# Is George Bush a tool of the military-industrial complex? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 16, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955 "2006-05-16T10:09:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bryanh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ec9cab/32.png) [@bryanh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/1 "2006-05-16T10:09:30Z")
I’m a bit of a lefty conspiracist, tell me i’m wrong. Please ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/2 "2006-05-16T11:07:57Z")
You’re wrong. He’s just a tool. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/3 "2006-05-16T11:16:13Z")
I think it’s a mistake to view “the military-industrial complex” as a single, monolithic entity with a single agenda. Which is why I don’t like the phrase “military-industrial complex” to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/4 "2006-05-16T11:28:02Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I think it’s a mistake to view “the military-industrial complex” as a single, monolithic entity with a single agenda. Which is why I don’t like the phrase “military-industrial complex” to begin with. Yeah, the Military-Industiral Complex is little more than a leftist version of the Illuminati. Besides, the -Industrial part of it doesn’t seem so powerful these days. We’re losing manufacturing jobs as fast as companies can outsource them. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/5 "2006-05-16T11:45:00Z")
I would say that George W Bush is a member and whole-hearted representative of the very wealthy, and that virtually everything he has done in office has been to further their interests (with a few sops to maintain his popularity with the pathetic ordinary conservatives who have been fooled into believing he represents their interests). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/6 "2006-05-16T11:46:50Z")
I think it’s more accurate to say that he’s a tool of corporate interests. Corporation owners want relaxation of environmental regulations, tax breaks for their companies, and tax cuts for themselves personally. Bush obediently comes through for all of these. I wouldn’t say that the military-industrial complex is special as opposed to other corporate interests. ---
**Author:** ![bryanh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ec9cab/32.png) [@bryanh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/7 "2006-05-16T12:35:43Z")
“I would say that George W Bush is a member and whole-hearted representative of the very wealthy, and that virtually everything he has done in office has been to further their interests” “I think it’s more accurate to say that he’s a tool of corporate interests” This is really what i meant rather than the existence of some sort of illuminati-like secret organisation. To me this seems blatantly obvious, especially in regards to the wars. So a second question would be why does America tolerate it? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/8 "2006-05-16T12:41:53Z")
> [@bryanh](#): > > This is really what i meant rather than the existence of some sort of illuminati-like secret organisation. To me this seems blatantly obvious, especially in regards to the wars. So a second question would be why does America tolerate it? Baaaaaaa A lot of pathetic sheep who get played like fools by simple slight of hand. Last Election the trick was playing up Gay Marriage and an assault on Kerry’s war record by the side that dodged the war. This time it is the illegal immigration issue. Look at the bright shiny thing here, ignore the gas prices, the Iraq debacle and violation of civil liberties. I just hope the sheep wake up but I do not actually expect them to. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/9 "2006-05-16T12:42:44Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Yeah, the Military-Industiral Complex is little more than a leftist version of the Illuminati. > > Besides, the -Industrial part of it doesn’t seem so powerful these days. We’re losing manufacturing jobs as fast as companies can outsource them. Wasn’t it that great leftist Dwight D. Eisenhower who invented the term? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/10 "2006-05-16T12:45:14Z")
It was actually Malcolm (“Bullwinkle”) Moos, one of Ike’s speechwriters. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/11 "2006-05-16T12:47:59Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Wasn’t it that great leftist Dwight D. Eisenhower who invented the term? Ike was more of a moderate 😉 , but yes, he popularized the phrase in his 1961 speech. There was a thread on this a few month back. [Wiki has some of the details and some good links](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex). Jim ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/12 "2006-05-16T12:54:40Z")
Has someone been watching [Why we fight](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436971/) ? If not you should 😉 Me? I’d say Dubya’s a cunt. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/13 "2006-05-16T13:29:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think it’s more accurate to say that he’s a tool of corporate interests. Pretty much like every other politician who has set up a PAC in order to accept corporate campaign contributions. Little Georgie-boy is just the latest example in long line of corporate tools to occupy the Whitehouse and Congress. Georgie-boy just happens to be a little more transparent (and little more greedy) about it. But they’re all tools and without comprehensive campaign finance reform, it’s only gonna get worse. ---
