TheWiseOldFart

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   When President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he made an address to the American people. The most significant issue from one of the architects who organized and planned the events known as “D-Day,” involved the growth of the “military industrial complex in America. His warning may have been a prophecy about every military conflict in which the United States was involved since WWII: each of which resulted in the surrender of America’s military. The often-repeated phrase, “war is good business” is involved in his admonition. The following are excerpts from President Eisenhower’s final speech to the American people, prior to John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.   “Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime.”      The second: “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — econo...

  Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   2006. This was the first year the F-35 combat aircraft rolled out of the Lockheed-Martin factory in Fort Worth Texas. In September of 2023, problems with the aircraft continue and there is no expected date for mass production. The Pentagon’s budget is nearing one-trillion dollars annually. However, projects like the F-35 have proven not to be cost effective. This is government waste at its worst. The recent estimate claims that one aircraft will cost about $120 billion, with long term costs estimated to reach $1.3 trillion over an estimated 66-year lifespan. Here’s what’s interesting. Tests of the F-35 have been inconclusive. In a simulated “dogfight,” it lost to the now antiquated F-16. No one can guarantee its effectiveness or reliability in actual combat situations. Let’s look at another situation reported from the Herlong Army Base in Northern California. It has been reported that there are hundreds of Abrams Tanks and Bradley fighting...