Reply #9: Military-industrial complex [View All]

[Wright Patman]

from what I recall just wanted to have a huge honkin' war in Southeast Asia to rake in big bucks. The rationale presented to the public was that it was to prevent a "domino effect" of nations in that region falling to communism, but it never made much sense to me.

There is a great deal of speculation that JFK was on the verge of de-escalating right before he was assassinated. LBJ, the story goes, was then so terrified of the forces who wanted the war that he decided to go ahead with it full-bore or maybe he bought into the rationale also, but by 1968 his heart was no longer in it and he knew it had destroyed his political career.

Incidentally, a Houston-based subsidiary of Halliburton called Brown & Root, which was also an early and major backer of LBJ's political machine, made more profit off the Vietnam War than practically any corporation, with the possible exception of the weapons manufacturers.