The military-industrial complex, Washington State, and PNAC.

[barbaraann]

To me, the Democratic Party has always stood primarily for the values of community and humanity, not for the goals of the military-industrial complex. It just makes me cry to look at the websites of my two Senators.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/releases/2003_09_22_tanker.html

http://murray.senate.gov/

I suppose Senators Murray and Cantwell are still operating in the spirit of the revered Scoop Jackson, who was incredibly successful in obtaining federal and military-industrial complex dollars for Washington State and who also seems to have been the godfather of PNAC.

"Current Policy On Iraq May Have Been Born In Washington State
April 3, 2003
By Bryan Johnson

Video : KOMO 4 NEWS
Powerful neo-conservative group suggests that democratization of Iran and Syria should be next.

KING COUNTY - A former senior staffer to the National Security Council says a plan drafted by a neo-conservative group for a New American Century may have been born in Washington State.

The plan was drafted in 1997, and the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) sent a letter to then-President Clinton in 1998 urging him to take action to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The group also suggests the democratization of Syria and Iran.
...
Some see a Northwest connection to the PNAC planners. Roger Morris, a former senior staffer at the National Security Council, told KOMO 4 News: "Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and the people who have been their disciples over the past few years all trace back to Henry Scoop Jackson."

For 30 years, Jackson was a Democratic powerhouse in the U.S. Senate from Washington. Morris added: "This foreign policy which you are seeing being enacted by George W. Bush is very largely, in my view, the policy of Scoop Jackson. This was made in Snohomish County, in Everett."
...
http://www.komotv.com/stories/24043.htm

The internet has made it really tough to be a yellow dog Democrat.

[greyl]

1. related-NOW identified the military-industrial-congressional complex...

Chuck Spinney, specifically:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_spinney.html

snip>
SPINNEY: Cost growth. We basically if you want to understand how the Pentagon operates like everything else in Washington you follow the money.

MOYERS: I don't understand the term cost growth.

SPINNEY: Basically the cost of weapons increases faster than the budget. And this has been going on for 40 years. And when the budget increases, that basically creates an incentive structure to jack up the cost even further.

Now we saw this in the 1980's. You can think of the 1980's as the mother of all experiments. And when Ronald Reagan poured money into the defense budget the cost went through the roof.

MOYERS: Are you saying that costs went up because the…

SPINNEY: The money went in.

MOYERS: The money went in.

SPINNEY: I have data showing that when we reduce the budget the contractors cut their costs. In some cases they come in under cost estimates when the money dries up. Producing the same product. It makes no economic sense in any kind of commercial context. It makes perfect political sense.

<snip

[barbaraann]

2. Wow! Have you ever posted that as a "MUST READ?"

It's stunning. Thank you.

[greyl]

4. No, should it be?

I think immediately after the airing of the show, a few weeks ago, there was a thread about it but...

It was a stunning show, indeed.

[barbaraann]

5. Well, um, I think so, but I'm to the left of Kucinich.

:-)

[greyl]

7. I do agree that it's a "MUST READ"

Go ahead and post that sucker, barbaraann. :)

[barbaraann]

8. OK. Back me up!

I'm going in. :-)

[greyl]

9. okedokee :) nt

[barbaraann]

10. Do you suppose we need some provisions for our foray?

Brown and Root could supply the snacks! :-)

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. Like it or not.....

Boeing, and several military bases are in this state, and as such are Cantwell & Murray's constituents as well as we are. They're also important in the state's economy. I'm not crazy about the way Microsoft does business either, or Starbucks for that matter, but if they ceased to exist tomorrow, Washington would suffer for it.

As for the Scoop Jackson - PNAC thing, I posted this article when KOMO first aired it in April, and I'm still not wanting to believe it. Nobody would ever mistake Scoop for a liberal, but being remembered as the godfather of the global fascist agenda which destroyed America isn't a good legacy for our state :-(

[barbaraann]

6. Yeah, I know.

But I think if you look far enough down the road, the price we will eventually pay for those MIC jobs is too great. What do you think?

I must have missed your posting on the KOMO article and I don't want to believe it either but scales are lifted from my eyes every day here on DU. :-(