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[dArKeR]

The military is being invited into the heart of politics in the US.

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 14th October 2003

The relationship between governments and those who seek favours from them has changed. Not long ago, lobbyists would visit politicians and bribe or threaten them until they got what they wanted. Today, ministers lobby the lobbyists. Whenever a big business pressure group holds its annual conference or dinner, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown or another senior minister will come and beg it not to persecute the government. George Bush flies around the United States, flattering the companies which might support his re-election, offering tax-breaks and subsidies even before they ask.

But while we are slowly becoming aware of the corporate capture of our governments, we appear to have overlooked the growing power of another recipient of this back-to-front lobbying. In the United States a sort of reverse military coup appears to be taking place. Both the president and the opposition seem to be offering the armed forces, though they do not appear to have requested it, an ever greater share of the business of government.

Every week, the State Department makes a list of Mr Bush's most important speeches and visits, to distribute to its embassies around the world. The embassy in London has a public archive dating from June last year. During this period, Bush has made 41 major speeches to live audiences. Of these, 14 -- just over a third -- were delivered to military personnel or veterans.1

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[placton]

1. I humbly disagree

The Bushies are wise enough to know that they will still garner the vast majority of military votes (placton hopes he is dead wrong in this prediction).

The REAL reasons the Team Smirk speaks at these venues are simple:

-they do not want to face anything like an unfriendly audience
-they wish to appear to be pro-military
-EVERY other appearance is at fundraisers!