**Author:** ![bryanh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ec9cab/32.png) [@bryanh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/14 "2006-05-16T13:29:25Z")
Looks like an interesting film. If these accusations are true, obvious and undeniable then why aren’t the so-called liberal media and bush’s political opponents screaming at the tops of their voices. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/15 "2006-05-16T13:30:06Z")
> [@What Exit](#): > > This time it is the illegal immigration issue. Look at the bright shiny thing here, ignore the gas prices, the Iraq debacle and violation of civil liberties. > Jim Except that it isn’t a “bright, shiny thing”. It’s a very serious issue, and Bush has totally screwed the pooch on it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/16 "2006-05-16T13:38:08Z")
No. He’s a tool of industry, which kept giving him money because he is a useless cipher with important genes. [http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#insider](http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#insider) So far as can be discerned, he’s hated the military ever since he was once threatened with being part of _it_: [http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/01/ma\_217\_01.html](http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/01/ma_217_01.html) In fact, GWB may be the most powerful enemy the U.S. military ever had. Witness his contempt for the troops, [http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jun2004/tucker0604.html](http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jun2004/tucker0604.html), and their officers [http://www.slate.com/id/2139777/](http://www.slate.com/id/2139777/), and for military and civilian intelligence [http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=24889](http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=24889). No one who felt any obligation to the U.S. military would treat it the way GWB has, spending it on the flimsiest of pretexts, unable and unconscious when it came to his twin responsibilities to protect it (body armor) and control it (Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib). No one beholden to the military would sacrifice its very well-being, not in the service even of its own lies, but for its corporate sponsors’ corrupt profits in the form of bad food [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/28/54049/8781](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/28/54049/8781) and contaminated water [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10977706/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10977706/). And no one who felt _any_ obligation to the military, even the dimly-remembered one acknowledged by the smelliest, most radical hippie who ever protested on a verdant campus quadrangle, would so cheerfully abandon our position against the use of torture, not only requiring formerly-honorable men to perform this abomination on others, dishonoring themselves and their country, but in so doing, announce to the world that U.S. soldiers occupy a space outside the Geneva Convention and the rule of civilized conduct, providing an excuse to visit any horror on American servicemen, for who knows how many decades to come. Military-industrial complex? This president loves industry and _hates_ the military, and it shows. Simplex. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/17 "2006-05-16T13:41:37Z")
> [@bryanh](#): > > This is really what i meant rather than the existence of some sort of illuminati-like secret organisation. To me this seems blatantly obvious, especially in regards to the wars. So a second question would be why does America tolerate it? I don’t think it’s a matter of America tolerating it. It’s a matter of how you frame the debate. One example- the estate tax. Instead of calling it a tax on the wealthiest of heirs, they called it the “death tax” and spun yarns about families losing their farms to it. So a lot of ordinary folks that wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance of ever paying this tax take the side of the wealthiest just because of how the debate was framed. So you put together a coalition of single-issue voters, frame all the debates in your favor and frighten people with thoughts of gay marriage, then you grab power and gut the treasury for your fat cat backers. Not that the country wants it, but because you can. ---
**Author:** ![bryanh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ec9cab/32.png) [@bryanh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/18 "2006-05-16T13:54:44Z")
Not many bush supporters on this site i see (must be something to do with fighting ignorance) What you are all saying is exactly what i have been thinking but I wanted to challenge these thoughts and make sure they’re not just the product of the rapid socialist material ive read. I wonder if Cecil would take on this question? ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/19 "2006-05-16T14:14:23Z")
So in other words, the short answer is “yes”. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955/20 "2006-05-16T14:25:25Z")
“Military-industrial complex”? What the hell is this, the 1980s or something? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-george-bush-a-tool-of-the-military-industrial-complex/356955.md?page=2)