Three days before leaving office, President Eisenhower gave his famed speech on the Military-Industrial Complex. After admitting that the United Stated had “been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions,” he warned that “the total influence [of the Military-Industrial Complex] — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.” This certainly includes the Department of State.
Take for example this recently declassified 1996 cable in which the Ambassador to Indonesia, J.S. Roy practically begs President Clinton to intervene and “advocate for” the President of Indonesia to buy F-16 fighter jets manufactured by the US corporations General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin.
Oh yeah. The reason for this pressing need? The jets had already been paid for by Pakistan but due to the Pressler amendment –a Congressional embargo punishing Pakistan for producing nuclear weapons– the planes couldn’t be delivered. The Department of State (and General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, and the people owning shares in General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, and all the people employed by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin) didn’t want to reimburse Pakistan for the 685 million dollars that it paid for the weapons that it couldn’t have. Instead, US corporations and the US government wanted Indonesia to take the jets, and then reimburse Pakistan for them. (more…)
