
The reporter states that "whatever lessons the war with Serbia may teach
NATO's military planners, America's weapons makers are already anticipating
that Kosovo may help secure a strategic victory for them--not on the
battlefield, but in Congress."
The writer notes in his article that Clinton's budget proposal in February
had already requested an increase of $112 billion over the next five years,
the biggest increase since the late 1980's.
        The writer indicates concern that "other NATO members may not increase
their budgets enough to buy new equipment, and even if they did, whether
they would buy from American military contractors rather than European
ones." Well, if they don't buy from us, maybe Sandy Berger and Madeline
Albright will order the carpet bombing of those benighted lands.