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ALL WAR>>>>ALL THE TIME
All War All The Time
By Robert Higgs
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday 6 July 2003
The battle on terrorism is an excuse to make fighting permanent
I'll concede that having a permanent war might seem an odd thing to want, but let's put aside the
"why" question for the time being, accepting that you wouldn't want it unless you stood to gain
something important from it. If, however, for reasons you found adequate, you did want to have a
permanent war, what would you need in order to make such a policy viable in a democratic society
such as the United States?
First, you would need that society to have a dominant ideology -- a widely shared belief system
about social and political relations -- within whichhaving a permanent war seems to be a desirable
policy, given the ideology's own content and the pertinent facts accepted by its adherents.
Something like American jingo-patriotism cum anti-communism might turn the trick.
It worked pretty well during the nearly half-century of the Cold War. The beauty of
anti-communism as a covering ideology was that it could serve tojustify a wide variety of politically
expedient actions both here and abroad. The Commies, you'll recall, were everywhere: not just in
Moscow and Sevastopol,
but maybe in Minneapolis and San Francisco. We had to stay alert; we could never let down our
guard, anywhere.
Second, you would need periodic crises, because without them the public becomes
complacent, unafraid, and hence unwilling to bear the heavy burdens that they must bear if the
government is to carry on a permanent war. As Sen. Arthur Vandenberg told Harry Truman in 1947
at the outset of the Cold War, gaining public support for a perpetual global campaign requires that
the government "scare hell out of the American people."
Each crisis piques the people's insecurities and renders them once again disposed to pay the
designated price, whether it takes the form of their treasure, their liberties or their young people's
blood. Something like the (alleged) missile gap, the (alleged) Gulf of Tonkin attacks on U.S. naval
vessels, or the (actual!) hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran will do nicely, at least for a
while. Crises by their very nature eventually recede, and new ones must come along -- or be made
to come along -- to serve the current need.
Third, you would need some politically powerful groups whose members stand to gain
substantially from a permanent war in terms of achieving their urgent personal and group objectives.
Call me crass, but I've noticed that few people will stay engaged for long unless there's "something
in it for them."
During the Cold War, the conglomeration of personally interested parties consisted of those who
form the military-industrial-congressional complex. The generals and admirals thrived by
commanding a large armed force sustained by a lavish budget. The big defense contractors enjoyed
ample returns at minimal risk (because they could expect that, should they screw up too royally, a
bailout would be forthcoming). Members of Congress who belonged to the military oversight and
appropriations committees could parlay their positions into campaign contributions and various
sorts of income in kind.
Presiding over the entire complex, of course, the president, his National Security Council, and
their many subordinates, advisers, consultants, and hangers-on enjoyed the political advantages
associated with control of a great nation's diplomatic and military affairs -- not to speak of the sheer
joy that certain people get from wielding or influencing great power.
No conspiracy here, of course, just a lot of people fitting into their niches, doing well while
proclaiming that they were doing good (recall the ideology and the crisis elements). All seeking only
to serve the common public interest. Absolutely.
The foregoing observations have been widely accepted by several generations of students of the
Cold War. Yet now, you may protest, the Cold War is over, the USSR nonexistent, the menace of
communism kaput. Under post-Cold War conditions, how can we have a permanent war? Well, all
we need to do is to replace the missing piece.
If the ideology of anti-communism can no longer serve to justify a permanent war, let us put in
its place the overarching rationale of a "war on terrorism." In fact, this substitution of what President
Bush repeatedly calls "a new kind of war" amounts to an improvement for the leading actors,
because whereas the Cold War could not be sustained once the USSR had imploded and
international communism had toppled into the dustbin of history, a war on terrorism, with all its
associated benefits, can go on forever.
After all, so long as the president says he has intelligence information to the effect that "they"
are still out there conspiring to kill us all, who are we to dispute that the threat exists and must be
met? The smoke had scarcely cleared at Ground Zero when Vice President Dick Cheney declared
on Oct. 19, 2001, that the war on terrorism "may never end. It’s the new normalcy."
Just as during the Cold War hardly any American ever laid eyes on an honest- to-God Commie,
although nearly everybody believed that the Commies were lurking far and wide, so now we may all
suppose that anyone, anywhere might be a lethal terrorist in possession of a suitcase nuke or a jug
of anthrax spores.
Indeed, current airport-security measures are premised on precisely such a belief -- otherwise it
makes no sense to strip-search Grandma at Dulles International Airport.
Potential terrorists are "out there," no doubt, in the wonderful world of Islam, an arc that
stretches from Morocco across North Africa, the Middle East,
and Southwest Asia to Malaysia, Indonesia and Mindanao, not to mention London,
Amsterdam and Hamburg. And that's good, because it means that U.S. leaders must bring the
entire outside world into compliance with their stipulated rules of engagement for the war on
terrorism. It's a fine thing to dominate the world, an even finer thing to do so righteously.
Better yet, the potential omnipresence of the terrorists justifies U.S. leaders in their efforts to
supercharge the surveillance-and-police state here at home, with the USA Patriot Act, the revival of
the FBI's COINTELPRO activities, and all the rest. Adios, Bill of Rights. The merest babe should
understand that these new powers will be turned to other political purposes that have nothing
whatever to do with terrorism. Indeed, they have been already. As the New York Times reported on
May 5,"The Justice Department has begun using its expanded counter terrorism powers to seize
millions of dollars from foreign banks that do business in the United States" and "most of the
seizures have involved fraud and money-laundering investigations unrelated to terrorism."
The war-on-terrorism rationale has proved congenial to the American public, who have swallowed
bogus government assurances that the so-called war is making them more secure. Much of this
acceptance springs, no doubt, from the shock that many Americans experienced when the terrorist
attacks of September 11 proved so devastating. Ever alert, the president’s national security adviser,
Condoleezza Rice, asked the National Security Council immediately afterward "to think seriously
about "how you capitalize on these opportunities" to fundamentally change American doctrine and
the shape of the world in the wake of September 11.
The president's most powerful and influential subordinates -- Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul
Wolfowitz and their coterie -- then set in motion a series of actions (and a flood of disinformation) to
seize the day, measures that culminated in the military invasion and conquest first of Afghanistan
and then of Iraq, among many other things.
Likewise, the military component of the military-industrial complex has entered into fat city.
During fiscal year 2000, before Bush had taken office, Department of Defense outlays amounted to
$281 billion. Just four years later, assuming that Congress gives the president what he has
requested for fiscal year 2004, the department's budget will be at least$399 billion -- an increase of
42 percent.
No wonder the generals and admirals are dancing in the corridors at the Pentagon: all this loot,
and wartime citations and promotions to boot!
The flush times for the officer corps have spilled over handsomely onto the big arms contractors,
whose share prices have been bucking the trend of the continuing stock-market meltdown nicely
during the past couple of years. With only a single exception, all the major weapons systems have
survived funding threats, and their manufacturers can look forward to decades of well-paid repose as
they supply models B, C, D, and so forth, as well as all the remunerative maintenance and repairs,
operational training, software upgrades, and related goods and services for their Cold War-type
weaponry in search of an suitable enemy. In the immortal words of Boeing vice president Harry
Stone cipher, "The purse is now open."
Amid the all-around rejoicing, however, the power elite appreciate that nearly two years have
elapsed since Sept. 11, 2001, and the public's panic has begun to subside. That won't do.
Accordingly, earlier this month, the government released a report that there is a "high probability" of
an al-Qaeda attack with a weapon of mass destruction in the next two years.
So there you have it: The war on terrorism -- the new permanent war – is a winner. The president
loves it. The military brass loves it. The bigwigs at Boeing and Lockheed love it. We all love it.
Except, perhaps, that odd citizen who wonders whether, all things considered, having a
permanent war is truly a good idea for the beleaguered U. S. economy and for the liberties of the
American people.
Robert Higgs is senior fellow at the Independent Institute. His books include "Crisis and
Leviathan" and "Arms, Politics and the Economy."
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